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Spurs centre-back Van de Ven has revealed he "never expected" the club's move to part ways with ex-boss Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's spell in charge was terminated a just 16 days after he guided Tottenham to victory in the European final, delivering the team's first major trophy in nearly two decades.

Yet, this European success was not matched in the domestic league, with the team finishing in a disappointing 17th place in his last campaign in charge.

He was succeeded by ex-Brentford manager Thomas Frank during the off-season, but Spurs are presently 11th in the table, with 22 points, following a 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

"He was a really good manager. I have a lot of respect for him," Van de Ven told The Overlap podcast.

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

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

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

The Australian manager arrived at Spurs from Scottish champions Celtic ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, taking over from Conte. He enjoyed early success with his attacking style of play, collecting an impressive points haul from his opening 10 Premier League games.

However, that fine start was halted with four losses in five games, and the club's season tailed off, eventually failing to secure Champions League qualification by a mere two points.

In the next campaign, they won just 11 out of 38 Premier League fixtures.

Tactical Concerns Revealed

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Dutch international the defender thinks the squad lacked a "plan B" and disclosed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero discussed adopting a more cautious style with the coach.

"I enjoyed the offensive play under Postecoglou but I like what we have now with our current manager. We are more solid defensively. I don't like being vulnerable every game on the break," he explained.

"Initially with that system, no team was used to playing against our style. We were playing unbelievable football."

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

"On one occasion me and Romero approached the gaffer and said we need to change some things and be more defensive to ensure we secure victory in those games. He was responded, 'I agree with you but I expect you two guys to sort this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"