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

The Australian's spell in charge was terminated a just 16 days after he led Tottenham to victory in the Europa League final, securing the club's first major trophy in nearly two decades.

Yet, this European success was not matched in the Premier League, with the team finishing in a lowly 17th position in Postecoglou's final season at the helm.

He was succeeded by former Brentford boss Thomas Frank during the off-season, but Spurs currently sit in 11th place, with 22 points from 16 games, following a 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

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

"I don't know how everything went behind the scenes. 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 father and my friends and said, 'I never expected this.'"

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

The Australian manager joined Tottenham from Celtic before the 2023-24 season, replacing Conte. He enjoyed early success with his offensive philosophy of play, amassing 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 games, and the team's form deteriorated, eventually missing out on a top-four finish by a mere two-point margin.

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

Lacking a Plan B

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Dutch international the defender thinks the squad was missing a "alternative strategy" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Romero spoke about taking a more defensive approach with the coach.

"I enjoyed the attacking football at that time but I like what we have now with our current manager. We are more secure defensively. I don't like being vulnerable every game on the counter-attack," he said.

"Initially with that system, no team was used to playing against our system. We were playing exceptional 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 resolve it."

"At one point Romero and I walked up to the gaffer and said we should change some things and play more defensive to ensure we secure victory in those games. He was responded, 'I understand with you but I expect you two guys to sort this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"