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Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Micky van de Ven has admitted he "never expected" the club's decision to dismiss former manager Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's two-year tenure came to an end a mere over two weeks after he led the team to victory in the Europa League final, delivering the club'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 position in his last season in charge.

He was replaced by ex-Brentford manager Frank during the off-season, but Spurs are presently in 11th place, with 22 points from 16 games, following a 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest at the weekend.

"He is a fantastic manager. I have a lot of respect for him," Van de Ven told The Overlap podcast.

"I don't know how everything went behind the scenes. I didn't expect it. It was odd how everything went after - he is the coach that brought a trophy to Tottenham," he continued.

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

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

The Australian manager joined Tottenham from Celtic before the 2023/24 campaign, taking over from Antonio Conte. He made a bright start with his attacking style of play, collecting 26 points from his first ten league matches.

Nevertheless, that unbeaten run came to an abrupt end with four losses in five matches, and the club's season tailed off, eventually failing to secure Champions League qualification by a narrow two points.

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

Lacking a Plan B

While he appreciated Postecoglou's style, Dutch international Van de Ven believes the team lacked a "alternative strategy" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero spoke about adopting a more cautious style with the manager.

"I enjoyed the offensive play at that time but I appreciate what we have now with our current manager. We are more secure defensively. I dislike being vulnerable every game on the break," he said.

"Initially under Postecoglou, no team was used to playing against our style. We were playing unbelievable football."

"However, coaches study everything and people knew what we were doing. Sometimes we didn't really have a plan B and we were being caught out. We lacked solutions to get out."

"On one occasion me and Romero approached the manager and suggested we need to change some things 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.'"