Tottenham Centre-Back Van de Ven Shares Surprise At Ange Postecoglou Sacking

Spurs defender Micky van de Ven has admitted he "was completely surprised by" the club's decision to part ways with former manager Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's spell in charge came to an end a mere 16 days after he led Tottenham to a win in the Europa League final, delivering the club's first piece of silverware in nearly two decades.

However, this continental triumph was not matched in the Premier League, with the team finishing in a lowly 17th place in his last campaign at the helm.

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

"He was a fantastic manager. I still really like him," the Dutch defender told a podcast.

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

"Afterwards, when he was dismissed, I sent a message to my father and my friends and said, 'This was the last thing I thought would happen.'"

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

Postecoglou arrived at Spurs from Celtic ahead of the 2023-24 season, taking over from Conte. He made a bright start with his offensive philosophy of play, amassing an impressive points haul from his opening 10 league matches.

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

In the next campaign, they won just 11 out of 38 league matches.

Lacking a Plan B

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Dutch international Van de Ven believes the squad was missing a "alternative strategy" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero spoke about taking a more cautious style with the manager.

"I liked the offensive play at that time but I appreciate what we have now with our current manager. We are more solid defensively. I dislike being vulnerable every game on the counter-attack," he said.

"At the beginning with that system, no team was accustomed to playing against our system. We were playing exceptional football."

"However, coaches analyse everything and people 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 Romero and I approached the gaffer and said we should adjust tactically and be more defensive to ensure 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.'"