🔗 Share this article

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

Postecoglou's spell in charge came to an end a mere 16 days after he guided the team to a win in the European final, securing the team's first piece of silverware in 17 years.

However, this continental triumph was not matched in the domestic league, with the team ending up in a lowly 17th place in his last campaign in charge.

He was replaced by ex-Brentford manager Thomas Frank during the summer, but Spurs are presently in 11th place, with 22 points, following a 3-0 loss to 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'm not sure how everything went backstage. It came as a shock. It was odd how everything went afterwards - he's the manager that won silverware to the club," he added.

"Afterwards, when he was dismissed, I sent a message to my dad and my mates and said, 'This was the last thing I thought would happen.'"

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

Postecoglou joined Tottenham from Celtic ahead of the 2023-24 season, taking over from Antonio Conte. He enjoyed early success with his attacking style of play, collecting an impressive points haul from his first ten league matches.

Nevertheless, that unbeaten run was halted with four losses in five games, and the club's season tailed off, ultimately missing out on a top-four finish by a narrow two points.

In the next campaign, they managed only 11 of their 38 league matches.

Lacking a Plan B

While he appreciated Postecoglou's style, Dutch international Van de Ven believes the squad lacked a "plan B" and revealed he and defensive partner Cristian Romero spoke about taking a more defensive approach with the coach.

"I enjoyed the offensive play under Postecoglou but I like what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more secure defensively. I don't like being vulnerable every game on the break," he said.

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

"But, managers study everything and opponents knew what we were doing. At times we lacked a backup plan and we were being caught out. We didn't have answers to resolve it."

"At one point Romero and I approached the gaffer and suggested we need to change some things and play more defensive to ensure we win those games. He was responded, 'I agree with you but I expect you two guys to sort this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"