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Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Van de Ven has revealed he "never expected" the club's decision to part ways with former manager Ange Postecoglou.

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

However, 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 ex-Brentford manager Thomas Frank during the off-season, but Spurs are presently in 11th place, with 22 points from 16 games, following a 3-0 loss to Forest on Sunday.

"He is a really good manager. I still really like him," the Dutch defender stated on The Overlap podcast.

"I don't know how everything went behind the scenes. It came as a shock. It was odd how everything went after - he's the manager that brought a trophy to the club," he continued.

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

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

The Australian manager arrived at Tottenham from Scottish champions Celtic ahead of the 2023-24 season, taking over from Conte. He made a bright start with his offensive philosophy of play, amassing an impressive points haul from his opening 10 league matches.

However, that unbeaten run came to an abrupt end with four losses in five games, and the team's form deteriorated, ultimately failing to secure Champions League qualification by a narrow two points.

The following season, they won just 11 out of 38 Premier League fixtures.

Lacking a Plan B

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Dutch international Van de Ven thinks the squad lacked a "plan B" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero discussed taking a more cautious style with the manager.

"I enjoyed the attacking football at that time but I appreciate what we have now with our current manager. We are more secure at the back. I dislike being vulnerable every game on the break," he said.

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

"But, coaches study everything and people knew what we were doing. At times we lacked a plan B and we were being caught out. We didn't have solutions to get out."

"At one point me and Romero approached the manager and suggested we need to change some things and play more defensive to ensure we win those games. He was responded, 'I understand with you but I expect you two guys to handle this on the pitch, ensure everybody knows.'"