De Zerbi pulls back from Tottenham quit talk as Italian makes pledge after £300m summer spree
Suggestions that a sulking Roberto De Zerbi could walk out on Tottenham Hotspur if his side doesn’t make rapid improvements have been barged aside by the Italian, while pundit Danny Murphy has revealed the major thing missing that has prevented their expensively assembled side from clicking so far.
The north London side decided enough was enough after successive 17th-place finishes in the Premier League by splashing out some serious transfer fees this summer.
Showing ambition and purpose, Spurs rebuilt their midfield with the £185m double capture of Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes, while also bringing in defender Jan Paul van Hecke and winger Savio in big-money deals too.
With Andy Robertson, Marcos Senesi, Omar Marmoush and (on deadline day) Mykhailo Mudryk also joining the club, it was a summer of major change in N17.
However, despite that £300m-plus summer investment, the club currently finds itself in the all-too-familiar position of 17th once again in the embryonic Premier League table.
Having failed to score a goal from their three games so far, and having a goal difference of minus five, they at least managed to pick up their first point of the season on Saturday, courtesy of a battling 0-0 draw at Nottingham Forest.
Still, that is not where Spurs want or expected to be, and a series of sorry-looking press conferences in recent days has drawn comparisons to the Italian’s latter days with his previous club, Marseille, which ultimately led to him walking out on the French club after just 18 months in charge.
Speaking after the previous weekend’s 2-0 home loss to Newcastle, De Zerbi set pulses racing by stating: “This group with me or with another coach, nothing changed because these players are too good.”
Despite that, De Zerbi, who is tied to a lucrative five-year deal with Spurs, does not sound like a man who plans to walk away, and he insists he always knew it would take time for his new team to gel…
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De Zerbi insists Tottenham project will take time
Tottenham are next in action when they host Everton on Saturday evening, and De Zerbi will hope to build on his win percentage record with Spurs, which currently reads just 36.36% – just four wins from his 11 games in charge so far.
“We bought very, very good players but you can’t just build the team with the names like in Football Manager,” he told Sky Sports.
“We are disappointed with the result, but very happy with the performance. Considering we started to work together last Thursday for the first time, for the first day.
“We have to improve in every part of football, organisation with and without the ball. Even today, I thought we defended very well.
“We have to work because I think we played very well with the ball; we found the solution. I think we can be much better in the final third.”
De Zerbi insists he can also see the positives with his side, but acknowledges there are aspects of their play which need improvements.
“I think we played well; in the last third we have to improve; we have to take better decisions, maybe keep calmer when we are close to doing something important.
“The chance when Marmoush shot, we had Robertson overlapping. If we take the right decision and if we play with Robertson on the second post, there is Kudus to score.
“I am very happy with the spirit, with the organisation; their style of play is very clear: long ball and second ball, even the second ball we won many duels. They are good players.
“Taking a point in this stadium is not so easy. We are not happy because we didn’t win, but this is the right spirit and the right way to move on in this moment.”
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“They were just missing that little bit of calmness and composure that you expect from top quality players.
“It takes time for some players [to find chemistry]. You could argue that Marmoush and Savio know each other anyway,ay and bright footballers quickly learn each other’s runs and movements.
“From a midfielder to a forward’s perspective, you’re not always sure what they’re going to do. Whereas if you played with someone for a while, it comes more naturally. So those relationships will build.”
