Tottenham fans will hope Roberto De Zerbi's encouraging Sandro Tonali words prove true
Sandro Tonali's debut for Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday afternoon against local rivals Brentford did not go well, as he and the Lilywhites were embarrassed by a far less expensive Brentford side, falling 3-0 and thoroughly losing the midfield battle.
Roberto De Zerbi's chosen midfield trio of Conor Gallagher, Lucas Bergvall, and Tonali could not move the ball or create chances at all, and whlie Tonali was the best of the three, not only is that the bare minimum you would expect from a hyped 100 million pound transfer, but it is hardly praise when Gallagher and Bergvall played as poorly as any Spurs midfielders in history.
That the score line was 2-0 at the half was actually a mercy for Tottenham, because they had, in truth, played so poorly as mere traffic cones in a training exercise against the Brentford midfield that they deserved to be down by double - at least.
Sandro Tonali is better than Roberto De Zerbi thought before Matchday 1
Sandro Tonali eventually improved in the second half with the inclusion of Rodrigo Bentancur and fellow top signing Mateus Fernandes, but, on a personal level, Tonali was a massive flop and played woefully, and he was also outshone by Fernandes.
That is no reason to give up on Tonali, though. He is a top player who once led AC Milan to a Serie A title against the odds - and they have not won since his departure to England in 2023 - and he looked great for Tottenham Hotspur in the preseason.
Plus, tellingly, Roberto De Zerbi had an interesting quote about his fellow Brescia native to the press before the Brentford game. He told them that when he saw Tonali in person, he felt that the Italian international was even better than advertised.
De Zerbi said, via Hotspur Lane, “Sandro Tonali is better than I thought before working with him, as a player and as a guy. I’m very happy to work with him and I think he’s the right player in the right place. Especially because we want to put him inside of the project. He has the right qualities, the right personality, the right values, to stay in this place.”
It actually is really important that not only did De Zerbi say Tonali is better than he thought but that his values are also high and conducive to success under so much pressure. Because after the performance he and Tottenham had against Brentford where everything went wrong right off the bat, you need someone with that high character and mentality to recover and use that as fuel to get even better. Tottenham fans will hope everything De Zerbi said proves true, because that means Tonali will be even better after this.
