According to Footmercato, Roberto De Zerbi has decided to take Tottenham Hotspur to Marbella, southern Spain, for a training camp, hoping to use the break in the schedule to help the team overcome their current slump.

As he revealed before the away match against Manchester United, Tottenham will use the nine-day break to train before their home game against Coventry on October 19. This will be an opportunity for the team to intensify training and improve squad cohesion in relatively comfortable weather conditions.

Tottenham made significant squad adjustments this summer, investing over 250 million euros to bring in 10 new players, including Savio, Tosin Adarabioyo, Mykhailo Mudryk, and Marmoush, with some new signings joining late in the transfer window. However, the team has struggled to quickly build chemistry, and their performance has been unsatisfactory. After five consecutive winless matches, Tottenham hoped to use the away match against Manchester United as a turning point for their season.

But this match once again exposed the problems within De Zerbi's team. Tottenham lacked efficiency in the final third, squandering several opportunities to take the lead, with Dominic Solanke notably missing several shots. In the 73rd minute, Bryan Mbeumo scored for Manchester United, assisted by Matheus Cunha. Subsequently, Rodrigo Bentancur was sent off, leaving Tottenham playing with ten men for a period.

However, Tottenham ultimately equalized in stoppage time, with Solanke helping the team secure a 1-1 draw against Manchester United and a point from Old Trafford. Considering the flow of the game, this result has some positive implications, but Tottenham still failed to secure their first win of the season, and the team's problems are far from resolved.

The training camp in Marbella will provide De Zerbi with an opportunity to further enhance team chemistry, confidence, and overall coordination. For those familiar with De Zerbi's coaching style from his time at Marseille, this approach is not new.

During his time at Marseille, De Zerbi organized similar training camps multiple times. In late November 2024, he took the team to Malemort in Bouches-du-Rhône for a four-day camp to prepare for their home game against Monaco, followed by a trip to Denmark in December. In spring 2025, to help Marseille contend for a Champions League spot, he also decided to take the team to Rome for an extended training camp after a 4-1 victory over Brest.

At the time, De Zerbi admitted that he reduced some on-pitch training to focus more on team cohesion. The 47-year-old Italian coach had previously conducted pre-season training camps in the Italian Alps during his time at Sassuolo and in Austria during his tenure at Shakhtar Donetsk. However, unlike pre-season preparations, Tottenham's trip to Marbella is aimed at recalibrating the team's form midway through the season. Due to the late arrival of some new signings and the team's disappointing results so far, Tottenham has not yet formed a cohesive unit, making this training camp more akin to a re-preparation.

Of course, the Marbella training camp also has unavoidable limitations. The local temperature is expected to be around 25 degrees Celsius, providing a comfortable training environment, but De Zerbi and his coaching staff must carefully manage the training load. Players have just returned from the international break and face an intense schedule, with accumulated fatigue, travel demands, and fixture congestion potentially affecting recovery. If training is not managed properly, the risk of injury could also increase.

From a logistical perspective, the journey from London to Marbella is relatively short, and there is only a one-hour time difference, but the team still needs to adapt to new sleep, dining, and recovery routines. FIFPro's research on match schedules has shown that travel can affect player recovery, especially with long-distance and frequent trips. Furthermore, temperatures in Marbella are higher than in London, so the team will need to pay special attention to hydration and energy management.

Therefore, the key to the training camp is not simply to increase training volume, but to find a balance between tactical integration, team cohesion, and physical recovery. If managed effectively, this trip to Spain can help new signings better understand De Zerbi's tactical philosophy; if handled poorly, it could further exacerbate player fatigue, and what Tottenham needs most right now is to regain vitality and chemistry.

In Italian football tradition, a ritiro (closed training camp) is a standard method, with its core purpose being to temporarily remove players from their daily environment and focus their attention on team affairs, thereby promoting communication, concentration, and team unity. However, this approach can also backfire. In 2019, Napoli's ritiro sparked controversy during Carlo Ancelotti's tenure.

Now, De Zerbi hopes to turn Tottenham's fortunes around using a similar approach. The team's upcoming match against Coventry will be an important opportunity to test the initial effects of this Marbella training camp. However, regardless of the match result, one game alone cannot determine whether the training camp has completely transformed the team; similarly, a single defeat is not enough to prove that this attempt was meaningless.

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