Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero confronted former Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou over his tactical approach.
Micky van de Ven has revealed that he and Cristian Romero confronted Ange Postecoglou during Tottenham’s Europa League campaign last season, demanding tactical changes to secure the trophy after becoming frustrated with the manager’s relentless attacking approach.
Speaking on The Overlap, the Dutch defender admitted that players took matters into their own hands by approaching Postecoglou to request more defensive solidity, particularly after taking leads in crucial European fixtures. He said (h/t The Overlap on YouTube), also shedding light on Postecoglou’s plans that night:
“At one point, we just walked up to the gaffer and we 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.”
The revelation exposes tensions within the squad during Tottenham’s successful European campaign, which ultimately delivered the club’s first trophy in 17 years but came at the cost of a disastrous 17th-place Premier League finish.
Van de Ven disclosed that Postecoglou listened to the players’ concerns but placed responsibility back on his defenders to implement changes themselves.
“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.”
The manager’s willingness to delegate tactical adjustments to his players rather than modify his system fundamentally highlights the stubbornness that ultimately cost him his job just 16 days after winning the Europa League final.
The defender’s assessment confirms what many observers suspected. Postecoglou’s rigid adherence to his high-line, attacking philosophy left Tottenham vulnerable once opponents figured out how to exploit the spaces left behind.
Europa League was the priority, acknowledges Micky van de Ven
Van de Ven acknowledged that Tottenham prioritized European success over domestic results, with defensive adjustments applied selectively.
“At one point, we spoke with the manager and said that sometimes we need to change some things because we were getting too exposed. Of course, we won the Europa League and knew that this was a big opportunity for us to bring silverware to Tottenham, but we needed to change things. In games where we were 1-0 up, we can’t keep playing our football, sometimes we needed to sit back and make sure that nothing was coming through us. And that helped us at the end to of course win the Europa League.”
The admission suggests Tottenham essentially sacrificed Premier League results to focus on Europa League glory, with tactical flexibility applied only in European competition while the stubborn approach continued domestically.
Remarkably, Postecoglou did eventually heed his players’ advice in the Europa League final against Manchester United. After Brennan Johnson gave Spurs a 42nd-minute lead, the manager parked the bus in the second half, defending with 10 men behind the ball to secure the 1-0 victory.
Van de Ven’s revelations paint a picture of a manager who won silverware despite himself, requiring intervention from his own players to implement the tactical pragmatism necessary for European success.