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Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven has revealed he "was completely surprised by" the club's decision to dismiss former manager Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's spell in charge came to an end a mere over two weeks after he led the team to a win in the Europa League final, delivering the club's first major trophy in 17 years.

However, this European success was not matched in the domestic league, with the team ending up in a disappointing 17th place in his last season in charge.

He was replaced 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 Nottingham Forest at the weekend.

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

"I don't know how everything went backstage. It came as a shock. It was odd how everything went afterwards - he's the manager that won silverware to Tottenham," he added.

"Afterwards, when he got sacked, I texted to my father and my mates and said, 'This was the last thing I thought would happen.'"

The Rise and Fall

Postecoglou arrived at Tottenham from Scottish champions Celtic before the 2023/24 campaign, replacing Conte. He enjoyed early success with his attacking style of play, collecting an impressive points haul from his opening 10 league matches.

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

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

Tactical Concerns Revealed

While he appreciated the attacking approach, Dutch international Van de Ven thinks the squad was missing a "alternative strategy" and revealed he and defensive partner Cristian Romero spoke about adopting a more cautious style with the manager.

"I liked the attacking football at that time but I appreciate what we have now with our current manager. We are more solid at the back. I dislike getting exposed every game on the break," he said.

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

"But, coaches study everything and people figured out what we were doing. At times we lacked a backup plan and we were getting exposed. We didn't have solutions to get out."

"On one occasion Romero and I walked up to the gaffer and suggested we need to change some things and play more defensive to make sure we secure victory in those games. He was responded, 'I understand with you but I expect you two guys to handle this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"