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Spurs defender Van de Ven has revealed he "never expected" the club's move to part ways with ex-boss Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's two-year tenure came to an end a just over two weeks after he led Tottenham to a win in the European final, delivering the club's first major trophy in nearly two decades.

However, this continental triumph was not matched in the domestic league, with the team ending up in a lowly 17th place in Postecoglou's final season in charge.

He was replaced by ex-Brentford manager Thomas Frank during the off-season, but Spurs 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," Van de Ven told The Overlap podcast.

"I'm not sure how everything went behind the scenes. It came as a shock. It was strange how everything went afterwards - he is the coach that brought a trophy to Tottenham," he continued.

"Later, when he was dismissed, I sent a message to my dad and my friends 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 before the 2023-24 season, taking over from Antonio Conte. He made a bright start with his attacking style of play, amassing an impressive points haul from his opening 10 Premier League games.

Nevertheless, that fine start came to an abrupt end with four losses in five games, and the team's season tailed off, eventually failing to secure Champions League qualification by a mere two-point margin.

In the next campaign, they won just 11 of their 38 Premier League fixtures.

Lacking a Plan B

While he appreciated the attacking approach, Netherlands international Van de Ven thinks the squad lacked a "alternative strategy" and disclosed he and defensive partner Romero spoke about taking a more cautious style with the coach.

"I enjoyed the attacking football at that time but I like what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more secure defensively. I dislike getting exposed every game on the counter-attack," he said.

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

"However, coaches analyse everything and opponents knew what we were doing. Sometimes we lacked a plan B and we were getting exposed. We lacked solutions to get out."

"On one occasion Romero and I walked up to the gaffer and suggested we should change some things and play more defensive to ensure we win those games. He was like, 'I understand with you but I want you two guys to sort this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"