On September 19 at 19:30 BST (Beijing time), Tottenham will host Aston Villa in the Premier League's fifth matchday. Following the lifting of media restrictions, excerpts from Tottenham manager De Zerbi's pre-match press conference have been made public. This article covers the first half of those remarks.

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【De Zerbi: "Tonali's Adaptation is Slow, but It Was the Same at Milan"】

Roberto, I'd like to ask you about Conor Gallagher. Last season, when you showed some players video clips to help them regain form, Conor later mentioned being shown a video about "controlling midfield." How do you plan to help him rediscover that sense of midfield control?

Listen, I love him even if he doesn't start every match. He's very generous, dedicated, and committed. He's an intelligent player with a very sound mentality about the game. In football, there are other factors at play—for example, a player's tactical characteristics. You need to understand those before the match begins. It's always easy to analyze after the game, but before it, you have to understand what player characteristics you need most for that specific match. Conor hasn't played in certain games simply because I needed players with different characteristics for those particular matches. That's all there is to it.

Last season's match against Aston Villa was crucial in saving the team's season. If I recall correctly, Conor scored the opening goal. Do you feel he's somewhat underrated, or do you genuinely feel he's occasionally underrated by the outside world? Can he provide the creative spark the team desperately needs right now?

From my perspective, not at all—he's not underrated in the slightest. Perhaps other managers or other people might see it that way, but not me. Last season, when I first took over the team, Conor didn't get many opportunities before I arrived, but since I've been here, he's started in almost every match.

Last season was different because there wasn't as much competition for places as there is now. But I love him. I know he's my player and a very reliable one. When I call on him, he's always ready to play, to tackle, to run. So for me, he's never underrated.

One final question: last season, the club publicly hired a sports psychologist. I'd like to know what impact that had.

You'd need to ask Jon Reusch (the Sporting Director) or the club's management about that. You could email them and ask. I'm just a coach, not a club executive. To be honest, I don't know—I really don't. I believe the club always does its best to create the best environment for the players, but I don't have specifics about the psychologist situation.

Roberto, have you encountered periods in your past managerial career when your team struggled to score goals?

No, never. Not once. We might have conceded many goals at times, but I've never struggled to score. I think this is simply an accident, pure chance—yes, pure luck. I think so because if we can create four or five excellent chances against Liverpool away—Betalvido and Kudus' chances in the first half, several chances for Marmush in the second half, plus Conor Gallagher's goal—that's nine scoring opportunities at Anfield, which is never few, right? And then there's the Everton match, where we didn't have that many clear-cut chances, but we had one or two obvious opportunities and another three or four possible openings.

Even if we can't score right now, I will never change my opinion of these players or my assessment of their ability and qualities. Because Marmush is an extraordinary player, Savio is an extraordinary player, and Dominic Solanke, when healthy, is an excellent player. Marmush, Kudus, Conor Gallagher, and Matheus Fernandes each have different characteristics, but these four are all very good. We also have some of the Premier League's best full-backs—Andrew Robertson, Udogie, and Pedro Porro—and they're all top-level. We have five centre-backs, and each is better than his predecessor. I've never had any doubt about the quality of these players.

Do you wake up in the morning thinking of new ways to change things?

No. Sometimes I feel like I need to change everything, but sometimes it's just about improving what we're already doing, and sometimes you need to stay calm. We're trying to improve the areas we need to improve and aim to play better, but at the same time, we need to stay composed. I know "if" and "but" aren't the right words for a hypothesis, but... considering our current performance, we're only two points off. In my view, we should have earned far more than two points.

Speaking of "ifs" and "buts," let me add one more thing. You sold Will Lankshear to Middlesbrough, and he's scored eight goals in ten games. Was selling him a mistake?

No, I don't think it was a mistake. Because Dominic Solanke is a good player, and Marmush is a good player. And there's also the Richarlison situation. In the final five days of the transfer window, the Richarlison situation changed, but that wasn't due to my decision.

If that hadn't happened, would you have kept Will? How many strikers do you think the team needs?

I think three strikers is enough. Three.

You mentioned that staying calm is very important. Have you taken any specific measures to help the players stay calm—for example, temporarily relieving them from the pressure of results, helping them in this regard?

No, the day after the Liverpool match, I didn't talk to the players much. The coaching staff's voice can't be ringing in their ears every day. But yesterday, we had a good training session with the players. Now I think we need to improve and help the new signings adapt better. For example, Tonali and Matheus Fernandes—I think they can play better, but we need to help them adapt and understand the club and everything.

For example, Jan-Paul van Hecke didn't perform well in the first two matches, but over the past three or four matches, he's been playing at a very high level. Marmush showed his best form against Liverpool and Tottenham. Savio, once he recovers from injury, will be ready to show his true self. Andrew Robertson was probably the best player in the Everton match. Lucas Betalvido also put in a decent performance at Anfield. Therefore, there's no fundamental issue with the new signings' adaptation. I feel we've had a slow start for various reasons, but we're working harder to bridge that gap.

AI翻訳。

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