Tottenham Centre-Back Van de Ven Shares Shock Over Postecoglou Sacking

Spurs defender Van de Ven has revealed he "was completely surprised by" the club's move to dismiss former manager Ange Postecoglou.

The Australian's two-year tenure was terminated a just over two weeks after he led the team to a win in the Europa League final, delivering the club's first major trophy in nearly two decades.

Yet, this continental triumph was not mirrored in the domestic league, with the side finishing in a disappointing 17th position in his last campaign at the helm.

He was replaced by former Brentford boss Frank during the off-season, but Tottenham are presently 11th in the table, with 22 points from 16 games, following a 3-0 loss to Forest on Sunday.

"He is a really good manager. I still really like him," Van de Ven stated on The Overlap podcast.

"I'm not sure how everything went backstage. I didn't expect it. It was strange how everything went afterwards - he's the manager that won silverware to the club," he added.

"Later, when he was dismissed, I texted to my father and my friends and said, 'I never expected this.'"

Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle

Postecoglou joined Tottenham from Scottish champions Celtic before the 2023-24 season, taking over from Antonio Conte. He enjoyed early success with his attacking style of play, amassing an impressive points haul from his opening 10 Premier League games.

Nevertheless, that fine start was halted with four defeats in five games, and the club's season tailed off, ultimately failing to secure a top-four finish by a mere two points.

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

Lacking a Plan B

While he appreciated Postecoglou's style, Netherlands international the defender thinks the squad was missing a "plan B" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero discussed taking a more defensive approach with the coach.

"I liked the offensive play under Postecoglou but I like what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more secure defensively. I don't like being vulnerable every game on the break," he explained.

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

"But, managers study everything and opponents knew what we were doing. At times we didn't really have a backup plan and we were being caught out. We lacked answers to resolve it."

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