🔗 Share this article

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 over two weeks after he led Tottenham to victory in the European final, securing the club's first piece of silverware in nearly two decades.

However, this continental triumph was not mirrored in the domestic league, with the team ending up in a lowly 17th position in his last campaign at the helm.

He was replaced by ex-Brentford manager Thomas Frank during the off-season, but Spurs currently sit 11th in the table, with 22 points from 16 games, following a 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

"He is a fantastic manager. I still really like him," Van de Ven told 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 won silverware to the club," he continued.

"Later, when he got sacked, I texted 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 Spurs from Scottish champions Celtic before the 2023-24 season, taking over from Antonio Conte. He made a bright start with his offensive philosophy of play, amassing an impressive points haul from his opening 10 league matches.

However, that fine start was halted with four defeats in five games, and the club's season tailed off, eventually failing to secure Champions League qualification by a mere two points.

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

Lacking a Plan B

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Netherlands international Van de Ven believes the team lacked a "plan B" and revealed he and defensive partner Cristian Romero spoke about adopting a more defensive approach with the manager.

"I liked the attacking football at that time but I like what we have now with our current manager. We are more solid at the back. I don't like being vulnerable every game on the counter-attack," he explained.

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

"However, coaches study everything and people knew what we were doing. Sometimes we didn't really have a backup plan and we were getting exposed. We didn't have answers to get out."

"At one point me and Romero walked up to the manager and said we should change some things and be more defensive to ensure we secure victory in those games. He was responded, 'I understand with you but I expect you two guys to sort this on the pitch, ensure everybody knows.'"