Spurs centre-back Micky van de Ven has revealed he "never expected" the club's move to part ways with former manager Ange Postecoglou.
The Australian's two-year tenure was terminated a mere over two weeks after he led Tottenham to a win in the European final, delivering the team's first piece of silverware in 17 years.
However, this European success was not matched in the Premier League, with the team finishing in a disappointing 17th position in Postecoglou's final season in charge.
He was succeeded by former Brentford boss Frank during the off-season, but Tottenham currently sit in 11th place, with 22 points, following a 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
"He is a fantastic manager. I still really like him," the Dutch defender stated on The Overlap podcast.
"I don't know how everything went behind the scenes. It came as a shock. It was strange how everything went afterwards - he's the manager that brought a trophy to Tottenham," he continued.
"Afterwards, when he got sacked, I texted to my dad and my mates and said, 'I never expected this.'"
Initial Success and Subsequent Struggle
The Australian manager joined Spurs from Scottish champions Celtic ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, taking over from Conte. He made a bright start with his offensive philosophy of play, collecting an impressive points haul from his first ten league matches.
Nevertheless, that unbeaten run was halted with four losses in five matches, and the club's season tailed off, ultimately missing out on a top-four finish by a narrow two points.
In the next campaign, they won just 11 out of 38 league matches.
Lacking a Plan B
While he appreciated the attacking approach, Netherlands international Van de Ven believes the squad was missing a "plan B" and revealed 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 appreciate what we have now with Thomas Frank. We are more solid defensively. I don't like getting exposed every game on the counter-attack," he said.
"Initially under Postecoglou, no team was accustomed to playing against our system. We were playing exceptional football."
"However, managers study everything and people figured out what we were doing. Sometimes we didn't really have a plan B and we were getting exposed. We lacked answers to get out."
"At one point Romero and I approached the manager and suggested we should adjust tactically and play more defensive to ensure we win those games. He was like, 'I understand with you but I expect you two guys to handle this on the pitch, ensure everybody knows.'"
