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Spurs centre-back Van de Ven has revealed he "was completely surprised by" the club's move to dismiss ex-boss Postecoglou.

The Australian's two-year tenure was terminated a mere over two weeks after he led the team to victory in the European final, securing the team's first major trophy in nearly two decades.

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

He was replaced by former Brentford boss Thomas Frank during the off-season, but Tottenham currently sit in 11th place, with 22 points from 16 games, following a 3-0 loss to Forest at the weekend.

"He is a fantastic manager. I have a lot of respect for him," the Dutch defender stated on The Overlap podcast.

"I don't know how everything went backstage. It came as a shock. It was odd how everything went after - he is the coach that brought a trophy to Tottenham," he added.

"Afterwards, when he was dismissed, I sent a message to my father 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 Celtic ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, replacing Antonio Conte. He enjoyed early success with his offensive philosophy of play, collecting an impressive points haul from his opening 10 league matches.

However, that unbeaten run came to an abrupt end with four losses in five matches, and the team's form deteriorated, ultimately missing out on Champions League qualification by a narrow two-point margin.

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

Lacking a Plan B

While he appreciated Postecoglou's style, Dutch international the defender believes the team lacked a "plan B" and revealed he and defensive partner Cristian Romero spoke about adopting a more defensive approach with the manager.

"I liked the offensive play at that time but I like what we have now with our current manager. We are more secure defensively. I dislike getting exposed every game on the break," he said.

"Initially under Postecoglou, no team was used to playing against our style. We were playing unbelievable football."

"But, managers analyse everything and opponents knew what we were doing. Sometimes we didn't really have a backup plan and we were getting exposed. We didn't have solutions to resolve it."

"At one point me and Romero approached the manager and said we should adjust tactically and be more defensive to ensure we win those games. He was responded, 'I agree with you but I want you two guys to sort this on the pitch, ensure everybody knows.'"