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Spurs centre-back Micky van de Ven has admitted he "was completely surprised by" the club's move to dismiss ex-boss Ange Postecoglou.

The Australian's two-year tenure was terminated a mere 16 days after he led Tottenham to a win in the Europa League final, securing the club's first major trophy in nearly two decades.

Yet, this European success was not mirrored in the domestic league, with the team finishing in a lowly 17th place in his last campaign in charge.

He was replaced by ex-Brentford manager Frank during the off-season, but Spurs are presently 11th in the table, with 22 points, following a 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

"He is a really good manager. I still really like him," Van de Ven told a podcast.

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

"Afterwards, when he got sacked, I texted to my father and my mates and said, 'This was the last thing I thought would happen.'"

The Rise and Fall

The Australian manager joined Tottenham from Scottish champions Celtic ahead of the 2023-24 season, replacing Antonio Conte. He made a bright start with his offensive philosophy of play, amassing 26 points from his opening 10 league matches.

However, that unbeaten run came to an abrupt end with four defeats in five matches, and the club's season tailed off, ultimately missing out on a top-four finish by a mere two-point margin.

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

Lacking a Plan B

While he appreciated the attacking approach, Netherlands international the defender believes the team lacked a "plan B" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero discussed adopting a more cautious style with the coach.

"I liked the attacking football under Postecoglou 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 explained.

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

"But, managers analyse everything and people knew what we were doing. At times we didn't really have a backup plan and we were getting exposed. We didn't have solutions to get out."

"At one point Romero and I approached the manager and said we should adjust tactically and be more defensive to ensure we win those games. He was like, 'I agree with you but I expect you two guys to handle this on the pitch, ensure everybody knows.'"