Roberto De Zerbi says Tottenham ‘not a team’ and names three struggling players
Tottenham manager Roberto De Zerbi said his new-look side are “not a team yet” as he named three players who are yet to return to full fitness after the summer.
Despite a transfer window of big spending, with the signing of Savinho set to take Tottenham past the £300m mark, Spurs were humbled 3-0 by Brentford in a dismal opening day defeat.
“For many reasons I think we are not a team yet”, De Zerbi said. We are not at the right point in physical condition “But no excuse. When you are building a new project I don’t want time, but we have to pass through these problems.
“I believe in my players, my club and myself. I think we are working well but we are late for the start of the Premier League. It’s a step we have to improve quickly. We could fight stronger than we did today and we lost too many duels. The target is to become a team. To find the spirit, the soul, is a process.”
De Zerbi handed debuts to five of Tottenham’s six summer recruits, but said “Marcos Senesi, Jan Paul van Hecke and Sandro Tonali are not in the best physical condition”. Senesi and Van Hecke were at the World Cup with Argentina and the Netherlands, respectively.
On his side’s physical condition, De Zerbi added: “We knew that before the game. We have to improve on that and many other things, like organisation and pressing.
“We can improve quickly but first, we have to understand this game better. I know their physical condition and new players but we have to put something more. We had to fight more. Players know I have a lot of confidence in them and we hope to improve quickly.”
Brentford, meanwhile, were impressive and Keith Andrews hailed the impact of club-record signing of£41m midfielder Mamadou Sangare.
“It’s pretty impressive on a lot of fronts. You never truly know from pre-season what you’re going to get,” Andrews said. “But it felt like we were in a good spot and we produced a pretty good performance.
More of the same from [Sangare], hopefully. It’s been nice working with him and the club deserves a lot of credit for getting that deal done because he could have gone elsewhere.
“He adds to an already quality midfield that we have. I really enjoyed his performance today. You never truly know in a different league, with a different language, but he’s a humble young man who looks very hungry.”
