🔗 Share this article

Tottenham Hotspur defender Van de Ven has revealed he "never expected" the club's move to dismiss ex-boss Postecoglou.

The Australian's two-year tenure was terminated a just 16 days after he guided Tottenham to victory in the Europa League final, securing the team's first major trophy in nearly two decades.

Yet, this continental triumph was not matched in the domestic league, with the side ending up in a lowly 17th position in Postecoglou's final campaign at the helm.

He was replaced by ex-Brentford manager Frank during the off-season, but Spurs 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 have a lot of respect for him," Van de Ven stated on a podcast.

"I don't know how everything went behind the scenes. I didn't expect it. It was odd how everything went afterwards - he is the coach that brought a trophy to Tottenham," he added.

"Later, when he was dismissed, I texted to my dad and my mates and said, 'This was the last thing I thought would happen.'"

The Rise and Fall

Postecoglou joined Tottenham from Celtic before the 2023-24 season, taking over from Conte. He made a bright start with his offensive philosophy of play, collecting 26 points from his first ten Premier League games.

Nevertheless, that fine start was halted with four losses in five matches, and the team's season tailed off, ultimately missing out on Champions League qualification by a narrow two-point margin.

The following season, they won just 11 out of 38 league matches.

Tactical Concerns Revealed

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Dutch international the defender believes the squad lacked a "plan B" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero spoke about adopting a more cautious style with the coach.

"I liked the attacking football under Postecoglou but I like what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more secure defensively. I don't like getting exposed every game on the counter-attack," he said.

"Initially under Postecoglou, no team was used to playing against our style. We were playing unbelievable football."

"But, managers analyse everything and opponents knew what we were doing. Sometimes we didn't really have a backup plan 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 should change some things and play more defensive to make sure we win those games. He was responded, 'I agree with you but I want you two guys to sort this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"