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Spurs centre-back Micky van de Ven has revealed he "was completely surprised by" the club's decision to part ways with former manager Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's spell in charge was terminated a mere over two weeks after he led the team to victory in the Europa League final, delivering the club's first piece of silverware in 17 years.

However, this European success was not matched in the domestic league, with the team finishing in a disappointing 17th place in his last campaign at the helm.

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

"He was a fantastic manager. I have a lot of respect for him," Van de Ven stated on The Overlap podcast.

"I don't know how everything went behind the scenes. It came as a shock. It was odd how everything went after - he's the manager that won silverware to Tottenham," he continued.

"Afterwards, when he was dismissed, I texted to my dad and my friends and said, 'I never expected this.'"

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

Postecoglou joined Tottenham from Celtic before the 2023-24 season, taking over from Conte. He enjoyed early success with his offensive philosophy of play, amassing 26 points from his opening 10 league matches.

Nevertheless, that fine start was halted with four defeats in five matches, and the team's form deteriorated, ultimately failing to secure Champions League qualification by a narrow two points.

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

Lacking a Plan B

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Netherlands international the defender thinks the team lacked a "alternative strategy" and disclosed he and fellow centre-back Romero spoke about adopting a more defensive approach with the manager.

"I enjoyed the offensive play at that time 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 said.

"At the beginning with that system, no team was used to playing against our style. We were playing unbelievable football."

"But, managers analyse everything and opponents knew what we were doing. Sometimes we lacked a plan B and we were being caught out. We lacked answers to get out."

"At one point me and Romero walked up to the manager and suggested we need to adjust tactically and play more defensive to ensure we secure victory in 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.'"