De Zerbi can’t resist criticising Tottenham summer signing again after Aston Villa reprimand
Roberto De Zerbi tried to pay Mateus Fernandes a compliment but ended up criticising the Tottenham summer signing again having admitted he “didn’t like” the midfielder’s performance against Aston Villa last time out.
Spurs managed to break their Premier League goalscoring duck against Villa, but lost the game 3-2 to leave them bottom of the table on two points for the international break.
They return to action against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday in what is a massive game for both De Zerbi and Michael Carrick, who’s also under pressure having failed to win any of his last three top flight games while being dumped out of the Carabao Cup.
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Tottenham could and perhaps have taken a commanding lead against Villa, but failed to make their dominance pay before Johan Manzambi scored in first-half stoppage time.
Fernandes was hooked at the break in favour of Mohammed Kudus, in a move which saw Spurs give up control in central areas and concede a further two goals before a couple of late consolations.
Speaking post-match, De Zerbi was quizzed on his decision to substitute Fernandes for Mohammed Kudus at the break.
Asked if he could have foreseen the move would backfire, the Spurs boss replied: “No, I think no. This is not the problem. The problem is, in the second half, we lost balance because we were losing. Just for that.
“And we forced the pass, we forced the situation, we lost the ball. And they were winning, Aston Villa, they played more in the counter-attack.
“OK, Mateus is different from Kudus. But I have a big confidence in Mateus, but I didn’t like the performance of Mateus today. Otherwise I couldn’t [wouldn’t] change.
“He knows. But it’s normal. It’s not an attack on Mateus, I love Mateus, it’s not a problem. But I think for Mateus, we need more from Mateus. Because he can, even in that position.”
And three weeks on, De Zerbi made an attempt to clarify his comments on Fernandes, but couldn’t help insisting that “he has to be stronger”.
De Zerbi said in his pre-match press conference: “He’s a great player, he’s one of the best in our team and he needs time to understand the club and come inside the environment of Spurs.
“I have confidence in him. He doesn’t start the game bad or worse than others but he has to be stronger. He needs time and that’s what we’ll give him.”
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