Roberto De Zerbi subtly showed the first sign of what doomed him before Tottenham

Tottenham Hotspur manager Roberto De Zerbi came into the job with a big reputation for his tactical nous and ability to immediately elevate clubs, as he helped turn Brighton into a European side and brought exciting Champions League football to Shakhtar Donetsk. In Serie A, he was great for Sassuolo, too, bringing them into the European conversation as well.

But what doomed De Zerbi before coming to N17, particularly in his last job with Marseille in Ligue 1, was his hubris. De Zerbi so often made unwise moves in terms of his relationship with the board, relationship with key players, and even in his tactics, choosing players based on his opinion rather than what is best for the team.

In Saturday's devastating 1-0 loss to Leeds United on the road just before the November international break, Tottenham fans saw those worrying signs of De Zerbi's ego and him outsmarting himself just to prove an irrelevant point rearing its ugly head.

Roberto De Zerbi played like a coward, going against what he stands because he overthought things and wanted to be more defensive against Leeds countering him. He started Pedro Porro at right back just because he wanted to play the Spanish star for his injury return instead of rolling with Archie Gray at right back to have possession dominance, and then he started Gray anyway despite knowing that Mateus Fernandes and Sandro Tonali needed to be a double pivot with an actual No. 10 ahead of them.

Tottenham Hotspur supporters saw all of these as mistakes from the moment their beloved side kicked off at Elland Road, and if De Zerbi had any sense, he would have seen all of that as well. But instead of thinking logically, De Zerbi must have thought emotionally. He wanted to pull a Pep Guardiola and be the genius and hero of a win, and he wanted to play his guys.

Spurs have seen this issue before, too, with Dominic Solanke. He cast Richarlison out of the squad despite the Brazilian international outplaying and outscoring Big Dom last season, including in the crucial Premier League survival bid, and then his hot head and ego created a brutal fight with Richy. Instead of deescalating the situation, Spurs were at a point of no return. And now, Solanke is struggling and still playing a lot of minutes for Tottenham because he was always De Zerbi's guy over RIchy and even the others. De Zerbi's hubris was his undoing before, and Tottenham fans have to worry it might happen again.