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Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Van de Ven has revealed he "was completely surprised by" the club's decision to dismiss former manager Ange Postecoglou.

The Australian's spell in charge was terminated a just 16 days after he guided Tottenham to victory in the European final, delivering the team's first piece of silverware in nearly two decades.

Yet, this continental triumph was not matched in the Premier League, with the side finishing in a lowly 17th position in Postecoglou's final season in charge.

He was succeeded by former Brentford boss Thomas Frank during the off-season, but Tottenham currently sit in 11th place, with 22 points, following a 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

"He is a really good manager. I still really like him," Van de Ven told a podcast.

"I don't know how everything went behind the scenes. It came as a shock. It was odd how everything went after - he's the manager that won silverware to Tottenham," he continued.

"Later, when he was dismissed, I sent a message to my father and my mates and said, 'This was the last thing I thought would happen.'"

The Rise and Fall

Postecoglou joined Tottenham from Celtic before the 2023-24 season, taking over from Conte. He enjoyed early success with his attacking style of play, amassing 26 points from his opening 10 league matches.

However, that unbeaten run came to an abrupt end with four losses in five games, and the club's form deteriorated, ultimately failing to secure a top-four finish by a narrow two points.

The following season, they won just 11 of their 38 league matches.

Lacking a Plan B

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Dutch international Van de Ven thinks the squad lacked a "alternative strategy" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero discussed taking a more defensive approach with the coach.

"I liked the attacking football at that time but I appreciate what we have now with our current manager. We are more solid at the back. I don't like getting exposed every game on the counter-attack," he said.

"At the beginning under Postecoglou, no team was used to playing against our system. We were playing unbelievable football."

"However, coaches analyse everything and people knew what we were doing. Sometimes we didn't really have a backup plan and we were being caught out. We didn't have solutions to resolve it."

"On one occasion me and Romero walked up to the manager and suggested we need to adjust tactically and play more defensive to ensure we secure victory in those games. He was responded, 'I understand with you but I want you two guys to sort this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"