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Spurs defender Micky van de Ven has revealed he "was completely surprised by" the club's move to part ways with former manager Postecoglou.

The Australian's two-year tenure was terminated a mere 16 days after he led Tottenham to victory in the Europa League final, securing the team's first major trophy in nearly two decades.

However, this European success was not matched in the domestic league, with the team finishing in a lowly 17th position in his last season at the helm.

He was succeeded by former Brentford boss 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 was a fantastic manager. I still really like him," Van de Ven stated on a podcast.

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

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

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

The Australian manager joined Spurs from Scottish champions Celtic ahead of the 2023-24 season, taking over from Conte. He enjoyed early success with his offensive philosophy of play, amassing an impressive points haul from his opening 10 league matches.

However, that fine start was halted with four losses in five games, and the team's form deteriorated, ultimately missing out on a top-four finish by a mere 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 was missing a "alternative strategy" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero spoke about taking a more defensive approach with the manager.

"I enjoyed the offensive play under Postecoglou but I like what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more secure defensively. I dislike getting exposed 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 opponents figured out what we were doing. Sometimes we didn't really have a plan B and we were getting exposed. We didn't have solutions to get out."

"On one occasion me and Romero approached the manager and suggested we should change some things and play more defensive to make sure we secure victory in those games. He was responded, 'I understand with you but I want you two guys to handle this on the pitch, ensure everybody knows.'"