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Spurs defender Micky van de Ven has admitted he "never expected" the club's decision to dismiss former manager Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's two-year tenure came to an end a just over two weeks after he guided Tottenham to victory in the European final, securing the club's first piece of silverware in nearly two decades.

However, this continental triumph was not mirrored in the domestic league, with the side finishing in a lowly 17th place in his last campaign at the helm.

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

"He is a really good manager. I still really like him," Van de Ven stated on a podcast.

"I don't know how everything went behind the scenes. It came as a shock. It was strange how everything went afterwards - he is the coach that won silverware to the club," he continued.

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

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

Postecoglou arrived at Spurs from Celtic ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, replacing Conte. He made a bright start with his offensive philosophy of play, collecting an impressive points haul from his first ten league matches.

Nevertheless, that unbeaten run was halted with four defeats in five matches, and the club's form deteriorated, eventually failing to secure a top-four finish by a narrow two points.

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 team was missing a "plan B" and disclosed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero discussed adopting a more cautious style with the coach.

"I liked the attacking football at that time but I appreciate what we have now with our current manager. We are more secure defensively. I don't like getting exposed every game on the counter-attack," he explained.

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

"However, managers study everything and opponents knew what we were doing. Sometimes we didn't really have a backup plan and we were being caught out. We didn't have answers to resolve it."

"On one occasion me and Romero approached the gaffer and suggested 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.'"