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Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven has admitted he "was completely surprised by" the club's move to dismiss ex-boss Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's spell in charge was terminated a mere over two weeks after he led the team to victory in the European final, delivering the club's first piece of silverware in 17 years.

However, this continental triumph was not mirrored in the Premier League, with the team finishing in a lowly 17th place in his last season in charge.

He was succeeded by ex-Brentford manager Thomas Frank during the off-season, but Spurs are presently in 11th place, with 22 points, following a 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

"He is a really good manager. I still really like him," the Dutch defender stated on a podcast.

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

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

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

Postecoglou arrived at Tottenham from Scottish champions Celtic before the 2023-24 season, taking over from Conte. He made a bright start with his attacking style of play, amassing an impressive points haul from his opening 10 Premier League games.

Nevertheless, that unbeaten run was halted with four losses in five games, and the team's form deteriorated, ultimately failing to secure a top-four finish by a narrow two-point margin.

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

Tactical Concerns Revealed

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Dutch international the defender believes the team was missing a "alternative strategy" and revealed he and defensive partner Romero spoke about taking a more cautious style with the coach.

"I enjoyed the offensive play at that time but I appreciate what we have now with our current manager. We are more secure at the back. I don't like being vulnerable every game on the counter-attack," he said.

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

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

"On one occasion me and Romero approached the gaffer and suggested we need to adjust tactically and play more defensive to ensure we win those games. He was responded, 'I agree with you but I expect you two guys to handle this on the pitch, ensure everybody knows.'"