On October 11 at 00:30 Beijing Time (CET), Tottenham Hotspur will visit Manchester United's Old Trafford in the sixth round of Premier League matches. Following the end of the media embargo, excerpts from Tottenham Hotspur head coach Roberto De Zerbi's pre-match press conference have been released. This article covers the first part of that content.

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Dejan Kulusevski, whenever he returns – hopefully soon, perhaps even for the Manchester United match – will be quite an inspiring comeback story. I mean, first of all, have you ever dealt with a player who has been injured for such a long time before? How much can this inspire and motivate other team members? It's been a very difficult start so far, but seeing him fight with such resilience and make a comeback...

Yes, he's truly an inspiration. Because, as I've said before, he has shown exceptional fighting spirit, courage, and passion, and he has responded brilliantly. And yes, patience – "patience" is a very good word. We must draw inspiration and strength from him, and I tell the players exactly the same thing when I meet with them.

Have you ever coached a player absent for such a long period?

No, but as a player, I myself suffered long-term injuries multiple times. You know, injuries are terrible because you lose the opportunity to play. But from another perspective, there's a positive side because you can look deep within yourself, understand yourself better than before the injury, you can start having better dialogue with yourself, and you will rediscover your motivation, set new goals, and clarify your direction.

If you face injury the right way, you become stronger. Similarly, if you can handle our club's current situation and the league standings correctly – this season, last season, and two seasons ago – I'm confident you will improve, not only as players you'll become better and stronger, but also as people.

For Tottenham fans, looking at the league table, these weeks will feel very long. Are you trying to avoid looking at the table during this international break?

No, I feel very tormented inside, but we only have one path to take, and there's no point worrying about other things. We must give more, and we must eliminate all excuses. I believe we have a very good team with excellent players. The club itself is perfect; there's nothing wrong with this club. People outside talk too much. But if you listen to me, this team is the best, the players are the best, and we must respond. We must finally show who we are without excuses – be accountable and show our true selves both on and off the pitch.

What is your overall view on this three-week break? This is clearly the first time we've experienced such a long international break, and I'd like to know your thoughts on this concept and whether you think it should be maintained.

Since this is the first time, I don't know if it's good or bad. I think international football is certainly important because you play for your country, right? We must respect that. Similarly, the national team must also respect the players, because players work for their clubs and receive their salaries from the club, not from the national team. However, I don't think an extra week or one less week changes anything, although playing many matches in succession is indeed not easy. But modern football is moving in this direction, and there's nothing we can do about it.

Regarding Manchester United, I'd like to know your opinion on the work their head coach (Carrick) is doing there.

Well, I think they're doing well, but I don't know too much. I prefer not to talk much about other coaches and teams.

Are you surprised to see Manchester United struggling?

But it's only early in the season, right? Many, many clubs haven't yet reached their peak performance. But I've watched Manchester United play many times, and I don't think they're in decline or struggling; I think they're playing quite well. I've also watched their matches, like the recent one against Fulham and the one against Brighton in the Carabao Cup – they led 2-0 but then lost 2-3, yet I don't think they're struggling.

Roberto, Tottenham has controlled possession in many matches this season, but this time at Old Trafford against Manchester United, you might see less possession, creating more opportunities to exploit transitions and counterattacks. Do you think this will suit the team better? Against Manchester United...

But every team must be able to adapt to the game, right? Because the ideal situation, of course, is to control possession from start to finish, create 20 scoring opportunities, and not give the opponent any chance at all. But you must adapt; you must prepare for the match according to your ideas and beliefs. I think we have a very clear style, and then we must adapt. We're playing away against a strong team, and they have excellent players.

But what's certain is that we will never be satisfied with just defending our own area and relying only on counterattacks; we will try to play our game. Sometimes you stay in your own area, sometimes you need to defend, sometimes you need to control possession, sometimes you need to press high – that's the game. The real problem we have now is that we seem to be two different teams: one team can control the rhythm of the game, create chances, and not give the opponent opportunities; but at other times, we struggle to defend well and fail to create enough chances. It depends on certain phases of the match, right? We need to improve...

Consistency and stability?

Yes, consistency and stability within the same match.

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