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Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven has revealed he "was completely surprised by" the club's decision to part ways with former manager Ange Postecoglou.

The Australian's spell in charge came to an end a mere 16 days after he led Tottenham to a win in the Europa League final, delivering the team's first major trophy in nearly two decades.

However, this continental triumph was not mirrored in the Premier League, with the team finishing in a disappointing 17th place in his last season in charge.

He was replaced by former Brentford boss Frank during the summer, but Tottenham are presently 11th in the table, with 22 points, following a 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest at the weekend.

"He is a really good manager. I have a lot of respect for him," the Dutch defender told a podcast.

"I don't know how everything went behind the scenes. I didn't expect it. It was strange how everything went after - he is the coach that won silverware to Tottenham," he added.

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

The Rise and Fall

The Australian manager joined Spurs from Celtic ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, taking over from Conte. He made a bright start with his attacking style of play, collecting an impressive points haul from his first ten league matches.

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

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

Tactical Concerns Revealed

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Dutch international the defender believes the team was missing a "plan B" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero spoke about taking a more defensive approach with the manager.

"I liked the attacking football at that time but I like what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more solid at the back. I don't like getting exposed every game on the counter-attack," he explained.

"At the beginning under Postecoglou, no team was used to playing against our system. We were playing exceptional 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 lacked answers to resolve it."

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