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Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Micky van de Ven has admitted he "was completely surprised by" the club's decision to dismiss former manager Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's spell in charge came to an end a just over two weeks after he guided the team to victory in the Europa League final, delivering the club's first piece of silverware in 17 years.

Yet, this continental triumph was not mirrored in the domestic league, with the side ending up in a disappointing 17th position in Postecoglou's final season in charge.

He was replaced 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 at the weekend.

"He was a really good manager. I still really like him," the Dutch defender told The Overlap podcast.

"I don't know how everything went behind the scenes. I didn't expect it. It was strange 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.'"

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

Postecoglou joined Spurs from Scottish champions Celtic before the 2023-24 season, replacing Antonio Conte. He enjoyed early success with his attacking style of play, collecting an impressive points haul from his opening 10 Premier League games.

Nevertheless, that fine start came to an abrupt end with four defeats in five games, and the club's season tailed off, eventually failing to secure Champions League qualification by a narrow two points.

The following season, they won just 11 of their 38 Premier League fixtures.

Lacking a Plan B

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Netherlands international the defender thinks the team was missing a "plan B" and revealed he and defensive partner Cristian Romero discussed adopting a more defensive approach with the coach.

"I liked the attacking football under Postecoglou but I like what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more secure defensively. I dislike being vulnerable every game on the counter-attack," he explained.

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

"However, coaches 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 resolve it."

"On one occasion Romero and I walked up to the manager and suggested we need to change some things and play 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, ensure everybody knows.'"