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Spurs defender Van de Ven has revealed he "never expected" the club's move to dismiss ex-boss Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's two-year tenure was terminated a just over two weeks after he led the team to a win in the Europa League final, securing the team's first major trophy in nearly two decades.

Yet, this continental triumph was not mirrored in the Premier League, with the team ending up in a lowly 17th position in his last campaign in charge.

He was succeeded by former Brentford boss Thomas Frank during the summer, but Tottenham currently sit 11th in the table, with 22 points, following a 3-0 defeat to Forest on Sunday.

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

"I'm not sure how everything went behind the scenes. It came as a shock. It was strange how everything went afterwards - he is the coach that brought a trophy to Tottenham," he added.

"Later, 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

Postecoglou arrived at Tottenham from Celtic ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, taking over from Antonio Conte. He made a bright start with his attacking style of play, collecting an impressive points haul from his first ten Premier League games.

Nevertheless, that unbeaten run was halted with four losses in five games, and the team's season tailed off, ultimately missing out on a top-four finish by a narrow two points.

In the next campaign, they won just 11 of their 38 league matches.

Tactical Concerns Revealed

While he appreciated Postecoglou's style, Dutch international the defender thinks the squad lacked a "alternative strategy" and disclosed he and defensive partner Romero spoke about taking a more cautious style with the manager.

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

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

"But, coaches analyse everything and people knew what we were doing. Sometimes we lacked a backup plan and we were being caught out. We didn't have answers to resolve it."

"At one point Romero and I walked up to the manager and suggested we need to adjust tactically and be more defensive to ensure we win those games. He was like, 'I understand with you but I expect you two guys to handle this on the pitch, ensure everybody knows.'"