🔗 Share this article

Tottenham Hotspur defender Van de Ven has admitted he "was completely surprised by" the club's decision to dismiss former manager Ange Postecoglou.

The Australian's spell in charge was terminated a mere over two weeks after he led the team to a win in the European final, delivering the team's first piece of silverware in nearly two decades.

However, this continental triumph was not mirrored in the domestic league, with the side ending up in a disappointing 17th position in Postecoglou's final season at the helm.

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

"He is a really good manager. I still really like 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 strange how everything went afterwards - he's the manager that brought a trophy to the club," he added.

"Later, when he got sacked, I sent a message to my dad and my friends and said, 'I never expected this.'"

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

Postecoglou joined Tottenham from Scottish champions Celtic ahead of the 2023-24 season, taking over from Antonio Conte. He enjoyed early success with his offensive philosophy of play, collecting 26 points from his first ten Premier League games.

However, that unbeaten run was halted with four defeats in five games, and the club's season tailed off, eventually missing out on a top-four finish by a narrow two-point margin.

The following season, they managed only 11 of their 38 Premier League fixtures.

Tactical Concerns Revealed

While he appreciated the attacking approach, Dutch international Van de Ven thinks the team was missing a "alternative strategy" and revealed he and fellow centre-back 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 our current manager. We are more secure at the back. I dislike getting exposed every game on the counter-attack," he said.

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

"However, managers study everything and people knew what we were doing. Sometimes we didn't really have a plan B and we were being caught out. We didn't have answers to resolve it."

"On one occasion me and Romero approached the gaffer and said we need to adjust tactically and play 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, make sure everybody knows.'"