🔗 Share this article

Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Van de Ven has admitted he "was completely surprised by" the club's move to dismiss former manager Ange Postecoglou.

The Australian's two-year tenure came to an end a just over two weeks after he guided the team to a win in the Europa League final, delivering the team's first major trophy in 17 years.

However, this continental triumph was not mirrored in the domestic league, with the side ending up in a lowly 17th place in Postecoglou's final season at the helm.

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

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

"I don't know how everything went backstage. I didn't expect it. It was strange how everything went after - he is the coach that brought a trophy to Tottenham," he continued.

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

The Rise and Fall

The Australian manager arrived at Spurs 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.

However, that unbeaten run came to an abrupt end with four defeats in five matches, and the club's form deteriorated, eventually failing to secure a top-four finish by a narrow two points.

The following season, they won just 11 of their 38 league matches.

Tactical Concerns Revealed

While he appreciated the attacking approach, Dutch international Van de Ven believes the squad was missing a "alternative strategy" and disclosed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero spoke about adopting a more defensive approach with the coach.

"I liked the attacking football at that time but I like what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more solid at the back. I dislike being vulnerable every game on the counter-attack," he explained.

"Initially under Postecoglou, 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 backup plan and we were being caught out. We lacked solutions to resolve it."

"On one occasion Romero and I walked up to the manager and suggested we need to change some things and be more defensive to make sure we secure victory in those games. He was responded, 'I understand with you but I expect you two guys to handle this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"