Spurs Centre-Back Van de Ven Shares Surprise At Postecoglou Dismissal

Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven has admitted he "was completely surprised by" the club's move to dismiss former manager Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's two-year tenure was terminated a mere 16 days after he led the team to victory in the Europa League final, securing the club's first major trophy in 17 years.

Yet, this continental triumph was not mirrored in the Premier League, with the side finishing in a lowly 17th place in his last campaign at the helm.

He was replaced by ex-Brentford manager Thomas Frank during the off-season, but Tottenham currently sit in 11th place, with 22 points from 16 games, following a 3-0 loss to Forest at the weekend.

"He was a fantastic manager. I have a lot of respect for him," Van de Ven told The Overlap 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 Tottenham," he continued.

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

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

Postecoglou joined Spurs from Scottish champions Celtic ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, replacing Antonio Conte. He enjoyed early success with his offensive philosophy of play, collecting 26 points from his opening 10 Premier League games.

However, that fine start came to an abrupt end with four losses in five matches, and the team's season tailed off, eventually failing to secure Champions League qualification by a narrow two points.

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

Tactical Concerns Revealed

Although he enjoyed the attacking approach, Netherlands international Van de Ven thinks the team lacked a "plan B" and revealed he and defensive partner Romero discussed adopting a more defensive approach with the coach.

"I liked the attacking football at that time but I appreciate what we have now with our current manager. We are more secure at the back. I dislike getting exposed every game on the counter-attack," he said.

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

"But, coaches 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 get out."

"On one occasion me and Romero walked up to the manager and suggested we should change some things and be more defensive to ensure we win those games. He was responded, 'I agree with you but I expect you two guys to handle this on the pitch, ensure everybody knows.'"