{"id":829463,"date":"2026-07-28T17:07:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T17:07:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/829463\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T17:07:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T17:07:16","slug":"roberto-de-zerbi-tottenham-news-auckland-boss-on-coaching-against-spurs-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/829463\/","title":{"rendered":"Roberto De Zerbi, Tottenham news: Auckland boss on coaching against Spurs coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Luke Casserly returned to coaching at National Premier League level in New South Wales with Hills United<\/a>, he probably didn\u2019t envision standing on the sidelines at Eden Park in the most attended game of men\u2019s club football in New Zealand\u2019s history, shaking hands with Roberto de Zerbi in front of 40,112 fans as Tottenham took on Auckland FC.<\/p>\n

Casserly, who was lured to the A-League club by Steve Corica, has been in charge of the squad since the Championship-winning coach\u2019s departure to Yokohama F.Marinos. After leading the side to OFC Pro League success, he got the chance to match wits with one of football\u2019s most fascinating coaching personalities, even enjoying an embrace with a coach he has long admired.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey knew why they were there, they were keen to promote the game, (they\u2019d had) a lot of travel and quick turn around, (but) he was full of compliments,\u201d Casserly told football360.com.au.<\/p>\n

\u201cClass act, really.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a coach he is someone I have admired for a long time, how he goes about his football. Not that I had a lot of time with him but it was nice to have that little connection, it was cool.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

SPURS: Tottenham defender\u2019s promise after \u2018unacceptable\u2019 season and what to expect under De Zerbi<\/a><\/p>\n

ANALYSIS: Tottenham\u2019s $453.4m spending spree has shades of a new \u2018Magnificent 7\u2019: Spurs are in uncharted territory post-Ange<\/a><\/p>\n

SYDNEY SUPER CUP: How to watch Tottenham v Sydney FC: TV channel, live stream, kick-off time, tickets<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While Spurs named a young line-up, captained by 20-year-old Archie Gray, what struck Casserly was the intensity in De Zerbi\u2019s movements on the sideline, respecting this first game of the tour like it was as important as any other contest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I like, it\u2019s a friendly game and they started with a lot of their younger boys as well in the game, but he was out in the technical area and whistling to the players and wanting them to shift the ball more quickly, wanting them to shift it from one side to the other.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you can see that he\u2019s quite demanding and he wants the game played in a certain way.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom that side I think that was good. It was good for our boys to see that as well, that these guys are the best pros going around. They\u2019re EPL players and no matter what the scenario is or the situation or who they\u2019re playing, their coaches are demanding that things are done the right way. And I thought that was good to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

It continues the journey of the former Football Australia Head of National Performance\u2019s return to the dugout, where he will remain at Auckland for the upcoming A-League campaign, although Football360 understands that the widely reported pursuit of Portuguese coach Pedro Moreira will be confirmed imminently.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Having worked more with the younger players and OFC Pro League squad, preparing for this contest was Casserly\u2019s first chance to get his hands really dirty with the first team players.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was great to allow the players to get a lot more insight to how I work and how I view the game,\u201d Casserly said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I think that\u2019s been a positive and then obviously, when the new coach comes in then, I\u2019m just really looking forward to the opportunity and hopefully I can learn a lot from him and keep progressing as a coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Auckland has opened up an extra coaching pathway for aspiring coaches in Australia and New Zealand, and as the OFC Pro League, A-League silverware, imminent Intercontinental Cup and this pre-season friendly mix show, opportunity beckons.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDelighted that I get the opportunity and then you\u2019ve got to get in and make the most of it. But certainly two years ago I didn\u2019t think I would be at Eden Park shaking hands with De Zerbi in front of forty thousand people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

With Auckland mid-pre season and Spurs in the early moments of their own preparation and a tour Down Under, both sides were understandably under strength on the weekend, with Casserly giving a lot of his youngsters an opportunity too to experience the occasion, without forcing the side\u2019s established stars back too quickly. <\/p>\n

Still, he saw enough to think De Zerbi\u2019s Spurs won\u2019t suffer the same difficulties as Tottenham did last term.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think with De Zerbi in charge and the signings that they\u2019ve made, they\u2019ll be alright. I\u2019m not quite sure they\u2019re going be challenging for the for the title, but I think they\u2019ll be a lot better than they were.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big thing for Spurs over the last couple of years, even when Ange Postecoglou was there, is the amount of players that ended up in the medical room. So I think that\u2019s something that if they can get on the better of that and have all of their best players healthy and available is going to make a massive difference because they haven\u2019t had that for a couple of years.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

For a club still so early in its infancy, this fixture continued a fairy tale ride, which will include a clash with Al-Ahli in the FIFA Intercontinental Club World Cup later this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFantastic for us,\u201d he beamed.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously we won the premiers plate in the A-League the previous season but being from New Zealand and part of OFC we (don\u2019t) qualify for the Asian Champions League so as a member of OFC through the OFC Pro League, we as a club get to qualify for the FIFA Intercontinental Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe A-League team that will participate in that so it\u2019s really perfect at the back end of August for our pre season to have something to look forward to now that we\u2019re no longer in the Australia Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

The weekend\u2019s festivities, off the back of New Zealand being back in a World Cup, and Auckland\u2019s A-League success with silverware in consecutive seasons, is creating a tangible sense of momentum for football in New Zealand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s happened in recent times shows that Auckland was ready for a team,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo when we talk about expansion in the A-League, it\u2019s sometimes a bit of a gamble that sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn\u2019t work. And this is certainly a case where the city was really ready for a team and I think that\u2019s shown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a football fan in Auckland it\u2019s been an amazing time. We had the A-League grand final in Auckland, the Pro League Grand Final in Auckland, the ability to see the All Whites at the World Cup for the first time in sixteen years, through June and then in July you\u2019ve got a big EPL club out here.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a pretty cool time to be a football fan in Auckland at the moment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Like anything in football, that doesn\u2019t guarantee future success, and Casserly said the A-League club will need to work hard to continue momentum with salary cap concessions, granted to help them launch, lapse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur squad\u2019s going to be a little bit different and we\u2019ve already seen the departures from the end of last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got some young Kiwi boys that I think people can get really excited about and I think that\u2019s the story for the next season or two really\u2026for the local fans. Some of the young boys coming through is the big story that they can get excited about.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Luke Casserly returned to coaching at National Premier League level in New South Wales with Hills United,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":829464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,22065,63,402824,241612,85,967],"class_list":["post-829463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-auckland","tag-australia","tag-luke-casserly","tag-roberto-de-zerbi","tag-sports","tag-tottenham"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829463","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=829463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/829464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=829463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=829463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=829463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}