🔗 Share this article

Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Van de Ven has admitted he "was completely surprised by" the club's move to dismiss ex-boss Ange Postecoglou.

The Australian's spell in charge was terminated a mere over two weeks after he guided the team to a win in the Europa League final, securing the club's first major trophy in nearly two decades.

However, this European success was not mirrored in the Premier League, with the side finishing in a lowly 17th position in Postecoglou's final season at the helm.

He was replaced by ex-Brentford manager Frank during the summer, but Spurs are presently 11th in the table, with 22 points from 16 games, following a 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest at the weekend.

"He was a really good manager. I still really like him," Van de Ven told a podcast.

"I don't know how everything went behind the scenes. I didn't expect it. It was odd how everything went afterwards - he's the manager that brought a trophy to Tottenham," he continued.

"Afterwards, when he got sacked, I texted to my dad and my mates and said, 'I never expected this.'"

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

Postecoglou joined Spurs from Celtic before the 2023-24 season, taking over from Conte. He made a bright start with his offensive philosophy of play, amassing an impressive points haul from his first ten Premier League games.

Nevertheless, that unbeaten run came to an abrupt end with four defeats in five games, and the team's season tailed off, ultimately missing out on a top-four finish by a mere two-point margin.

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

Lacking a Plan B

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Netherlands international Van de Ven thinks the squad was missing a "alternative strategy" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero spoke about adopting a more defensive approach with the coach.

"I enjoyed the offensive play at that time but I appreciate what we have now with our current manager. We are more solid defensively. I dislike being vulnerable every game on the counter-attack," he said.

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

"However, managers study everything and opponents figured out what we were doing. Sometimes we lacked a plan B and we were getting exposed. We didn't have solutions to resolve it."

"On one occasion Romero and I approached the manager and suggested we should adjust tactically and be more defensive to make sure we win those games. He was like, 'I understand with you but I want you two guys to handle this on the pitch, ensure everybody knows.'"