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Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Van de Ven has revealed he "never expected" the club's move to dismiss former manager Ange Postecoglou.

The Australian's spell in charge was terminated a mere over two weeks after he guided Tottenham to a win in the Europa League final, securing the club's first major trophy in nearly two decades.

Yet, this European success was not matched in the Premier League, with the team ending up in a lowly 17th place in Postecoglou's final campaign in charge.

He was replaced by former Brentford boss Frank during the off-season, but Tottenham are presently 11th in the table, with 22 points, following a 3-0 loss to Forest on Sunday.

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

"I'm not sure how everything went behind the scenes. I didn't expect it. It was odd how everything went after - he's the manager that brought a trophy to the club," he added.

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

The Rise and Fall

Postecoglou arrived at Spurs from Celtic before the 2023-24 season, taking over from Antonio Conte. He enjoyed early success with his offensive philosophy of play, amassing an impressive points haul from his first ten league matches.

However, that fine start came to an abrupt end with four losses in five games, and the team's form deteriorated, eventually missing out on a top-four finish by a mere two-point margin.

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

Lacking a Plan B

While he appreciated the attacking approach, Dutch international the defender believes the team was missing a "plan B" and revealed he and defensive partner Romero spoke about adopting a more cautious style with the coach.

"I liked the offensive play at that time 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 exceptional football."

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

"On one occasion Romero and I approached the manager and said we should adjust tactically and be more defensive to make sure we secure victory in those games. He was like, 'I agree with you but I want you two guys to handle this on the pitch, ensure everybody knows.'"