Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven has admitted he "never expected" the club's decision to dismiss former manager Postecoglou.
Postecoglou's two-year tenure came to an end a mere 16 days after he guided Tottenham to a win in the European final, delivering the team's first piece of silverware in nearly two decades.
Yet, this European success was not mirrored in the Premier League, with the side finishing in a lowly 17th position in his last season at the helm.
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 Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
"He is a really good manager. I have a lot of respect for him," Van de Ven stated on a podcast.
"I don't know how everything went backstage. I didn't expect it. It was odd how everything went afterwards - he is the coach that won silverware to Tottenham," he continued.
"Afterwards, when he was dismissed, I texted to my dad and my mates and said, 'I never expected this.'"
Postecoglou arrived at Tottenham from Celtic before the 2023/24 campaign, taking over from Antonio Conte. He enjoyed early success with his offensive philosophy of play, amassing an impressive points haul from his first ten Premier League games.
However, that fine start came to an abrupt end with four losses in five games, and the team's season tailed off, ultimately failing to secure Champions League qualification by a narrow two points.
In the next campaign, they won just 11 of their 38 league matches.
Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Dutch international Van de Ven believes the team was missing a "plan B" and disclosed he and fellow centre-back Cristian Romero spoke about taking a more cautious style with the manager.
"I liked the offensive play under Postecoglou 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 style. We were playing exceptional football."
"But, managers study everything and people knew what we were doing. Sometimes we didn't really have a backup plan and we were getting exposed. We lacked answers to resolve it."
"On one occasion Romero and I walked up to the manager and said we should adjust tactically and be more defensive to make sure we secure victory in those games. He was responded, 'I understand with you but I want you two guys to sort this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"
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