Roberto De Zerbi has been told his Tottenham side do not score enough goals and that they rely on James Maddison far too much.
Spurs have won just three games in the Premier League this season and currently sit 11th. That's despite spending more than £300million in the summer transfer window, with the likes of Jan Paul van Hecke, Sandro Tonali, Mateus Fernandes, Savio and Omar Marmoush all arriving.
The Lilywhites have scored just 10 goals in the league this term and failed to find the net in last weekend's 1-0 loss to Leeds United. Danny Murphy believes they must do better on the attacking front if they are to become a top side.
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Speaking exclusively to football.london, via Pariurix.com, Murphy said: "I think in recent weeks you could see that De Zerbi had started to find some rhythm and you could see they looked like a De Zerbi team. They were playing through the middle of the pitch, patient, enticing teams on.
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"Chelsea was obviously the highlight which was a great performance. And then they had the wins on either side of that. And it felt to me like there was a shift. There was a confidence change and a belief, and of course, winning games helps that.
“I do feel as though creativity and goals are still something that's a problem for them. Even in the Chelsea game, they needed a punch from the keeper in his own net to get the win. They've got a lot of good attacking players, but not enough of them are scoring goals. They’ve got good options in wide areas."
Murphy believes one player who is having an impact in the forward areas is James Maddison. The 29-year-old has struggled with injury but has looked dangerous when on the pitch under De Zerbi.
Maddison's only goal of the season came in the 3-1 win over Coventry City and former Liverpool midfielder Murphy believes the Englishman staying fit could be key for De Zerbi.
“It's strange because after all the money they've spent, and the Chelsea game was a great advert for this, they're still very reliant on Maddison for creativity," Murphy said.
"Now maybe [Xavi] Simons was a player they brought in to maybe take over from Maddison or compete with him and he's injured as well. But when you look behind that front line at who's creating and who's making the chances, I thought Maddison in the Chelsea game was the main reason they controlled the game and made the chances they did.
“I found it strange at the weekend why he was on the bench and not brought on. Obviously he's carrying something and maybe he wasn't ready, but why would he be on the bench. That was a strange one. They're still heavily reliant on Maddison, and he's very injury prone, so are they going to score enough goals, and be creative enough to get themselves in one of the European places, I think it's unlikely.”