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Spurs defender Micky van de Ven has admitted he "never expected" the club's move to dismiss ex-boss Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's spell in charge was terminated a just over two weeks after he led the team to a win in the Europa League final, delivering the team's first piece of silverware in 17 years.

Yet, this continental triumph was not mirrored in the domestic league, with the team finishing in a disappointing 17th place in his last season in charge.

He was succeeded by former Brentford boss Frank during the off-season, but Spurs are presently 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 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 added.

"Afterwards, when he was dismissed, I sent a message to my father and my mates and said, 'This was the last thing I thought would happen.'"

The Rise and Fall

The Australian manager joined Tottenham from Celtic before the 2023-24 season, replacing Conte. He enjoyed early success with his attacking style of play, amassing 26 points from his opening 10 league matches.

Nevertheless, that unbeaten run came to an abrupt end with four losses in five matches, and the club's form deteriorated, eventually failing to secure Champions League qualification by a mere two-point margin.

In the next campaign, they won just 11 of their 38 Premier League fixtures.

Lacking a Plan B

While he appreciated the attacking approach, Netherlands international the defender thinks the squad lacked a "plan B" and revealed he and defensive partner Romero discussed taking a more defensive approach with the manager.

"I liked the offensive play 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 said.

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

"But, managers 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 didn't have solutions to resolve it."

"On one occasion me and Romero approached the manager and suggested we need to change some things and play more defensive to ensure we secure victory in those games. He was like, 'I agree with you but I want you two guys to sort this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"