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Tottenham Hotspur defender Van de Ven has admitted he "never expected" the club's decision to dismiss ex-boss Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's spell in charge was terminated a just over two weeks after he guided Tottenham to a win in the European final, securing the team's first piece of silverware in 17 years.

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

He was succeeded by former Brentford boss Frank during the summer, but Spurs are presently in 11th place, with 22 points, following a 3-0 defeat 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 don't know how everything went behind the scenes. It came as a shock. It was strange how everything went after - he is the coach that brought a trophy to Tottenham," he continued.

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

The Rise and Fall

The Australian manager joined Tottenham from Scottish champions Celtic before the 2023-24 season, taking over from 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 fine start was halted with four defeats in five games, and the team's form deteriorated, eventually missing out on Champions League qualification by a mere two points.

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

Lacking a Plan B

While he appreciated the attacking approach, Dutch international the defender believes the squad was missing a "alternative strategy" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Romero discussed adopting a more cautious style with the coach.

"I enjoyed the attacking football under Postecoglou but I like what we have now with our current manager. We are more secure defensively. I don't like being vulnerable every game on the break," he explained.

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

"However, managers analyse everything and opponents knew what we were doing. At times we didn't really have a plan B and we were being caught out. We didn't have answers to get out."

"At one point me and Romero approached the gaffer and suggested we need to adjust tactically and be 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, make sure everybody knows.'"