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Spurs centre-back Micky van de Ven has revealed he "never expected" the club's move to part ways with former manager Postecoglou.

The Australian's spell in charge came to an end a mere over two weeks after he led Tottenham to victory in the European final, delivering the team's first major trophy in nearly two decades.

However, this continental triumph was not matched in the domestic league, with the side ending up in a lowly 17th place in his last season at the helm.

He was succeeded by former Brentford boss Frank during the summer, but Tottenham currently sit 11th in the table, with 22 points, following a 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

"He was a really good manager. I have a lot of respect for him," Van de Ven stated on The Overlap podcast.

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

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

The Rise and Fall

Postecoglou arrived at Tottenham from Scottish champions Celtic before the 2023-24 season, replacing Antonio Conte. He made a bright start with his attacking style of play, amassing an impressive points haul from his opening 10 league matches.

However, that unbeaten run came to an abrupt end with four defeats in five games, and the club's season tailed off, eventually missing out on Champions League qualification by a mere two-point margin.

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

Tactical Concerns Revealed

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Dutch 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 coach.

"I enjoyed the offensive play under Postecoglou but I like what we have now with our current manager. We are more solid defensively. I don't like 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, managers analyse everything and opponents knew what we were doing. Sometimes we lacked a backup plan and we were getting exposed. We lacked solutions to get out."

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