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Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven has revealed he "never expected" the club's move to dismiss ex-boss Postecoglou.

The Australian's spell in charge was terminated a just over two weeks after he guided the team to a win in the Europa League final, securing the team's first piece of silverware in nearly two decades.

However, this continental triumph was not matched in the Premier League, with the team finishing in a lowly 17th place in his last season at the helm.

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

"He was a really good manager. I still really like him," the Dutch defender stated on a podcast.

"I don't know how everything went backstage. I didn't expect it. It was strange how everything went after - he's the manager that won silverware to Tottenham," he added.

"Afterwards, when he got sacked, I sent a message to my father and my mates and said, 'I never expected this.'"

The Rise and Fall

The Australian manager arrived at Tottenham from Celtic ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, replacing Antonio Conte. He made a bright start with his attacking style of play, collecting an impressive points haul from his first ten league matches.

Nevertheless, that fine start came to an abrupt end with four defeats in five games, and the club's season tailed off, eventually missing out on a top-four finish by a narrow two points.

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

Lacking a Plan B

Although he enjoyed the attacking approach, Dutch international the defender believes the squad was missing a "plan B" and disclosed he and fellow centre-back Romero spoke about taking a more defensive approach with the coach.

"I liked 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 being vulnerable every game on the counter-attack," he said.

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

"However, managers analyse everything and people figured out what we were doing. At times we lacked a plan B and we were getting exposed. We lacked solutions to resolve it."

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