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Spurs centre-back Van de Ven has admitted he "was completely surprised by" the club's decision to part ways with former manager Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's two-year tenure was terminated a just 16 days after he led Tottenham to a win in the Europa League final, delivering the team's first piece of silverware in nearly two decades.

However, this continental triumph was not mirrored in the domestic league, with the team finishing in a lowly 17th place in his last campaign in charge.

He was succeeded by former Brentford boss Frank during the summer, but Tottenham currently sit in 11th place, with 22 points from 16 games, following a 3-0 loss to Forest at the weekend.

"He was a fantastic manager. I have a lot of respect for him," the Dutch defender told a podcast.

"I'm not sure how everything went behind the scenes. I didn't expect it. It was strange how everything went after - he is the coach that won silverware to the club," he added.

"Later, when he was dismissed, I sent a message to my dad and my mates and said, 'This was the last thing I thought would happen.'"

The Rise and Fall

Postecoglou arrived at Spurs from Scottish champions Celtic ahead of 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 league matches.

Nevertheless, that unbeaten run came to an abrupt end with four defeats in five games, and the team's form deteriorated, eventually failing to secure Champions League qualification by a narrow two-point margin.

In the next campaign, they won just 11 out of 38 Premier League fixtures.

Tactical Concerns Revealed

While he appreciated Postecoglou's style, Netherlands international the defender thinks the team was missing a "plan B" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Romero spoke about taking a more defensive approach with the manager.

"I liked the offensive play under Postecoglou but I appreciate what we have now with our current manager. We are more secure at the back. I dislike getting exposed every game on the counter-attack," he said.

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

"But, managers analyse everything and opponents knew what we were doing. At times we lacked a backup plan and we were being caught out. We lacked answers to resolve it."

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