Spurs defender Van de Ven has admitted he "never expected" the club's move to dismiss former manager Ange Postecoglou.
Postecoglou's two-year tenure came to an end a mere over two weeks after he guided 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 matched in the Premier League, with the team finishing in a disappointing 17th position in Postecoglou's final season in charge.
He was replaced by former Brentford boss Frank during the off-season, but Tottenham are presently 11th in the table, with 22 points, following a 3-0 defeat to Forest at the weekend.
"He is a really good manager. I have a lot of respect for him," the Dutch defender told The Overlap podcast.
"I don't know how everything went behind the scenes. It came as a shock. It was strange how everything went after - he is the coach that brought a trophy to the club," he continued.
"Later, when he got sacked, 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 Celtic before the 2023-24 season, replacing Antonio Conte. He made a bright start with his offensive philosophy of play, collecting an impressive points haul from his opening 10 league matches.
Nevertheless, that unbeaten run came to an abrupt end with four losses in five games, and the team's season tailed off, ultimately missing out on Champions League qualification by a narrow two-point margin.
In the next campaign, they managed only 11 of their 38 league matches.
Tactical Concerns Revealed
While he appreciated the attacking approach, Dutch international Van de Ven thinks the team was missing a "plan B" and revealed he and fellow centre-back Romero discussed taking a more defensive approach with the manager.
"I liked the offensive play under Postecoglou but I appreciate what we have now with our current manager. We are more secure defensively. I dislike getting exposed every game on the counter-attack," he said.
"Initially under Postecoglou, no team was used to playing against our style. We were playing exceptional football."
"However, managers analyse everything and opponents knew what we were doing. At times we didn't really have a plan B and we were being caught out. We lacked answers to resolve it."
"On one occasion me and Romero walked up to the gaffer and suggested we should change some things and be more defensive to make sure we win those games. He was responded, 'I agree with you but I expect you two guys to sort this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows.'"
