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Tottenham Hotspur defender Van de Ven has revealed he "never expected" the club's move to dismiss ex-boss Ange Postecoglou.

The Australian's spell in charge was terminated a just 16 days after he guided Tottenham to a win in the Europa League final, securing the club's first piece of silverware in nearly two decades.

However, this European success was not mirrored in the domestic league, with the team ending up in a disappointing 17th place in his last campaign in charge.

He was replaced by former Brentford boss Thomas Frank during the summer, but Tottenham are presently 11th in the table, with 22 points, following a 3-0 loss to Forest on Sunday.

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

"I'm not sure how everything went backstage. I didn't expect it. It was odd how everything went after - he's the manager that won silverware to the club," he continued.

"Afterwards, when he was dismissed, I texted to my dad and my mates and said, 'I never expected this.'"

The Rise and Fall

Postecoglou joined Spurs from Celtic ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, replacing Antonio Conte. He made a bright start with his attacking style of play, amassing 26 points from his opening 10 Premier League games.

Nevertheless, that fine start came to an abrupt end with four losses in five matches, and the team's season tailed off, ultimately missing out on Champions League qualification by a mere two points.

The following season, they won just 11 of their 38 league matches.

Lacking a Plan B

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Netherlands international Van de Ven believes the squad was missing a "alternative strategy" and disclosed he and defensive partner Romero discussed taking a more cautious style 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 don't like getting exposed every game on the counter-attack," he explained.

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

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

"On one occasion me and Romero walked up to the manager and said we should adjust tactically and play more defensive to ensure we secure victory in those games. He was like, 'I understand with you but I want you two guys to sort this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"