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Spurs defender Micky van de Ven has revealed he "was completely surprised by" the club's move to part ways with former manager Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's spell in charge was terminated a mere over two weeks after he led Tottenham to a win in the Europa League final, delivering the club's first piece of silverware in nearly two decades.

Yet, this European success was not matched in the domestic league, with the side finishing in a disappointing 17th position in his last season at the helm.

He was replaced by ex-Brentford manager Thomas Frank during the off-season, but Tottenham are presently in 11th place, with 22 points, following a 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

"He was a really good manager. I have a lot of respect for 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 Tottenham," he added.

"Afterwards, when he got sacked, I sent a message to my father and my mates and said, 'I never expected this.'"

The Rise and Fall

Postecoglou arrived at Tottenham from Scottish champions Celtic ahead of the 2023-24 season, taking over from Conte. He made a bright start with his attacking style of play, collecting an impressive points haul from his opening 10 Premier League games.

However, that fine start was halted with four losses in five matches, and the club's form deteriorated, eventually failing to secure a top-four finish by a mere two points.

In the next campaign, they managed only 11 of their 38 league matches.

Lacking a Plan B

Although he enjoyed the attacking approach, Netherlands international the defender believes the squad was missing a "plan B" and revealed he and defensive partner Cristian Romero spoke about taking a more defensive approach with the coach.

"I liked the attacking football at that time but I like what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more secure defensively. I don't like being vulnerable every game on the break," he said.

"Initially with that system, no team was used to playing against our style. We were playing unbelievable football."

"But, coaches study everything and people figured out what we were doing. Sometimes we lacked a plan B and we were being caught out. We lacked answers to resolve it."

"At one point me and Romero approached the manager and suggested we need to change some things and be more defensive to make sure we secure victory in those games. He was responded, 'I agree with you but I expect you two guys to handle this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"