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Spurs defender Micky van de Ven has admitted he "never expected" the club's decision to dismiss former manager Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's two-year tenure came to an end a just 16 days after he led the team to a win in the European final, securing the team's first piece of silverware in nearly two decades.

Yet, this European success was not matched in the Premier League, with the team finishing in a disappointing 17th position in Postecoglou's final season at the helm.

He was replaced by former Brentford boss Frank during the summer, but Tottenham currently sit 11th in the table, with 22 points, following a 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

"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. I didn't expect it. It was strange how everything went afterwards - he is the coach that won silverware to Tottenham," he continued.

"Afterwards, when he was dismissed, I sent a message to my father and my friends and said, 'I never expected this.'"

The Rise and Fall

The Australian manager joined Spurs from Scottish champions Celtic ahead of the 2023-24 season, replacing Antonio Conte. He enjoyed early success with his offensive philosophy of play, amassing 26 points from his opening 10 Premier League games.

Nevertheless, 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 mere two points.

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

Lacking a Plan B

While he appreciated Postecoglou's style, Dutch international Van de Ven believes the team lacked a "plan B" and disclosed he and defensive partner Cristian Romero spoke about adopting a more cautious style with the manager.

"I enjoyed the attacking football at that time but I like 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 counter-attack," he explained.

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

"But, 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 solutions to get out."

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