On September 13 at 00:30 Beijing time (CEST), Tottenham Hotspur will host Everton in their Week 4 Premier League match. Following the lifting of the media embargo, excerpts from Tottenham Hotspur head coach De Zerbi's pre-match press conference have been released. This is the first part of that content.

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You previously mentioned that you felt the players lacked confidence and freedom on the pitch compared to during training. Can you explain further?

No, no, no, but this is normal, isn't it? Because at the start of the season, we overall haven't fully settled. We lost our opening match 0-3, which was very heavy. Then we played Newcastle United, and although we didn't play perfectly, our performance was clearly good enough to win the match, but we lost 0-2. In my view—well, people only talk about statistics when we lose—but we created 9 chances against Newcastle United, while they had only 3, yet you lose the match, a 0-2 scoreline is really hard to accept.

Then I think in the match against Nottingham Forest, we played well. It was a very typical match, very physical in the Premier League. The opponent is a very good team; two years ago they reached the Europa League and have been fighting for Champions League qualification. Their eleven key players have played together for a long time, and this season Nottingham Forest only made one change with Delap.

So I think, I hope we can play better, with more confidence, more energy, and be braver in taking greater risks across all areas of the pitch. But taking risks across all areas of the pitch doesn't mean playing recklessly. No, we must be serious, but at the same time show the fighting spirit of top clubs and top players. But I think—and I'm very confident—we will eventually reach that level and achieve this goal, and I want to accelerate this improvement process.

Early in the season, you said you seemed very confident about the high quality and great potential of this squad, and confident about competing for the league title, or at least finishing in a high position. After such a start, do you still feel confident that this team can reach the top of the league table, rather than just struggling?

Yes, I think I still have great confidence in this group of players. What I said then wasn't exactly as you've stated now, because my words were different. I said before the Brentford match that before setting specific targets, we must first become a real team. But if you're trying to provoke me with this question, then I want to say that I love my players, I love this group of players. I think they have very high quality.

But that's far from enough; we must show it, we must translate these qualities into actions on the pitch. If we want to win matches, we must score goals. And to score goals, we must take shots and create tactical situations that allow us to score. Additionally, we're also improving and playing better defensively. In the Nottingham Forest match, we didn't face any significant threat. Why? Because I think everyone's concentration was higher, their awareness was greater, and also because we made more effort during training over the week.

Hello Roberto, regarding Richarlison, I imagine this must be very frustrating for you, isn't it?

For me? No, no, no, no. I'm only sorry because I have one talent who is unavailable for my squad. Richarlison is a good kid, a very good person. I've spoken with him many times, spent a lot of time trying to convince him to stay. But if you ask me, I know the truth of this matter. I know what happened over the last month, the last 45 days; everything is very clear, but I'm not frustrated. Why?

So, I think you're upset or frustrated by the misinterpretation and exaggeration of this situation by outsiders, rather than by those who truly understand the internal situation. So, would it be fair and objective to describe Richarlison's current situation as "somewhat messy"?

Well, I think I should repeat it myself. I know what the club has done for him over the last 45 days, and I also know Richarlison's own behavior. I know very clearly. I think it's not appropriate for me to explain openly right now, because it wouldn't be fitting. But I really regret it, because things could have gone differently, and even the outcome of the story could have been completely different.

If there had been another way, I think it would have been better, wouldn't it? Or far better. Richarlison is in the squad, Richarlison is happy to stay, and would even be happy to extend his contract, because he remains a very important player despite this. He was very important to us last season, and we can't forget that. But at the same time, we can't ignore everything that has happened over the last 45 days.

One final question: when you first took Brighton to the Premier League, many regarded you as a tactical innovator, a coach who could display tactical ideas never before seen on the pitch. I just want to know, since then, to what extent do you think the Premier League has absorbed and followed your tactical ideas? And to what extent do you now need to innovate tactically again?

No, I think in the last three or four years in the Premier League, if you compare it to my time coaching Brighton, the intensity of play has clearly increased, physical confrontation is more intense, and individual duels happen more frequently. If you watch our match against Nottingham Forest, it was a difficult match. There was almost no pure ball circulation; it was all about tackles, fighting for second balls, and for them, even more so, because we constantly tried to play with control and passing. Effective playing time in that match was only 47 minutes, and it was the same against Brentford. The intensity of play is far higher than before.

And in terms of possession, everyone is almost the same, because you rarely see many teams play with such smooth and beautiful possession, do you? Because playing against such high intensity and high-pressure defense is very difficult; not easy at all. The Premier League is truly different from Serie A, Ligue 1, and La Liga, both in terms of intensity of play and player profile. There are big differences, but we clearly must adapt. In any case, we can clearly play better than we did against Nottingham Forest.

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