Spurs Defender Van de Ven Expresses Surprise Over Postecoglou Sacking

Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Micky van de Ven has revealed he "was completely surprised by" the club's decision to dismiss ex-boss Ange Postecoglou.

The Australian's spell in charge came to an end a mere 16 days after he guided the team to victory in the European final, securing the team's first major trophy in nearly two decades.

However, this European success was not matched in the Premier League, with the side finishing in a lowly 17th place in Postecoglou's final campaign at the helm.

He was succeeded by ex-Brentford manager Thomas Frank during the summer, but Tottenham are presently 11th in the table, with 22 points from 16 games, following a 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

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

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

"Later, when he got sacked, I sent a message to my dad and my mates and said, 'This was the last thing I thought would happen.'"

The Rise and Fall

Postecoglou joined Tottenham from Celtic before the 2023-24 season, replacing Antonio Conte. He made a bright start with his offensive philosophy of play, amassing an impressive points haul from his opening 10 league matches.

Nevertheless, that fine start came to an abrupt end with four losses in five games, and the club's form deteriorated, eventually missing out on Champions League qualification by a mere two points.

The following season, they managed only 11 of their 38 league matches.

Tactical Concerns Revealed

Although he enjoyed the attacking approach, Dutch international the defender believes the team was missing a "alternative strategy" and disclosed he and defensive partner Cristian Romero spoke about adopting a more defensive approach with the coach.

"I enjoyed the attacking football at that time but I appreciate what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more secure defensively. I don't like getting exposed every game on the break," he explained.

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

"But, coaches study everything and people knew what we were doing. Sometimes we lacked a backup plan and we were getting exposed. We lacked answers to resolve it."

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