{"id":629066,"date":"2026-04-25T02:03:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T02:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/629066\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T02:03:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T02:03:10","slug":"de-zerbi-wants-maddison-to-bring-the-vibes-for-tottenhams-must-win-clash-at-wolves-tottenham-hotspur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/629066\/","title":{"rendered":"De Zerbi wants Maddison to bring the vibes for Tottenham\u2019s must-win clash at Wolves | Tottenham Hotspur"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was quite the admission from Roberto De Zerbi<\/a> as he prepared for Saturday\u2019s game at Wolves, which has the feel of a must-win for Tottenham in their increasingly traumatic battle against relegation. The manager reported that James Maddison was \u201cnot available yet\u201d as he goes through the final stages of his rehabilitation from the anterior cruciate ligament rupture that has wrecked his season. The midfielder \u201cfelt pain\u201d during the week, De Zerbi added, albeit it was not a major problem. So, there has to be no room for him in the matchday squad, then? Well, actually \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cHe will come with us on the bench because he is important,\u201d De Zerbi said. \u201cIf he plays or not, it doesn\u2019t matter. It\u2019s better if he plays, for sure, but, as a guy, as a leader, he is positive. Inside of my dressing room I want to see nice people, positive people, and this is important also for his teammates.\u201d<\/p>\n

De Zerbi pulled the same move last Saturday when he named Maddison among the substitutes for the 2-2 home draw against Brighton, even though he knew the player had no chance of getting on. Maddison did not even come out to warm up. But here was De Zerbi publicly confirming Maddison as a vibes man for the challenge that lay immediately ahead; a kind of spirit animal.<\/p>\n

De Zerbi will be without eight other players because of injuries, Destiny Udogie the latest casualty with a short-term muscle problem. The manager said Guglielmo Vicario (hernia) and Pape Matar Sarr (shoulder) would not return against Wolves. That has squeezed his options and, faced with a choice between an academy youngster who probably would not get on and Maddison, he has gone for his most charismatic player. It makes sense when you consider De Zerbi\u2019s determination to try anything to boost the confidence of a team who have not won in 15 league matches; fail to do so at Wolves and they would equal the club\u2019s all-time record of 16 games set between 1934 and 1935.<\/p>\n

There was a moment during De Zerbi\u2019s press conference on Friday when he mentioned his respect for the Wolves manager, Rob Edwards. De Zerbi remembered how Edwards\u2019 Luton had beaten his Brighton team 4-0 in January 2024. \u201cA very bad game,\u201d he said. But it stood in glorious isolation because for De Zerbi, it has to be positivity only in a do-or-die situation. Before his third match in charge, the Italian was interested purely in talking up his players, reminding them of their qualities. In his opinion, they have the talent to clamber up and out of the relegation zone. It simply needs to be unlocked, the psychological obstacles removed so they can play \u201cwithout too many problems in their head\u201d.<\/p>\n

Spurs defenders and goalkeeper can barely believe their luck after Georginio Rutter scores a last-minute equaliser for Brighton. Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you speak every day about the faults, the head of the players stay on the faults and it\u2019s not good,\u201d De Zerbi added. \u201cWe have to be positive and to be positive we have to remember what we are good at.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor sure my words [alone] are not enough and I try to find the best solution to reach every player. Sometimes you arrive with a video. Sometimes with words. Sometimes with red wine. Or a beer. You have to find the balance. The most important part for a player is like this [points to his head]. And the heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

De Zerbi\u2019s motivational videos and clips have not come solely from Spurs matches this season. They can be from a player\u2019s previous club. \u201cFor example, if I play with Randal Kolo Muani as a right-winger, it\u2019s because he has played in that position,\u201d De Zerbi said. \u201cIf you go to YouTube and you go to \u2018Kolo Muani, Eintracht Frankfurt\u2019, you can see he played very well in that position. When I don\u2019t work in my office, I go to find something to be important for me to give more information about the players because we have no time and we have to consider everything to stay up.\u201d<\/p>\n

De Zerbi continues to believe that one win will be the catalyst for survival and he went back to a pivotal game from his Brighton days to illustrate the point. He started badly after succeeding Graham Potter in September 2022, taking two points from his first five matches. Then his team beat Chelsea 4-1 and it was onwards and upwards. \u201cWe changed everything,\u201d De Zerbi said. He needs to do so again. Quickly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was quite the admission from Roberto De Zerbi as he prepared for Saturday\u2019s game at Wolves, which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-629066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}