Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Van de Ven has revealed he "never expected" the club's decision to part ways with ex-boss Ange Postecoglou.
Postecoglou's two-year tenure was terminated a mere 16 days after he led Tottenham to victory in the European final, securing the team's first piece of silverware in 17 years.
Yet, this continental triumph was not mirrored in the domestic league, with the team ending up in a lowly 17th position in his last campaign in charge.
He was succeeded by former Brentford boss Thomas Frank during the summer, but Spurs currently sit in 11th place, with 22 points, following a 3-0 loss to Forest at the weekend.
"He was a fantastic manager. I have a lot of respect for him," the Dutch defender told a podcast.
"I'm not sure how everything went behind the scenes. I didn't expect it. It was odd how everything went after - he is the coach that won silverware to Tottenham," he continued.
"Afterwards, when he got sacked, I texted 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 Spurs from Celtic ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, taking over from Conte. He enjoyed early success with his attacking style of play, amassing 26 points from his first ten league matches.
Nevertheless, that fine start came to an abrupt end with four losses in five games, and the team's form deteriorated, ultimately missing out on a top-four finish by a mere two-point margin.
In the next campaign, they won just 11 of their 38 league matches.
Tactical Concerns Revealed
While he appreciated Postecoglou's style, Dutch international the defender thinks the team was missing a "alternative strategy" and revealed he and defensive partner Cristian Romero spoke about taking a more cautious style with the manager.
"I liked the attacking football under Postecoglou but I appreciate what we have now with our current manager. We are more solid at the back. I dislike getting exposed every game on the counter-attack," he said.
"At the beginning with that system, no team was accustomed to playing against our style. We were playing unbelievable football."
"But, managers study everything and people knew 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 me and Romero approached the manager and suggested 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, ensure everybody knows.'"
