Spurs Centre-Back Van de Ven Shares Surprise Over Postecoglou Sacking

Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Micky van de Ven has revealed he "never expected" the club's move to dismiss ex-boss Postecoglou.

The Australian's spell in charge came to an end a just over two weeks after he guided the team to victory in the European final, securing the club's first piece of silverware in 17 years.

However, this continental triumph was not matched in the Premier League, with the team finishing in a disappointing 17th position in his last campaign in charge.

He was replaced by ex-Brentford manager Frank during the summer, but Tottenham are presently in 11th place, with 22 points from 16 games, following a 3-0 loss to Forest on Sunday.

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

"I don't know how everything went behind the scenes. It came as a shock. It was strange how everything went afterwards - he's the manager that brought a trophy to the club," he continued.

"Later, when he was dismissed, I texted to my father and my mates and said, 'I never expected this.'"

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

The Australian manager arrived at Tottenham from Scottish champions Celtic ahead of the 2023-24 season, taking over from Conte. He enjoyed early success with his offensive philosophy of play, collecting an impressive points haul from his first ten Premier League games.

However, that fine start came to an abrupt end with four losses in five games, and the team's form deteriorated, ultimately missing out on a top-four finish by a narrow two points.

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

Lacking a Plan B

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Netherlands international Van de Ven thinks the squad lacked a "alternative strategy" and revealed he and defensive partner Romero discussed adopting a more cautious style with the manager.

"I enjoyed the attacking football at that time but I like what we have now with our current manager. We are more secure defensively. I don't like being vulnerable every game on the counter-attack," he explained.

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

"But, coaches analyse everything and opponents knew what we were doing. At times we lacked a backup plan and we were being caught out. We lacked solutions to resolve it."

"On one occasion me and Romero walked up to the manager and said we need to change some things and play more defensive to make sure we secure victory in 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.'"