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Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Van de Ven has admitted he "never expected" the club's move to part ways with former manager Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's spell in charge was terminated a mere 16 days after he led the team to victory in the Europa League final, securing the club's first major trophy in nearly two decades.

However, this European success was not matched in the domestic league, with the team ending up in a disappointing 17th place in his last season at the helm.

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

"He is a really good 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 odd how everything went after - he's the manager that brought a trophy to Tottenham," he continued.

"Later, when he got sacked, I texted to my dad and my friends and said, 'This was the last thing I thought would happen.'"

The Rise and Fall

The Australian manager joined Spurs from Scottish champions Celtic before the 2023-24 season, taking over from Antonio Conte. He enjoyed early success with his offensive philosophy of play, amassing an impressive points haul from his first ten Premier League games.

Nevertheless, that fine start came to an abrupt end with four losses in five matches, and the team's form deteriorated, ultimately missing out on a top-four finish by a mere two points.

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

Lacking a Plan B

Although he enjoyed the attacking approach, Dutch international Van de Ven thinks the squad lacked a "plan B" and disclosed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero spoke about adopting a more defensive approach with the manager.

"I enjoyed the attacking football under Postecoglou but I appreciate what we have now with our current manager. We are more solid at the back. I don't like getting exposed every game on the break," he said.

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

"But, coaches analyse everything and people knew what we were doing. Sometimes we didn't really have a backup plan and we were being caught out. We didn't have answers to get out."

"On one occasion Romero and I walked up to the gaffer and said we need to change some things and play more defensive to ensure we secure victory in those games. He was responded, 'I agree with you but I expect you two guys to sort this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"