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

Postecoglou's two-year tenure was terminated a mere 16 days after he guided Tottenham to a win in the Europa League final, delivering the team's first major trophy in 17 years.

However, this continental triumph was not matched in the Premier League, with the team ending up in a lowly 17th place in Postecoglou's final season at the helm.

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

"He was a fantastic manager. I have a lot of respect for him," Van de Ven told a podcast.

"I don't know how everything went behind the scenes. I didn't expect it. It was odd how everything went after - he is the coach that brought a trophy to Tottenham," he continued.

"Later, when he was dismissed, I sent a message to my dad and my friends and said, 'This was the last thing I thought would happen.'"

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

The Australian manager joined Tottenham from Scottish champions Celtic before the 2023/24 campaign, replacing Antonio Conte. He enjoyed early success with his offensive philosophy of play, amassing 26 points from his opening 10 league matches.

Nevertheless, that fine start was halted with four losses in five matches, and the club's season tailed off, ultimately missing out on a top-four finish by a narrow two points.

The following season, they managed only 11 of their 38 league matches.

Lacking a Plan B

Although he enjoyed the attacking approach, Netherlands international Van de Ven believes the team was missing a "plan B" and disclosed he and defensive partner Romero discussed adopting a more cautious style with the manager.

"I enjoyed the offensive play under Postecoglou but I appreciate what we have now with Thomas Frank. 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 style. We were playing exceptional football."

"But, managers study everything and opponents knew what we were doing. Sometimes we lacked a plan B and we were being caught out. We didn't have solutions to get out."

"On one occasion Romero and I approached the manager and said we need to change some things and play more defensive to make sure we win those games. He was responded, 'I understand with you but I want you two guys to handle this on the pitch, ensure everybody knows.'"