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Spurs defender Van de Ven has revealed he "was completely surprised by" the club's decision to dismiss former manager Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's spell in charge was terminated a mere 16 days after he guided Tottenham to a win in the European final, delivering the club's first major trophy in 17 years.

However, this European success was not matched in the Premier League, with the team finishing in a lowly 17th position in Postecoglou's final season in charge.

He was replaced by former Brentford boss Frank during the summer, but Spurs are presently in 11th place, with 22 points, following a 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

"He is a fantastic manager. I have a lot of respect for him," the Dutch defender told The Overlap podcast.

"I'm not sure how everything went backstage. It came as a shock. It was odd how everything went afterwards - he is the coach that won silverware to Tottenham," he continued.

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

The Rise and Fall

The Australian manager arrived at Spurs from Scottish champions Celtic ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, taking over from Conte. He enjoyed early success with his attacking style of play, amassing an impressive points haul from his first ten league matches.

Nevertheless, that fine start 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 mere two-point margin.

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

Lacking a Plan B

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Dutch international Van de Ven believes the team was missing a "alternative strategy" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Romero spoke about adopting a more cautious style with the coach.

"I enjoyed the offensive play at that time but I appreciate what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more solid at the back. I don't like getting exposed every game on the counter-attack," he said.

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

"But, managers analyse everything and people figured out what we were doing. Sometimes we lacked a plan B and we were getting exposed. We lacked answers to resolve it."

"At one point me and Romero walked up to the gaffer and said we should adjust tactically and be 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, ensure everybody knows.'"