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Spurs centre-back Van de Ven has admitted he "never expected" the club's decision to dismiss ex-boss Ange Postecoglou.

The Australian's spell in charge was terminated a mere 16 days after he guided Tottenham to victory in the European final, delivering the team's first major trophy in 17 years.

However, this European success was not matched in the Premier League, with the side ending up in a disappointing 17th place in his last campaign 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 Forest at the weekend.

"He was a fantastic manager. I have a lot of respect for him," the Dutch defender stated on The Overlap podcast.

"I don't know how everything went behind the scenes. It came as a shock. It was strange how everything went afterwards - he is the coach that brought a trophy to Tottenham," he continued.

"Afterwards, when he was dismissed, I texted to my father and my mates and said, 'I never expected this.'"

The Rise and Fall

The Australian manager arrived at Spurs from Celtic ahead of the 2023-24 season, replacing Antonio Conte. He made a bright start with his offensive philosophy of play, amassing an impressive points haul from his opening 10 league matches.

However, that fine start came to an abrupt end with four losses in five games, and the club's season tailed off, eventually missing out on a top-four finish by a narrow two points.

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

Tactical Concerns Revealed

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Netherlands international the defender believes the squad lacked a "alternative strategy" and disclosed he and defensive partner Romero spoke about adopting a more cautious style with the manager.

"I enjoyed the attacking football under Postecoglou but I like what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more secure at the back. I dislike getting exposed every game on the counter-attack," he said.

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

"However, managers analyse everything and people figured out what we were doing. Sometimes we didn't really have a backup plan and we were being caught out. We lacked answers to resolve it."

"At one point Romero and I walked up to the manager and said we should adjust tactically and play more defensive to ensure we secure victory in those games. He was like, 'I understand with you but I expect you two guys to handle this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"