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Tottenham Hotspur defender Van de Ven has admitted he "never expected" the club's decision to part ways with ex-boss Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's spell in charge was terminated a just over two weeks after he guided the team to victory in the Europa League final, securing the club's first major trophy in 17 years.

However, this continental triumph was not matched in the domestic league, with the side finishing in a disappointing 17th place in his last campaign at the helm.

He was replaced by former Brentford boss Frank during the summer, but Spurs currently sit in 11th place, with 22 points, following a 3-0 defeat to Forest on Sunday.

"He was a really good manager. I have a lot of respect for him," Van de Ven told The Overlap podcast.

"I'm not sure how everything went behind the scenes. It came as a shock. It was odd how everything went afterwards - he's the manager that brought a trophy to the club," he continued.

"Later, when he was dismissed, I texted to my dad and my friends and said, 'This was the last thing I thought would happen.'"

The Rise and Fall

The Australian manager joined Spurs from Scottish champions Celtic before the 2023/24 campaign, taking over from Antonio Conte. He enjoyed early success with his attacking style of play, collecting 26 points from his opening 10 Premier League games.

Nevertheless, that fine start came to an abrupt end with four defeats in five matches, and the team's form deteriorated, eventually missing out on Champions League qualification by a mere two-point margin.

In the next campaign, they managed only 11 out of 38 league matches.

Lacking a Plan B

While he appreciated the attacking approach, Dutch international the defender thinks the team lacked a "alternative strategy" and revealed he and defensive partner Romero spoke about taking a more defensive approach with the manager.

"I enjoyed the offensive play at that time but I like what we have now with our current manager. We are more solid defensively. I don't like getting exposed every game on the counter-attack," he explained.

"At the beginning with that system, no team was used to playing against our style. We were playing unbelievable football."

"But, coaches analyse everything and opponents figured out what we were doing. Sometimes we lacked a backup plan and we were getting exposed. We lacked answers to get out."

"On one occasion me and Romero approached the manager and said we should change some things and be more defensive to ensure we win those games. He was responded, 'I agree with you but I want you two guys to sort this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"