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Spurs centre-back Van de Ven has revealed he "never expected" the club's move to dismiss former manager Ange Postecoglou.

The Australian's spell in charge was terminated a just over two weeks after he led Tottenham to a win in the Europa League final, delivering the club's first piece of silverware in nearly two decades.

Yet, this European success was not mirrored in the Premier League, with the team ending up in a lowly 17th position in Postecoglou's final season at the helm.

He was replaced by former Brentford boss Thomas Frank during the off-season, but Spurs currently sit 11th in the table, with 22 points from 16 games, following a 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest at the weekend.

"He is a fantastic manager. I still really like him," Van de Ven stated on a podcast.

"I'm not sure how everything went backstage. I didn't expect it. It was odd how everything went afterwards - he is the coach that brought a trophy to Tottenham," he added.

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

The Rise and Fall

Postecoglou joined Tottenham from Scottish champions Celtic before the 2023/24 campaign, taking over from Conte. He made a bright start with his attacking style of play, amassing 26 points from his first ten Premier League games.

However, that fine start was halted with four defeats in five matches, and the team's season tailed off, ultimately failing to secure Champions League qualification by a mere two points.

The following season, they managed only 11 out of 38 league matches.

Tactical Concerns Revealed

Although he enjoyed the attacking approach, Dutch international the defender thinks the squad was missing a "alternative strategy" and revealed he and defensive partner Cristian Romero discussed taking a more defensive approach with the manager.

"I enjoyed the offensive play at that time but I appreciate what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more secure defensively. I dislike 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 unbelievable football."

"However, managers study everything and opponents figured out 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 approached the manager and suggested we need to change some things and be more defensive to ensure we secure victory in those games. He was like, 'I understand with you but I want you two guys to sort this on the pitch, ensure everybody knows.'"