Roberto De Zerbi has hit out at the perceived negativity surrounding Tottenham as they attempt to leapfrog West Ham and survive relegation from the Premier League
Roberto De Zerbi began his press conference ahead of Tottenham's crucial trip to Aston Villa on Sunday by launching into a passionate four-minute rant about the negativity surrounding the club.
Spurs travel to fifth-placed Villa desperate for a win, with a two-point gap between them and 17th-placed West Ham. De Zerbi ended a 16-game winless run in the Premier League with a vital 1-0 win over bottom side Wolves last weekend, but the result came at a cost.
They have lost Xavi Simons to a serious knee injury, while Dominic Solanke also had to be substituted with a hamstring issue. It means they are currently without 10 players for their relegation scrap. But De Zerbi is determined that his players and the fanbase only look forward.
"Listen, I want to be clear one time," he said when asked about injuries at the start of his press conference on Friday. "The most important challenge now is to silence the voice inside of us, inside of the players, inside of the staff and inside of the fans. This voice can produce negative thoughts.
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"The voice says, ‘we are unlucky, we have too many injuries, we lost Xavi Simons and he was the last two games one of the best players and most important players for us, our medical staff is not good enough and the pitch of the stadium is not good, the pitch of the training ground is not good, it is impossible to win two or three games in a row because we have not won too many games in 2026,’ I think it is all negative things. And it is rubbish because I want to keep my focus on yourself and the quality of my players.
"We go to play against one of the best teams in this moment in Premier League, we have a big respect for [Unai] Emery as a coach, but if Tottenham win in Villa Park, it is not a miracle. Maybe we lose, I don’t know but we have the quality to win this game and it is not a miracle, so I think we have to be positive and to be lucky because we are working in a big club.
"If Solanke and Xavi are injured, we can play with [Randal] Kolo Muani, Mathys Tel, Richarlison and I think they are not worse players. They are different as characters, but are very good players. We have Pedro Porro, we have [Destiny] Udogie, we have Micky van de Ven, we have [Rodrigo] Bentancur, we have Palhinha, we have [Conor] Gallagher and Gallagher two! For that all these things and I have not too much to listen and to hear this (negative) things."
He added: "We have to die on the pitch and to die on the pitch we have to lose the game. Before we lose the game we have to play, we have to fight and we have two points less than West Ham but West Ham have to play difficult games as well like us.
"For that, okay it is not the best moment for us, it is a tough moment, a difficult moment, but the losers cry. The losers think negative. I don’t want people close to me crying or to think in different way to me.
"We are good enough to win the games, and we are good enough to stay up. And then we will see, because it's the unique way I know. The way I know is to work hard, to give my best, to transfer my idea of the players, the confidence of the players, and to be realistic. I think there are not a lot of people realistic now."