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Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven has revealed he "was completely surprised by" the club's move to part ways with former manager Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's two-year tenure came to an end a just over two weeks after he guided Tottenham to victory in the Europa League final, delivering the club's first major trophy in nearly two decades.

However, this European success was not mirrored in the domestic league, with the team ending up in a lowly 17th place in Postecoglou's final campaign at the helm.

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

"He was a really good manager. I still really like him," Van de Ven stated on The Overlap podcast.

"I don't know how everything went backstage. It came as a shock. It was strange how everything went after - he's the manager that brought a trophy to Tottenham," he continued.

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

The Rise and Fall

Postecoglou joined Tottenham from Celtic ahead of the 2023-24 season, replacing Antonio Conte. He made a bright start with his attacking style of play, amassing 26 points from his opening 10 league matches.

Nevertheless, that unbeaten run came to an abrupt end with four losses in five matches, and the club's season tailed off, ultimately missing out on a top-four finish by a narrow two-point margin.

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

Lacking a Plan B

While he appreciated the attacking approach, Netherlands international Van de Ven thinks the team was missing a "plan B" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Romero spoke about taking a more defensive approach with the coach.

"I enjoyed the attacking football at that time but I like what we have now with our current manager. We are more secure defensively. I dislike getting exposed every game on the break," he said.

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

"However, managers study everything and opponents 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 resolve it."

"On one occasion Romero and I approached the manager and said we should change some things and be more defensive to ensure we win those games. He was like, 'I agree with you but I expect you two guys to sort this on the pitch, ensure everybody knows.'"