Tottenham Defender Van de Ven Shares Surprise Over Ange Postecoglou Dismissal

Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Micky van de Ven has admitted he "was completely surprised by" the club's decision to part ways with former manager Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's spell in charge was terminated a just 16 days after he guided the team to a win in the Europa League final, securing the team's first piece of silverware in nearly two decades.

Yet, this European success was not mirrored in the Premier League, with the side ending up in a lowly 17th place in Postecoglou's final campaign in charge.

He was replaced by former Brentford boss Frank during the summer, but Spurs currently sit in 11th place, with 22 points from 16 games, following a 3-0 loss to Forest on Sunday.

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

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

"Afterwards, when he got sacked, I texted to my father and my friends 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 Antonio Conte. He made a bright start with his attacking style of play, collecting 26 points from his first ten league matches.

Nevertheless, that unbeaten run came to an abrupt end with four defeats in five matches, and the team's season tailed off, eventually missing out on Champions League qualification by a narrow two points.

In the next campaign, they won just 11 out of 38 league matches.

Lacking a Plan B

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Dutch international Van de Ven believes the squad was missing a "alternative strategy" and revealed he and defensive partner Romero discussed adopting a more cautious style with the manager.

"I liked the attacking football under Postecoglou but I like what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more solid at the back. I dislike getting exposed every game on the counter-attack," he explained.

"At the beginning with that system, no team was accustomed to playing against our style. We were playing exceptional football."

"But, managers analyse everything and opponents figured out what we were doing. Sometimes we didn't really have a plan B and we were getting exposed. We lacked answers to get out."

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