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Spurs centre-back Micky van de Ven has admitted he "was completely surprised by" the club's move to dismiss ex-boss Postecoglou.

The Australian's two-year tenure was terminated a just over two weeks after he led Tottenham to victory in the Europa League final, delivering the team's first piece of silverware in nearly two decades.

However, this continental triumph was not matched in the domestic league, with the side finishing in a lowly 17th position in his last campaign at the helm.

He was succeeded by former Brentford boss Thomas Frank during the off-season, but Tottenham currently sit 11th in the table, with 22 points, following a 3-0 loss 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'm not sure 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 continued.

"Later, when he got sacked, I texted to my dad 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 before the 2023-24 season, taking over from Antonio Conte. He enjoyed early success with his offensive philosophy of play, collecting 26 points from his first ten league matches.

Nevertheless, that fine start came to an abrupt end with four defeats in five matches, and the club's form deteriorated, eventually failing to secure Champions League qualification by a mere two-point margin.

In the next campaign, they managed only 11 of their 38 league matches.

Lacking a Plan B

While he appreciated the attacking approach, Dutch international the defender thinks the team was missing a "alternative strategy" and revealed he and defensive partner Cristian Romero spoke about adopting a more cautious style with the coach.

"I enjoyed the offensive play under Postecoglou 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 said.

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

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

"On one occasion me and Romero approached the manager and suggested we should change some things and play more defensive to ensure we win those games. He was responded, 'I understand with you but I want you two guys to handle this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"