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Spurs defender Micky van de Ven has admitted he "never expected" the club's move to dismiss ex-boss Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's two-year tenure was terminated a mere 16 days after he led the team to victory in the European final, securing the team's first major trophy in nearly two decades.

Yet, this continental triumph was not matched in the Premier League, with the team finishing in a lowly 17th position in his last season at the helm.

He was succeeded by ex-Brentford manager Frank during the off-season, but Tottenham are presently 11th in the table, with 22 points, following a 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

"He was a fantastic manager. I have a lot of respect for him," Van de Ven stated on a podcast.

"I don't know how everything went behind the scenes. It came as a shock. It was strange how everything went afterwards - he is the coach that brought a trophy to the club," he added.

"Afterwards, when he got sacked, I sent a message to my dad and my mates and said, 'I never expected this.'"

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

Postecoglou joined Tottenham 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, collecting an impressive points haul from his opening 10 league matches.

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

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

Tactical Concerns Revealed

Although he enjoyed the attacking approach, Dutch international the defender thinks the team was missing a "alternative strategy" and disclosed he and fellow centre-back Romero discussed taking a more defensive approach with the coach.

"I liked the attacking football under Postecoglou but I like what we have now with our current manager. We are more secure at the back. I dislike getting exposed every game on the counter-attack," he explained.

"At the beginning under Postecoglou, no team was used to playing against our system. We were playing exceptional football."

"But, coaches study everything and people figured out what we were doing. Sometimes we didn't really have a backup plan and we were being caught out. We didn't have answers to resolve it."

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