Spurs centre-back Van de Ven has revealed he "never expected" the club's decision to dismiss former manager Postecoglou.
The Australian's two-year tenure was terminated a mere 16 days after he guided the team to victory in the Europa League final, delivering the team's first piece of silverware in nearly two decades.
Yet, this continental triumph was not matched in the domestic league, with the side ending up in a lowly 17th position in Postecoglou's final season at the helm.
He was replaced by ex-Brentford manager Frank during the summer, but Tottenham are presently 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 a podcast.
"I'm not sure how everything went behind the scenes. I didn't expect it. It was odd how everything went afterwards - he's the manager that won silverware to Tottenham," he added.
"Afterwards, when he was dismissed, I sent a message to my father and my mates and said, 'I never expected this.'"
Postecoglou arrived at 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 opening 10 league matches.
However, that unbeaten run came to an abrupt end with four losses in five matches, and the team's season tailed off, eventually failing to secure Champions League qualification by a mere two-point margin.
In the next campaign, they won just 11 out of 38 Premier League fixtures.
Although he enjoyed Postecoglou's style, Netherlands international Van de Ven believes the team was missing a "plan B" and disclosed he and defensive partner 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 break," he said.
"At the beginning with that system, no team was used to playing against our system. We were playing exceptional football."
"However, managers study everything and people figured out what we were doing. At times we lacked a backup plan and we were getting exposed. We lacked solutions to resolve it."
"At one point Romero and I approached the gaffer and said we should adjust tactically and play more defensive to ensure we win those games. He was responded, 'I understand with you but I expect you two guys to sort this on the pitch, ensure everybody knows.'"
