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Spurs defender Van de Ven has admitted he "never expected" the club's decision to part ways with former manager Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's spell in charge came to an end a mere 16 days after he guided Tottenham to victory in the European final, securing the team's first piece of silverware in 17 years.

However, this European success was not mirrored in the domestic league, with the team finishing in a lowly 17th place in Postecoglou's final campaign in charge.

He was succeeded by ex-Brentford manager Thomas Frank during the summer, but Tottenham are presently 11th in the table, with 22 points, following a 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest at the weekend.

"He is a fantastic manager. I still really like him," Van de Ven stated on The Overlap podcast.

"I'm not sure how everything went backstage. I didn't expect it. It was strange how everything went afterwards - he's the manager that brought a trophy to Tottenham," he continued.

"Afterwards, when he was dismissed, I sent a message to my dad and my mates and said, 'I never expected this.'"

The Rise and Fall

The Australian manager arrived at Tottenham from Scottish champions Celtic ahead of the 2023-24 season, replacing Antonio Conte. He made a bright start with his offensive philosophy of play, collecting an impressive points haul from his first ten league matches.

Nevertheless, that unbeaten run was halted with four losses in five matches, and the club's season tailed off, ultimately missing out on Champions League qualification by a mere two points.

The following season, they managed only 11 of their 38 Premier League fixtures.

Lacking a Plan B

While he appreciated the attacking approach, Dutch international the defender thinks the team lacked a "plan B" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero spoke about taking a more defensive approach with the coach.

"I enjoyed the attacking football under Postecoglou but I like what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more solid defensively. I don't like getting exposed every game on the counter-attack," he said.

"Initially with that system, no team was accustomed to playing against our system. We were playing unbelievable football."

"But, coaches analyse everything and opponents figured out what we were doing. Sometimes we didn't really have a backup plan 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 should change some things and be more defensive to make sure we win 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.'"