Tottenham Centre-Back Van de Ven Expresses Surprise At Ange Postecoglou Sacking

Spurs centre-back Van de Ven has admitted he "was completely surprised by" the club's move to part ways with former manager Ange Postecoglou.

Postecoglou's two-year tenure was terminated a mere over two weeks after he led Tottenham to a win in the Europa League final, delivering the team's first piece of silverware in nearly two decades.

Yet, this European success was not mirrored in the domestic league, with the side ending up in a disappointing 17th place in Postecoglou's final campaign in charge.

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

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

"I don't know how everything went backstage. It came as a shock. It was strange how everything went after - he is the coach that won silverware to the club," he added.

"Later, when he was dismissed, I texted to my father and my friends and said, 'This was the last thing I thought would happen.'"

The Rise and Fall

The Australian manager arrived at Spurs from Scottish champions Celtic ahead of the 2023-24 season, taking over from Conte. He made a bright start with his offensive philosophy of play, amassing an impressive points haul from his opening 10 Premier League games.

Nevertheless, that unbeaten run came to an abrupt end with four losses in five games, and the team's season tailed off, ultimately failing to secure a top-four finish by a narrow two-point margin.

In the next campaign, 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 lacked a "alternative strategy" and disclosed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero spoke about taking a more cautious style with the manager.

"I enjoyed the attacking football under Postecoglou but I like what we have now with our current manager. We are more secure at the back. I dislike being vulnerable every game on the counter-attack," he explained.

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

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

"At one point Romero and I walked up to the manager and said we should change some things and play more defensive to ensure we secure victory in those games. He was like, 'I agree with you but I want you two guys to handle this on the pitch, ensure everybody knows.'"