Micky van de Ven maintains he still believes in Ange Postecoglou’s system despite Tottenham finishing 17th in the Premier League last season.
Postecoglou had a tumultuous two-year spell in north London, beginning exceptionally before a spate of injuries, including to Van de Ven’s hamstring, saw their form dip.
The club eventually finished fifth in the Australian’s first season, just two points short of the Champions League places.
Postecoglou famously made the bold statement that he “always wins things in his second season,” a statement made all the more bullish with Spurs’ poor record when it comes to trophies.
Spurs endured a bizarre season, eventually finishing only one place above the drop zone, but managing to go all the way and win the Europa League.
Postecoglou was sacked just 16 days after that win and replaced by Thomas Frank, who himself has struggled with consistency.
Despite their poor league form last year and Van de Ven’s injury record under him, in which he had four separate hamstring issues, he spoke positively about his former boss.
Speaking to Gary Neville on Sky’s The Overlap, he said: “We pressed forward for 90 minutes, we were pressing, pressing, pressing and of course you ask a lot from your body if you play every three days, because we played Europe as well.
“Sometimes it is just like at that point, when the results were getting down, Ange was really focused on the system, so he believed in his system.
“Until today, I still believe in his system, because we played some unbelievable football, so the system works.
“It works, but at some point we need to adapt a bit more, which we didn’t do at that point.”
Postecoglou’s positive style was one that caught the eye, as did his infamous “it’s who we are mate” interviews when it did not work out.
Eventually though, the players had had enough and Van de Ven, together with centre back partner Cristian Romero, approached Postecoglou and begged him to change his stance.
“Me and Guti [Romero] were playing only the Europa League games last season because the Premier League games, he kept us out, he rested us because he wanted to win the Europa League,” he added.
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“At one point we walked up to the gaffer and we said, gaffer, we need to change some things, and we need to play more defensive sometimes to make sure we win those games.
“We were away at Frankfurt, we were 1-0 up, we can’t keep attacking.
“We just need to come back and have a low block sometimes and just make sure we get the three points and just make sure we go to the next round.
“We sat with him and he said, I agree with these things and he was like ‘I expect you two guys to sort this on the pitch.’
“He said to me and Guti personally, ok, ‘you guys make sure the others listen to you, you guys have a reputation in the team, so just make sure the guys follow what you say on the pitch.'”
Tottenham lost 22 matches in the Premier League this year and conceded 65 goals but in the Europa League, they were able to advance all the way to the final, courtesy of knockout wins over AZ, Eintracht Frankfurt and Bodo/Glimt.
That saw them face Manchester United in the final, another team who disappointed in the league, finishing 15th, but to whom Europe was an escape from the struggles of Premier League football.
It was the definition of a must-win game, with the winner securing the Champions League and the riches and glamour that come with it and the loser having to settle for a truly dismal end to a dire season.
Spurs led 1-0 at the break courtesy of a Brennan Johnson goal and Postecoglou finally changed tack and focused on holding onto the lead.
Van de Ven said: “We spoke before the final, everybody just knew, we have got to win the trophy.
“It doesn’t matter how we are going to do it, today we just need to make sure we are going to stand with that silverware at the end of the whistle from the referee.
“Even then, Ange said we need to play from the back and just do what we always do but then when we came to the point when it was half-time, we were 1-0 up, he said, ok we keep pressing, but sometimes when it doesn’t work, just drop back.
“Just make sure we lock the back door and make sure they don’t come through.
“That was the point when I looked at him and I was like yeah.
“He was never like that, sit back and make sure we win the game, but at that point he was like we are 1-0 up and we are going to f—ing win this game.”