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Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven has admitted he "never expected" the club's move to part ways with former manager Postecoglou.

The Australian's two-year tenure came to an end a just 16 days after he led Tottenham to victory in the European final, securing the team's first major trophy in 17 years.

Yet, this continental triumph was not matched in the Premier League, with the side ending up in a lowly 17th position in his last campaign at the helm.

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

"He is a really good manager. I still really like him," Van de Ven told a podcast.

"I'm not sure how everything went backstage. It came as a shock. It was odd how everything went afterwards - he's the manager that brought a trophy to the club," he continued.

"Afterwards, when he was dismissed, I texted to my dad and my friends and said, 'I never expected this.'"

The Rise and Fall

The Australian manager joined Spurs from Scottish champions Celtic before the 2023/24 campaign, taking over from Antonio Conte. He enjoyed early success with his offensive philosophy of play, collecting an impressive points haul from his first ten Premier League games.

Nevertheless, that fine start was halted with four losses in five matches, and the team's form deteriorated, eventually failing to secure Champions League qualification by a narrow two points.

The following season, they won just 11 out of 38 Premier League fixtures.

Lacking a Plan B

Although he enjoyed the attacking approach, Dutch international Van de Ven believes the team was missing a "alternative strategy" and disclosed he and defensive partner Romero discussed adopting a more defensive approach with the manager.

"I liked the offensive play under Postecoglou but I like what we have now with our current manager. 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 used to playing against our system. We were playing unbelievable football."

"But, managers study everything and people knew what we were doing. At times we lacked a plan B and we were getting exposed. We didn't have solutions to resolve it."

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