Micky van de Ven has opened up on life at Tottenham Hotspur under former manager Ange Postecoglou, revealing how he treated defensive work behind the scenes. The Australian manager brought an exciting brand of football to north London, and ended the club's 17-year trophy drought, but was widely criticised for neglecting other parts of the game, which saw the club's Premier League form plummet.
In his second season with Spurs, Postecoglou finished 17th in the league, conceding 65 goals, having scored 64. Despite that poor domestic form, he managed to deliver on his promise of winning a trophy, as Tottenham beat Manchester United 2-1 in the 2025 Europa League final.
With that European cup the primary goal, star defenders Van de Ven and Cristian Romero were rested in the Premier League towards the back end of the season. The Dutch defender has now revealed what went down behind the scenes at Tottenham as the club aimed to end their trophy drought.
Micky van de Ven Opens Up On Defensive Work Under Ange
Speaking in a recent interview with Gary Nevile on The Overlap, Van de Ven revealed that he took it upon himself, with Romero, to ask Postecoglou to change his tactics, as they were clearly too frail at the back. He began:
“At one point, we just walked up to the gaffer and said that we need to change some things and play more defensive sometimes. We played away at Frankfurt and were 1-0 up, and we can’t keep attacking, we just need to come back and have a low block and make sure we get the three points."
Despite not seeming to have an obvious plan B, or being willing to come up with one by himself, Postecoglou did accept that a change needed to happen. However, he left the responsibility to Van de Ven and Romero. The defender explained:
“We sat with him and he agreed with us on some things and he told us that he expected us two guys to sort this on the pitch – to make sure that this is something everybody knows and to speak to everybody on the pitch."
At this point, Neville looked quite stunned by this tactical plan. Confirming what he had heard, the former Manchester United man replied: "So he gave you the responsibility to bring people deep? So your fullbacks maybe back in line with you, maybe [tell them to] not go forward as much?"
"Yeah, exactly," Van de Ven answered. "Of course, in team meetings he said we're going to change some things sometimes in different situations in the game.
“And then he just said to me and Cuti [Romero] personally that we need to make sure the other guys listen to us, that we have a reputation in the team and everyone respects us, so make sure the guys follow what we say on the pitch. So, Cuti and I were just screaming at everyone.”
Fans Divided Over Postecoglou's Management at Spurs
This hands-off approach to coaching has caused a bit of a stir online after the quotes emerged. Some have been critical of Postecoglou for not coming up with his own defensive plan, and simply leaving it to his centre-back pairing to sort out the flaws.
One fan on social media called the club's former manager an "utterly clueless grifter." While others used it as a chance to suggest the players deserve more credit for the trophy win, with one putting: "This confirms that the players were ignoring Ange’s reckless, gung-ho tactics towards the end of the EL run and that is what got us over the line."
Another added: "So Cuti and VDV won us the Europa, not Ange." A final fan wrote: "Classic Ange, give the responsibility elsewhere."
That said, some fans were more balanced with their response. One said: "Empowered them, but should've been the one to enforce the plan for them to execute it."
Another seemed to suggest that Postecoglou was perfectly within his rights to give the defenders that duty, "Sounds like a good man management, giving two leaders some responsibility."
A final fan pointed out: "I mean, he gave them an instruction and they did it. Asking your senior defenders to take charge of a situation isn’t a sign of bad management."