Tottenham Defender Micky van de Ven Shares Shock Over Ange Postecoglou Dismissal

Spurs centre-back Micky van de Ven has admitted he "never expected" 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 guided Tottenham to a win in the Europa League final, securing the club's first piece of silverware in 17 years.

Yet, this European success was not mirrored in the domestic league, with the side ending up in a lowly 17th place in Postecoglou's final campaign at the helm.

He was succeeded by former Brentford boss Thomas Frank during the summer, but Tottenham are presently 11th in the table, with 22 points from 16 games, following a 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest at the weekend.

"He is a fantastic manager. I have a lot of respect for him," the Dutch defender told The Overlap podcast.

"I don't know how everything went behind the scenes. I didn't expect it. It was strange how everything went afterwards - he's the manager that brought a trophy to the club," he added.

"Later, when he got sacked, 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 campaign, replacing Conte. He made a bright start with his offensive philosophy of play, collecting an impressive points haul from his first ten league matches.

Nevertheless, that fine start was halted with four losses in five games, and the club's season tailed off, ultimately missing out on a top-four finish by a mere two points.

In the next campaign, they managed only 11 out of 38 Premier League fixtures.

Tactical Concerns Revealed

While he appreciated Postecoglou's style, Netherlands international the defender thinks the team was missing a "alternative strategy" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Romero spoke about taking a more defensive approach with the manager.

"I liked the attacking football under Postecoglou but I appreciate what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more solid defensively. I don't like getting exposed every game on the counter-attack," he said.

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

"But, managers study everything and people knew what we were doing. At times we lacked a backup plan and we were getting exposed. We didn't have solutions to resolve it."

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