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Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Van de Ven has admitted he "never expected" the club's move to part ways with former manager Postecoglou.

The Australian's spell in charge came to an end a mere over two weeks after he guided the team to a win in the Europa League final, securing the team's first piece of silverware in 17 years.

Yet, this continental triumph was not matched in the domestic league, with the team ending up in a lowly 17th place in his last season at the helm.

He was succeeded by ex-Brentford manager Thomas Frank during the off-season, but Spurs 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 fantastic manager. I still really like him," the Dutch defender stated on The Overlap podcast.

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

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

The Rise and Fall

The Australian manager arrived at Spurs from Celtic before the 2023/24 campaign, taking over from Conte. He enjoyed early success with his attacking style of play, amassing 26 points from his first ten Premier League games.

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

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

Lacking a Plan B

Although he enjoyed the attacking approach, Dutch international Van de Ven believes the team was missing a "alternative strategy" and disclosed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero discussed adopting a more cautious style with the coach.

"I enjoyed the attacking football at that time but I appreciate what we have now with our current manager. We are more solid at the back. I don't like being vulnerable every game on the break," he explained.

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

"But, coaches analyse everything and opponents knew what we were doing. Sometimes we didn't really have a plan B and we were being caught out. We didn't have solutions to resolve it."

"On one occasion Romero and I approached the manager and suggested we should adjust tactically and play more defensive to ensure we win those games. He was responded, 'I agree with you but I expect you two guys to handle this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"