🔗 Share this article

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

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

Yet, this European success was not mirrored in the domestic league, with the team finishing in a lowly 17th position in his last campaign at the helm.

He was succeeded by former Brentford boss Thomas Frank during the off-season, but Tottenham currently sit 11th in the table, with 22 points, following a 3-0 loss to Forest at the weekend.

"He was a fantastic manager. I have a lot of respect for him," the Dutch defender stated on a podcast.

"I'm not sure how everything went behind the scenes. I didn't expect it. It was strange how everything went afterwards - he's the manager that brought a trophy to Tottenham," he added.

"Later, when he was dismissed, I sent a message to my father and my mates and said, 'I never expected this.'"

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

The Australian manager joined Tottenham from Celtic ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, taking over from Antonio Conte. He made a bright start with his offensive philosophy of play, amassing 26 points from his first ten Premier League games.

Nevertheless, that fine start 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-point margin.

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

Lacking a Plan B

While he appreciated the attacking approach, Dutch international Van de Ven thinks the squad lacked a "alternative strategy" and disclosed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero discussed taking a more defensive approach with the coach.

"I enjoyed the attacking football under Postecoglou but I like what we have now with our current manager. We are more secure defensively. I don't like getting exposed every game on the break," he explained.

"Initially with that system, no team was used to playing against our system. We were playing unbelievable football."

"But, coaches analyse everything and people figured out what we were doing. Sometimes we didn't really have a plan B and we were being caught out. We lacked solutions to get out."

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