🔗 Share this article

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

The Australian's two-year tenure came to an end a just 16 days after he led Tottenham to victory in the European final, securing the club's first piece of silverware in nearly two decades.

Yet, this continental triumph was not matched in the domestic league, with the team finishing in a lowly 17th place in Postecoglou's final season at the helm.

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

"He was a fantastic manager. I still really like him," the Dutch defender told The Overlap podcast.

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

"Afterwards, when he got sacked, I texted to my dad and my friends and said, 'This was the last thing I thought would happen.'"

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

The Australian manager arrived at Tottenham from Celtic ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, replacing Conte. He enjoyed early success with his offensive philosophy of play, collecting an impressive points haul from his first ten league matches.

Nevertheless, that fine start came to an abrupt end with four defeats in five matches, and the team's form deteriorated, ultimately missing out on Champions League qualification by a narrow two points.

In the next campaign, they managed only 11 out of 38 Premier League fixtures.

Tactical Concerns Revealed

While he appreciated Postecoglou's style, Netherlands international the defender thinks the team was missing a "plan B" and disclosed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero spoke about adopting a more defensive approach with the manager.

"I enjoyed the offensive play at that time but I like what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more solid defensively. I dislike being vulnerable every game on the counter-attack," he explained.

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

"But, managers study 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 solutions to resolve it."

"At one point me and Romero walked up to the manager and suggested we need to adjust tactically and play more defensive to make sure we secure victory in those games. He was like, 'I understand with you but I expect you two guys to sort this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"