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Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Micky van de Ven has revealed he "was completely surprised by" the club's move to part ways with former manager Postecoglou.

The Australian's spell in charge came to an end a mere 16 days after he led Tottenham to victory in the Europa League final, securing the club's first piece of silverware in 17 years.

Yet, this European success was not matched in the domestic league, with the side finishing in a lowly 17th place in Postecoglou's final season in charge.

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

"He is a fantastic manager. I still really like him," the Dutch defender stated on The Overlap podcast.

"I don't know how everything went backstage. It came as a shock. It was strange how everything went afterwards - he's the manager that brought a trophy to Tottenham," he added.

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

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

Postecoglou arrived at Tottenham from Celtic before the 2023/24 campaign, taking over from Antonio Conte. He enjoyed early success with his attacking style of play, amassing 26 points from his first ten league matches.

However, that fine start was halted with four defeats in five games, and the club's season tailed off, eventually missing out on Champions League qualification by a narrow two-point margin.

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

Lacking a Plan B

While he appreciated Postecoglou's style, Netherlands international Van de Ven believes the squad lacked a "plan B" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero spoke about taking a more defensive approach with the coach.

"I liked the offensive play at that time but I like what we have now with our current manager. We are more solid at the back. I dislike being vulnerable every game on the break," he explained.

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

"However, managers study everything and opponents knew what we were doing. Sometimes we lacked 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 manager and said we need to adjust tactically and play more defensive to make sure we win those games. He was like, 'I agree with you but I expect you two guys to handle this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"