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Spurs centre-back Van de Ven has revealed he "was completely surprised by" the club's decision to dismiss former manager Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's spell in charge was terminated a just over two weeks after he guided Tottenham to a win in the Europa League final, securing the club's first piece of silverware in nearly two decades.

However, this continental triumph was not mirrored in the Premier League, with the team ending up in a disappointing 17th position in Postecoglou's final season in charge.

He was replaced by ex-Brentford manager Frank during the summer, but Tottenham are presently in 11th place, with 22 points, following a 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest at the weekend.

"He is 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 behind the scenes. It came as a shock. It was odd how everything went after - he is the coach that won silverware to Tottenham," he continued.

"Afterwards, when he was dismissed, I sent a message to my father and my friends and said, 'I never expected this.'"

The Rise and Fall

Postecoglou joined Tottenham from Celtic ahead of 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 losses in five matches, and the club's season tailed off, eventually failing to secure Champions League qualification by a mere two points.

The following season, they managed only 11 of their 38 Premier League fixtures.

Lacking a Plan B

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Netherlands international the defender thinks the squad was missing a "plan B" and disclosed he and defensive partner Cristian Romero spoke about adopting a more cautious style with the manager.

"I enjoyed the offensive play under Postecoglou but I like what we have now with our current manager. We are more solid at the back. I dislike being vulnerable every game on the break," he said.

"At the beginning under Postecoglou, no team was accustomed to playing against our style. We were playing unbelievable football."

"But, coaches study everything and people figured out what we were doing. At times we lacked a backup plan and we were getting exposed. We lacked solutions to get out."

"On one occasion me and Romero approached the gaffer and said we need to change some things and be more defensive to make sure we secure victory in those games. He was responded, 'I agree with you but I expect you two guys to sort this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"