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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 came to an end a mere 16 days after he led the team to victory in the European final, delivering the club's first piece of silverware in nearly two decades.

Yet, this European success was not matched in the Premier League, with the team finishing in a lowly 17th position in Postecoglou's final season in charge.

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

"He is a fantastic manager. I still really like 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 after - he's the manager that brought a trophy to the club," he added.

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

The Rise and Fall

Postecoglou joined Spurs from Scottish champions Celtic before the 2023/24 campaign, replacing Conte. He made a bright start with his offensive philosophy of play, collecting 26 points from his opening 10 league matches.

However, that fine start was halted with four defeats in five matches, and the club's form deteriorated, eventually failing to secure a top-four finish by a narrow two-point margin.

The following season, they managed only 11 of their 38 Premier League fixtures.

Lacking a Plan B

While he appreciated the attacking approach, Dutch international the defender believes the squad was missing a "alternative strategy" and disclosed he and defensive partner Romero spoke about taking a more defensive approach with the manager.

"I enjoyed the offensive play at that time but I like what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more solid 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 exceptional football."

"However, managers study everything and opponents knew what we were doing. Sometimes we lacked a backup plan and we were getting exposed. We didn't have answers to resolve it."

"At one point Romero and I walked up to the manager and said we need to adjust tactically and be more defensive to make sure we win those games. He was responded, 'I agree with you but I expect you two guys to sort this on the pitch, ensure everybody knows.'"