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

Postecoglou's spell in charge came to an end a just over two weeks after he led Tottenham to a win in the European final, delivering the club's first major trophy in nearly two decades.

Yet, this continental triumph was not mirrored in the Premier League, with the team finishing in a disappointing 17th place in his last campaign at the helm.

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

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

"I'm not sure how everything went behind the scenes. It came as a shock. It was strange 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.'"

The Rise and Fall

Postecoglou arrived at Tottenham from Celtic before the 2023/24 campaign, taking over from Conte. He enjoyed early success with his offensive philosophy of play, collecting an impressive points haul from his first ten Premier League games.

However, that unbeaten run came to an abrupt end with four defeats in five games, and the team's season tailed off, eventually failing to secure Champions League qualification by a narrow two-point margin.

The following season, they managed only 11 out of 38 league matches.

Tactical Concerns Revealed

Although he enjoyed the attacking approach, Netherlands international Van de Ven thinks the squad was missing a "plan B" and disclosed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero discussed taking a more defensive approach with the coach.

"I enjoyed the offensive play under Postecoglou but I like what we have now with our current manager. We are more secure defensively. I dislike getting exposed every game on the counter-attack," he said.

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

"But, coaches study everything and opponents figured out what we were doing. At times we didn't really have a backup plan and we were being caught out. We lacked solutions to resolve it."

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