De Zerbi: This Isn't a Difficult Time; Last Season Fighting Relegation Was Truly Difficult

In the 4th round of the Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur drew 0-0 with Everton at home. Following the match, Tottenham Hotspur manager De Zerbi gave an interview to Sky Sports.

This is a difficult time for you, for the players, for the fans, and for the entire club. How do you assess...?

No, this is absolutely not a difficult time. I have to interrupt you precisely because this is absolutely not a difficult time. Last season, playing away against Sunderland, when we were fighting to avoid relegation, that was a difficult time. This is certainly not a normal period, but it is an inevitable phase in football – when you are in the process of rebuilding your team and when you have made a late start. Because we only truly began to integrate Malmüsh, Savio, Solanke, and Maddison two weeks ago on Thursday.

I think we played very well in the first 30 minutes of the match, but then, perhaps because we haven't reached optimal physical condition, the entire team lacked stamina afterwards, and we are working hard to improve that. In terms of the technical and tactical quality we displayed on the pitch, we took too few shots. We need to threaten their goal more frequently. We entered Everton's penalty area 74 times, but the clear-cut chances we created are still far too few, which does not fully reflect the tactical level we demonstrated in the match. Without question, we must redouble our efforts. We must carefully review our final-third decision-making, because we made too many poor choices in the final third. However, I think the entire team played well today.

There's a lot of important information in your answer. Let's discuss the players' physical condition first. Is the lack of fitness due to many players returning late to training, as you mentioned, or are you facing other complex challenges in your preparation that you need to manage?

No, because the World Cup only recently ended, and many players in the squad played in the World Cup; that's an objective reality. We also have two or three injury issues: Fernandes, Micky van de Ven who was injured in Australia – they couldn't participate in our regular combined training sessions beforehand. There's also Solanke's injury. But I'm neither blindly optimistic nor pessimistic right now; I'm pragmatic. I believe that if a team can play at such a high level as we did in the first 30 minutes, it means everyone is fully capable of playing beautiful football. What we need to do now is gradually extend those beautiful 30 minutes into 60 minutes, 65 minutes, 70 minutes, 80 minutes, and even a full 90 minutes. And in the final 25 yards, we must maintain high concentration. Because today... if we had scored a goal and won the match, what everyone would be talking about now would be a completely different match, especially from the perspective of your question.

This is the first time in Tottenham Hotspur's history that they have failed to score in four consecutive league matches at the start of a season. The club has invested heavily in the attack, with some players recruited during your tenure and some signed before you arrived. How frustrating is it to look at the list of strikers on the squad sheet and still have no goals after 6 full hours of Premier League football?

I'm not a journalist, and I don't write articles on social media; I'm simply a head coach. My job is to evaluate the team's performance, understand the characteristics of the players under my command, and conduct a thorough analysis of our attacking potential – where we should be shooting, where we should be scoring, where we should be making better decisions.

You have frequently mentioned the word "courage" in your recent press conferences. Do your attackers need to show more courage in front of goal, greater confidence, and a more decisive killer instinct when shooting?

No, I just missed something very important. The team played very dominantly in the first 30 minutes, but we failed to break the deadlock. I think from that moment on, the players' confidence began to waver, indeed it dropped significantly. This is an important issue we need to address now. For most of the second half, I observed that the players on the pitch seemed to lack confidence, and that's what I'm not satisfied with. Of course, not winning and not scoring should not make anyone happy, but they must have the confidence to believe and see that we are on the right path.

In your view, what is the root cause of this lack of confidence? Because you are naturally a very positive and confident person, accustomed to leading from the front. Why can't the players follow the momentum you're showing?

Because players are human; they have sensitive minds, genuine emotional fluctuations, and they think with their own brains, not mine, to play football. My job is to be here to help them, to guide them to focus all their attention on the details that need to be improved. Because if we can play with the quality of the first 30 minutes for a full 90 minutes, I'm confident we can win most of our matches.

Is there a disconnect between what you see on the training ground during the week and what we see on the pitch on match day?

Not at all. What I saw on the pitch today is precisely what I see from the group of players under my command, particularly in the first 30 minutes.

One final question, both for the coach and the players: hearing jeers from home fans is never a pleasant experience whenever it happens. What would you like to say to the fans who are showing frustration at the start of this season?

I feel very sorry for the fans, and our entire team feels sorry. They were fantastic throughout today, especially in the first half. When they saw the team playing intricate passing moves, pressing hard, and trying to score, the fans' emotions were completely aligned with the players on the pitch. The frustrated reaction at the end of the match is human nature, isn't it? It's very normal for fans to show emotion, and we must always express our gratitude for their support.

Will this goalless streak change? Are you confident that this goal drought will definitely pass?

My confidence? I just said, I am pragmatic, I am neither pessimistic nor blindly optimistic.

Diterjemahkan oleh AI.

Situs web AF kini hadir! Lihat berita lengkap, komentar, detail pertandingan, dan statistik di komputer Anda. Kunjungi: www.allfootballapp.com