Roberto De Zerbi is sailing through uncharted waters as he tries to navigate Tottenham through their current goal drought.
The Italian’s teams are normally known for their fast and furious attacking style, firing in goals from all angles, but his Spurs side have not managed to hit the back of the net in their opening four matches of the new Premier League season. Aston Villa are the visitors in Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off with Unai Emery’s men having only scored one goal themselves in the league so far this campaign.
It will be a shoot-off between two sides firing blanks so far and De Zerbi admits this is new territory for him.
“No never… Never. I conceded many goals maybe but to score, no!” said the 47-year-old. “But I think it’s a coincidence. If we score four or five goals in Liverpool, Bergvall and Kudus in the first half, Marmoush a couple of times in the second half as well as the goal we scored with Gallagher.
“Nine chances to score at Anfield is not few. Also with Everton, not so many clear chances but a couple of clear chances and another three or four potential chances to score.”
He added: “Even though we are not scoring I cannot change my opinion of the players. Marmoush is a fantastic player. Savio is a fantastic player. Solanke when Solanke is fit is a very good player. Maddison, Kudus, Gallagher and Mateus [Fernandes] with different characteristics, all four of these players are very good.
“We have maybe the best full-backs in the Premier League. Robertson, Udogie and Pedro Porro. Five centre-backs, the qualities of the players, I cannot say anything different.”
FOLLOW OUR TOTTENHAM FB PAGE! Latest Spurs news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page
So what is De Zerbi doing to change a situation he has never previously faced?
“Sometimes you have to change everything and sometimes you have to improve what you already are doing and sometimes you have to stay calm,” said the former Brighton boss. “We are working to improve what we are doing to be better but also we have to stay calm because I know we have two points but for our performances we could have had more than two points.”
At a time when Tottenham need goals, the decision to sell 21-year-old hotshot Will Lankshear to Middlesbrough this summer for £10million with another £10million in add-ons will remain under scrutiny. The young striker has been a revelation in the Championship with eight goals plundered from his first 10 matches.
De Zerbi did not work much with Lankshear, who was on loan at Oxford last season and then departed for Middlesbrough just over a week after returning to pre-season. His transfer includes a 20% sell-on clause for Tottenham and matching rights on any future bids for the forward, who was named in Lee Carsley’s England under-21 squad on Friday.
“No, I think no [regrets],” said De Zerbi. “Solanke is a good player, Marmoush is another good player and then there was the Richarlison situation which changed in the last five days without my decision. Three strikers, how many strikers do you want in the squad? Three strikers I think are enough. To answer about the player in Middlesbrough, no.”
Tottenham did score a goal this week with Conor Gallagher heading home from a corner in the 3-1 defeat at Liverpool in the Carabao Cup. De Zerbi wanted to sign the 26-year-old from Chelsea during his Brighton tenure and last season, after arriving at the north London club, presented a motivational YouTube video to the midfielder, entitled ‘bossing the midfield’, to raise his confidence again during Spurs’ tough campaign.
“Even if he doesn’t play every game, I love him. He’s generous, he’s a smart player, he has the right mentality,” said the Tottenham boss. “Then there are other things in football, the characteristics. You have to understand before the game – because after the game it’s easier – what is the best characteristic you need for that game. When Conor has not played, it’s because I needed different characteristics just for that.”
Gallagher has made 22 England appearances but has fallen out of the reckoning under Thomas Tuchel. At least with De Zerbi the midfielder has a coach who rates him highly.
“For me, no, he’s not underrated. Maybe for other coaches or other people. For me, no. I think when I came last season, Conor didn’t play until my arrival. When I came, he played every game.” he said. “We had less competition in the squad. But I love him. He’s my player. I know he’s a reliable player. When I call him, he’s always ready to fight, to run.”
De Zerbi has Sandro Tonali available for selection against Villa, having missed the defeat at Anfield with a knock picked up against Everton. The Italian’s performances have begun to improve in recent weeks after a summer in which he became Tottenham’s first ever £100million signing when all the add-ons in his move from Newcastle are included.
“He’s a good guy, he’s working very hard and I’m happy to have Sandro. We are lucky to have Sandro with us,” said De Zerbi. “The adaptation has been not so fast but it can happen, also in Milan in the first season, ok he was younger, but it is not so easy to change city, to change everything for the players. Sometimes the adaptation is immediate, sometimes you need more time. I think also Tonali against Everton played well.
“He can play in both situations [as a six or eight] because his physical characteristics are to play box-to-box but he started his career as a playmaker. He’s good enough with the ball, he’s good enough without the ball. He’s a complete midfielder, like Bergvall, like Mateus Fernandes. They are very close, not as characteristics, but these three players all have characteristics of the modern midfielder.”
On Bergvall’s recent displays, he added: “I think Bergvall is not a problem. Bergvall, Tonali, they can play together. They can stay on the bench both. They can play one and the other, no. I don’t know. The most important is when they play, when Lucas plays, he has to play like the last two games. Because also with Everton he played well in the last part of the game.”
With Saturday’s early kick-off, the Tottenham players stayed together in the club’s training ground hotel, The Lodge, on Friday night in order to prevent the need for an early morning meet-up for the squad. It also serves to continue to build the togetherness of the new-look group and De Zerbi maintains he has not done anything differently as they hunt their first Premier League goal.
“Thursday after Liverpool I didn’t speak with the players too much, otherwise the voice of the coach is not [useful] every day. Yesterday we worked with the players who didn’t play, or they didn’t play 90 minutes, and today we stay together. We stay in The Lodge and we prepare the game. Normal game. We want to win, we want to win scoring many goals. Everyone wants the win,” he said.
De Zerbi does not see this bedding-in process for his first start to a season as Spurs as a challenge, instead just part of what they had prepared for.
“It’s not a challenge, it’s a plan. You follow the plan or you have not planned it in your head. Our club worked very well in the transfer market. We could do better, for sure, but we could do worse. The transfer market you don’t know before you start the season if it worked well or not. We work very well, not well,” he said.
“We didn’t start in the best way we can, for many reasons. Now we have to improve. We have to help the new players come inside. Also Tonali, Matheus Fernandes I think they can play much better – but we have to help them come inside better, to understand the club, to understand everything.
“For example JP van Hecke after the first two games not so well, he’s playing now the last three or four games very well. Marmoush against Liverpool played maybe the best game with Tottenham. Savio after injury I think is ready to play as Savio. Robertson against Everton maybe was the best player on the pitch. Tosin, Senesi, I think they played very well against Liverpool. There are no problems for the new players. I think we started late, for many reasons, but we work more and harder to regain the gap.”
Get YOUR Tottenham Newsletter
All the best news, updates and analysis from Alasdair Gold and more straight to your Inbox!
Yours in just two simple steps.
Head THIS WAYEnter your email and hit Subscribe.