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Spurs defender Micky van de Ven has admitted he "never expected" the club's move to dismiss former manager Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's spell in charge was terminated a just 16 days after he led Tottenham to victory in the European final, securing the team's first major trophy in 17 years.

However, this European success was not matched in the domestic league, with the team ending up in a disappointing 17th place in his last season in charge.

He was replaced by former Brentford boss Frank during the summer, but Tottenham are presently in 11th place, with 22 points, following a 3-0 loss to Forest on Sunday.

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

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

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

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

The Australian manager joined Spurs from Scottish champions Celtic ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, taking over from Antonio Conte. He enjoyed early success with his attacking style of play, amassing 26 points from his opening 10 league matches.

Nevertheless, that fine start came to an abrupt end with four losses in five matches, and the club's season tailed off, eventually failing to secure a top-four finish by a narrow two-point margin.

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

Lacking a Plan B

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Netherlands international the defender thinks the team lacked a "alternative strategy" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero discussed taking a more defensive approach with the manager.

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

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

"However, managers analyse everything and opponents figured out what we were doing. Sometimes we didn't really have a plan B and we were getting exposed. We didn't have answers to resolve it."

"On one occasion me and Romero walked up to the gaffer and said we should change some things and play more defensive to ensure we secure victory in those games. He was like, 'I understand with you but I expect you two guys to sort this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"