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Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven has admitted he "never expected" the club's move to part ways with former manager Postecoglou.

The Australian's two-year tenure was terminated a just 16 days after he led Tottenham to a win in the European final, delivering the club's first major trophy in 17 years.

However, this continental triumph was not mirrored in the domestic league, with the side finishing in a lowly 17th position in his last season in charge.

He was succeeded by ex-Brentford manager Frank during the off-season, but Spurs currently sit in 11th place, with 22 points, following a 3-0 loss to Forest on Sunday.

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

"I don't know how everything went backstage. It came as a shock. It was odd how everything went afterwards - he's the manager that brought a trophy to Tottenham," he added.

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

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

The Australian manager arrived at Spurs from Scottish champions Celtic ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, replacing Conte. He made a bright start with his offensive philosophy of play, amassing an impressive points haul from his first ten Premier League games.

Nevertheless, that fine start came to an abrupt end with four defeats in five matches, and the team's season tailed off, eventually missing out on a top-four finish by a mere two points.

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

Lacking a Plan B

Although he enjoyed the attacking approach, Netherlands international the defender thinks the team was missing a "alternative strategy" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero discussed taking a more defensive approach with the coach.

"I liked the offensive play under Postecoglou but I like what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more solid at the back. I don't like being vulnerable every game on the counter-attack," he said.

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

"But, managers analyse everything and opponents figured out what we were doing. Sometimes we lacked a backup plan and we were being caught out. We lacked solutions to resolve it."

"At one point me and Romero walked up to the manager and suggested we should adjust tactically 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, ensure everybody knows.'"