🔗 Share this article

Tottenham Hotspur defender Van de Ven has admitted he "was completely surprised by" the club's decision to part ways with former manager Ange Postecoglou.

The Australian's two-year tenure was terminated a mere over two weeks after he guided Tottenham to victory in the Europa League final, securing the team's first piece of silverware in 17 years.

However, this European success was not matched in the domestic league, with the team ending up in a disappointing 17th position in his last campaign at the helm.

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

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

"I'm not sure how everything went backstage. It came as a shock. It was odd how everything went after - he's the manager that brought a trophy to Tottenham," he continued.

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

The Rise and Fall

The Australian manager joined Spurs from Celtic before the 2023/24 campaign, taking over from Conte. He enjoyed early success with his offensive philosophy of play, collecting an impressive points haul from his opening 10 league matches.

However, that unbeaten run was halted with four defeats in five matches, and the club's season tailed off, ultimately failing to secure Champions League qualification by a narrow two points.

The following season, they managed only 11 out of 38 league matches.

Lacking a Plan B

While he appreciated the attacking approach, Dutch international the defender thinks the squad lacked a "plan B" and disclosed he and defensive partner Romero spoke about adopting a more defensive approach with the coach.

"I liked the attacking football under Postecoglou but I appreciate what we have now with our current manager. We are more secure at the back. I dislike being vulnerable every game on the break," he said.

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

"But, managers analyse everything and opponents figured out what we were doing. Sometimes we lacked a plan B and we were being caught out. We didn't have solutions to resolve it."

"At one point Romero and I approached the gaffer and suggested we need to change some things and play more defensive to ensure we secure victory in those games. He was responded, 'I agree with you but I expect you two guys to handle this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"