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Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven has revealed he "was completely surprised by" the club's move to dismiss former manager Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's spell in charge was terminated a just over two weeks after he led Tottenham to a win in the Europa League final, delivering the club's first major trophy in nearly two decades.

Yet, this European success was not matched in the domestic league, with the team ending up in a disappointing 17th place in his last season in charge.

He was replaced by ex-Brentford manager Thomas Frank during the off-season, but Spurs currently sit in 11th place, with 22 points, following a 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest at the weekend.

"He was a fantastic manager. I still really like him," Van de Ven told The Overlap podcast.

"I'm not sure how everything went backstage. I didn't expect it. It was strange how everything went after - he's the manager that won silverware to the club," he added.

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

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

The Australian manager arrived at Tottenham from Scottish champions Celtic ahead of the 2023-24 season, taking over from Conte. He enjoyed early success with his offensive philosophy of play, collecting 26 points from his opening 10 league matches.

Nevertheless, that unbeaten run came to an abrupt end with four losses in five games, and the club's season tailed off, eventually failing to secure a top-four finish by a mere two-point margin.

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

Lacking a Plan B

While he appreciated Postecoglou's style, Dutch international Van de Ven thinks the team lacked a "plan B" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Romero spoke about taking a more defensive approach with the coach.

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

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

"However, coaches study everything and people knew what we were doing. Sometimes we didn't really have a plan B and we were getting exposed. We lacked answers to get out."

"On one occasion Romero and I walked up to the gaffer and suggested we need to adjust tactically and play more defensive to make sure we secure victory in 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.'"