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Spurs defender Van de Ven has admitted he "was completely surprised by" the club's decision to part ways with ex-boss Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's spell in charge came to an end a just over two weeks after he led the team to a win in the Europa League final, securing the club's first piece of silverware in nearly two decades.

However, this continental triumph was not matched in the Premier League, with the team ending up in a lowly 17th position in Postecoglou's final season in charge.

He was succeeded by ex-Brentford manager Thomas Frank during the off-season, but Tottenham are presently 11th in the table, with 22 points from 16 games, following a 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest at the weekend.

"He was a fantastic manager. I still really like him," Van de Ven told a podcast.

"I don't know how everything went backstage. It came as a shock. It was odd how everything went afterwards - he's the manager that brought a trophy to the club," he added.

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

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

The Australian manager arrived at Spurs from Celtic ahead of the 2023-24 season, taking over from Antonio Conte. He enjoyed early success with his attacking style of play, collecting 26 points from his opening 10 Premier League games.

Nevertheless, that unbeaten run came to an abrupt end with four losses in five matches, and the team's season tailed off, ultimately failing to secure a top-four finish by a narrow two points.

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

Lacking a Plan B

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Dutch international Van de Ven believes the team lacked a "alternative strategy" and disclosed he and defensive partner Cristian Romero discussed taking a more defensive approach with the coach.

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

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

"However, managers analyse everything and opponents figured out what we were doing. At times we lacked a backup plan and we were getting exposed. We lacked solutions to resolve it."

"At one point me and Romero approached the manager and suggested we need to change some things and play more defensive to ensure we secure victory in those games. He was responded, 'I agree with you but I want you two guys to sort this on the pitch, ensure everybody knows.'"