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Spurs centre-back Micky van de Ven has admitted he "was completely surprised by" the club's move to dismiss former manager Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's two-year tenure came to an end a just over two weeks after he led the team to victory in the European final, securing the team's first piece of silverware in 17 years.

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

He was succeeded by former Brentford boss Frank during the off-season, but Spurs are presently 11th in the table, with 22 points, following a 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

"He is a really good manager. I still really like 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 brought a trophy to Tottenham," he continued.

"Later, when he got sacked, I texted to my father and my friends and said, 'I never expected this.'"

The Rise and Fall

The Australian manager arrived at Tottenham from Scottish champions Celtic before the 2023-24 season, taking over from Conte. He made a bright start with his attacking style of play, amassing 26 points from his opening 10 Premier League games.

Nevertheless, that unbeaten run was halted with four defeats in five games, and the team's form deteriorated, ultimately failing to secure a top-four finish by a mere two points.

In the next campaign, they managed only 11 of their 38 Premier League fixtures.

Lacking a Plan B

While he appreciated the attacking approach, Netherlands international the defender thinks the squad was missing a "plan B" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Romero spoke about taking a more defensive approach with the manager.

"I liked the offensive play at that time but I appreciate what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more solid at the back. I don't like getting exposed every game on the counter-attack," he said.

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

"However, coaches analyse everything and opponents knew what we were doing. At times we didn't really have a backup plan and we were being caught out. We lacked solutions to resolve it."

"On one occasion Romero and I walked up to the manager and said we need to adjust tactically and play more defensive to ensure we win those games. He was responded, 'I agree with you but I expect you two guys to sort this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"