Tottenham Defender Van de Ven Shares Surprise At Ange Postecoglou Dismissal

Spurs centre-back Van de Ven has admitted he "never expected" the club's move to dismiss former manager Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's spell in charge came to an end a mere 16 days after he led the team to victory in the Europa League final, delivering the team's first major trophy in nearly two decades.

However, this European success was not matched in the domestic league, with the side finishing in a disappointing 17th position in his last season in charge.

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

"He was a really good manager. I still really like him," the Dutch defender 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 afterwards - he's the manager that brought a trophy to the club," he continued.

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

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

Postecoglou joined Spurs from Celtic before the 2023/24 campaign, taking over from Conte. He enjoyed early success with his attacking style of play, amassing 26 points from his opening 10 Premier League games.

Nevertheless, that fine start was halted with four defeats in five games, and the club's form deteriorated, eventually failing to secure Champions League qualification by a narrow two points.

In the next campaign, they won just 11 of their 38 Premier League fixtures.

Lacking a Plan B

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Netherlands international Van de Ven thinks the squad lacked a "alternative strategy" and disclosed 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 getting exposed every game on the break," he said.

"Initially under Postecoglou, no team was accustomed to playing against our system. We were playing exceptional football."

"But, coaches analyse everything and opponents figured out what we were doing. Sometimes we lacked a plan B and we were getting exposed. We lacked solutions to get out."

"At one point Romero and I walked up to the manager and suggested we need to 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 handle this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"