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Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Micky van de Ven has revealed he "never expected" the club's decision to part ways with ex-boss Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's two-year tenure came to an end a just over two weeks after he guided Tottenham to a win in the European final, securing the team's first major trophy in nearly two decades.

However, this European success was not mirrored in the Premier League, with the side finishing in a lowly 17th place in his last campaign in charge.

He was succeeded by former Brentford boss Thomas Frank during the off-season, but Spurs currently sit in 11th place, with 22 points, following a 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest at the weekend.

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

"I'm not sure how everything went behind the scenes. I didn't expect it. It was strange how everything went afterwards - he's the manager that won silverware to the club," he added.

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

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

The Australian manager arrived at Tottenham from Celtic ahead of the 2023-24 season, taking over from Antonio Conte. He made a bright start with his offensive philosophy of play, collecting an impressive points haul from his first ten Premier League games.

Nevertheless, that fine start was halted with four losses in five matches, and the team's form deteriorated, eventually missing out on Champions League qualification by a mere two-point margin.

The following season, they managed only 11 out of 38 Premier League fixtures.

Lacking a Plan B

Although he enjoyed the attacking approach, Dutch international the defender thinks the team was missing a "plan B" and disclosed he and fellow centre-back Romero spoke about taking a more cautious style with the manager.

"I liked the attacking football at that time but I like what we have now with our current manager. We are more secure at the back. I dislike getting exposed every game on the counter-attack," he explained.

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

"However, coaches analyse everything and opponents figured out what we were doing. Sometimes we didn't really have a plan B and we were getting exposed. We didn't have answers to resolve it."

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