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Spurs defender 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 mere 16 days after he led the team to victory in the European final, securing the team's first major trophy in 17 years.

Yet, this European success was not mirrored in the domestic league, with the team ending up in a lowly 17th position in his last campaign in charge.

He was succeeded by former Brentford boss Thomas Frank during the summer, but Tottenham are presently 11th in the table, with 22 points from 16 games, following a 3-0 defeat to Forest at the weekend.

"He is a fantastic manager. I have a lot of respect for him," the Dutch defender stated on The Overlap podcast.

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

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

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

Postecoglou arrived at Tottenham from Celtic before the 2023-24 season, replacing Antonio Conte. He made a bright start with his attacking style of play, collecting 26 points from his opening 10 Premier League games.

Nevertheless, that fine start came to an abrupt end with four defeats in five matches, and the club's season tailed off, eventually missing out on a top-four finish by a mere two points.

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

Tactical Concerns Revealed

While he appreciated the attacking approach, Dutch international the defender thinks the squad lacked a "alternative strategy" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero spoke about adopting a more defensive approach with the manager.

"I enjoyed the offensive play under Postecoglou but I like what we have now with our current manager. We are more solid at the back. I dislike being vulnerable every game on the counter-attack," he explained.

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

"But, coaches analyse 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 answers to get out."

"At one point Romero and I walked up to the manager and suggested we need to adjust tactically and play more defensive to ensure we win those games. He was like, 'I agree with you but I want you two guys to handle this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"