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Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven has admitted he "never expected" the club's move to dismiss former manager Ange Postecoglou.

The Australian's two-year tenure was terminated a just 16 days after he led Tottenham to victory in the European final, delivering the team's first major trophy in 17 years.

However, this continental triumph was not matched in the Premier League, with the side ending up in a lowly 17th place in his last campaign at the helm.

He was succeeded by ex-Brentford manager Frank during the off-season, but Tottenham are presently in 11th place, with 22 points, following a 3-0 defeat 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 behind the scenes. I didn't expect it. It was odd how everything went after - he is the coach that brought a trophy to the club," he continued.

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

The Rise and Fall

Postecoglou arrived at Tottenham from Scottish champions Celtic ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, replacing Antonio Conte. He made a bright start with his offensive philosophy of play, amassing 26 points from his opening 10 league matches.

However, that unbeaten run was halted with four losses in five matches, and the club's season tailed off, ultimately failing to secure a top-four finish by a narrow two points.

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

Tactical Concerns Revealed

While he appreciated the attacking approach, Netherlands international the defender believes the team lacked a "plan B" and revealed he and defensive partner Cristian Romero spoke about taking a more cautious style with the coach.

"I liked the attacking football under Postecoglou 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 system. We were playing unbelievable football."

"However, coaches analyse everything and opponents figured out what we were doing. Sometimes we lacked a backup plan and we were being caught out. We lacked solutions to resolve it."

"At one point me and Romero 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 understand with you but I expect you two guys to sort this on the pitch, ensure everybody knows.'"