Tottenham Centre-Back Micky van de Ven Shares Surprise Over 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.

The Australian's spell in charge came to an end a just over two weeks after he guided Tottenham to victory in the European final, securing the club's first piece of silverware in 17 years.

Yet, this continental triumph was not matched in the Premier League, with the side finishing in a lowly 17th position in Postecoglou's final season in charge.

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

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

"I'm not sure how everything went backstage. It came as a shock. It was odd how everything went afterwards - he's the manager that won silverware to the club," he added.

"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 Tottenham from Scottish champions Celtic ahead of the 2023-24 season, replacing Conte. He enjoyed early success with his offensive philosophy of play, collecting an impressive points haul from his first ten Premier League games.

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

The following season, they won just 11 out of 38 Premier League fixtures.

Lacking a Plan B

Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Dutch international the defender believes the squad lacked a "alternative strategy" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero discussed taking a more defensive approach with the manager.

"I enjoyed the attacking football at that time but I like what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more secure at the back. I dislike getting exposed every game on the counter-attack," he explained.

"Initially with that system, no team was used to playing against our system. We were playing unbelievable football."

"However, coaches study everything and opponents knew what we were doing. Sometimes we lacked a plan B and we were getting exposed. We lacked answers to resolve it."

"On one occasion me and Romero walked up to the manager and suggested we need to adjust tactically and be more defensive to ensure we secure victory in those games. He was responded, 'I agree with you but I expect you two guys to handle this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"