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Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven has admitted he "was completely surprised by" the club's decision to dismiss ex-boss Postecoglou.

The Australian's two-year tenure was terminated a mere 16 days after he guided Tottenham to victory in the European final, securing the team's first major trophy in nearly two decades.

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

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

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

"I'm not sure how everything went backstage. It came as a shock. It was strange how everything went afterwards - he's the manager that won silverware 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 arrived at Spurs from Scottish champions Celtic before the 2023-24 season, replacing Antonio Conte. He made a bright start with his offensive philosophy of play, collecting an impressive points haul from his opening 10 Premier League games.

Nevertheless, that fine start came to an abrupt end with four losses in five matches, and the team's season tailed off, eventually failing to secure a top-four finish by a mere two-point margin.

In the next campaign, they managed only 11 out of 38 league matches.

Lacking a Plan B

While he appreciated Postecoglou's style, Dutch international Van de Ven believes the squad was missing a "plan B" and disclosed he and defensive partner Cristian Romero discussed taking a more defensive approach with the manager.

"I liked the offensive play at that time but I like 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 explained.

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

"But, coaches analyse everything and people figured out what we were doing. Sometimes we lacked a backup plan and we were being caught out. We didn't have solutions to resolve it."

"At one point me and Romero approached the gaffer and said we need to change some things and be more defensive to ensure we secure victory in those games. He was like, 'I agree with you but I want you two guys to sort this on the pitch, ensure everybody knows.'"