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Spurs defender Micky van de Ven has admitted he "was completely surprised by" the club's move to part ways with ex-boss Postecoglou.

The Australian's two-year tenure came to an end a just 16 days after he led the team 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 Premier League, with the team finishing in a lowly 17th place in Postecoglou's final campaign at the helm.

He was replaced by former Brentford boss Thomas Frank during the summer, but Spurs are presently in 11th place, with 22 points from 16 games, following a 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

"He was a fantastic manager. I have a lot of respect for him," the Dutch defender stated on a podcast.

"I'm not sure how everything went behind the scenes. I didn't expect it. It was strange how everything went afterwards - he is the coach that won silverware to Tottenham," he continued.

"Afterwards, when he got sacked, I texted to my father and my mates and said, 'This was the last thing I thought would happen.'"

The Rise and Fall

Postecoglou arrived at Tottenham from Scottish champions Celtic ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, replacing Antonio Conte. He enjoyed early success with his offensive philosophy of play, amassing 26 points from his first ten Premier League games.

Nevertheless, that unbeaten run was halted with four defeats in five games, and the team's form deteriorated, eventually missing out on Champions League qualification by a narrow two-point margin.

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

Lacking a Plan B

Although he enjoyed the attacking approach, Netherlands international the defender believes the squad was missing a "alternative strategy" and revealed he and defensive partner Cristian Romero spoke about adopting a more defensive approach with the manager.

"I enjoyed the attacking football at that time but I like what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more solid at the back. I don't like 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."

"However, managers study everything and opponents knew what we were doing. Sometimes we didn't really have a backup plan and we were being caught out. We didn't have solutions to get out."

"At one point me and Romero walked up to the manager and suggested we need to adjust tactically and play more defensive to make sure we secure victory in those games. He was like, 'I understand with you but I expect you two guys to handle this on the pitch, ensure everybody knows.'"