Roberto De Zerbi’s Tottenham Hotspur’s reaction is ‘realistic, not positive, not negative’ as his Spurs remain winless and goalless this young Premier League season following a 0-0 draw with Everton at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Spurs were blanked by Brentford and Newcastle to open the season, then smashed Charlton Athletic in the League Cup before staging consecutive scoreless draws with Nottingham Forest and now the Toffees.
MORE — Manchester derby could set tone for power shift
De Zerbi’s men charged out of the gates but couldn’t solve Everton’s back line, settling into possession to the tune of 62% over 90 minutes. Led by Savio, they had 36 touches in the Everton’s box compared to just 14 for their visitors.
But they barely won the shots game 12-11 and lost xG by 1.12-0.57, leading to a pretty ornery Tottenham Hotspur Stadium crowd.
Spurs have now gone 360 Premier League minutes without a goal this season.
Roberto De Zerbi reaction — What did Tottenham Hotspur manager say after Everton scrap?
Tough moment for the team? “It’s not a tough moment. Tough moment was last season in Sunderland. Now is not normal moment but is one of the moments in football when you rebuild a team, when you start late because we started together with Marmoush, Savio, Solanke. We played well the first 30 minutes and then we lost maybe energy because our physical condition is not the best and we’re working on that. We have to shoot more. We went into the goal area 74 times but we didn’t create the chances to meet our quality of play. We have to analyze the last decision but because we made too many wrong decisions.”
Why the fitness issues? “After the World Cup with many players involved, it’s like this. We suffered 2-3 injuries — Fernandes, Van de Ven in Australia and the couldn’t work and other injuries Solanke. I am not positive and not negative, I am realistic. If you play like this for 30 minutes, it’s because you are capable to play this kind of football. We have to extend that 30 minutes to 65, 70, 85, and 90. We have to focus on the last 25 meters because we would be speaking about a completely different game.”
“I’m not a journalist. I don’t write in the social media. I just coach and I have to analyze the performances and the qualities of my players. I have to analyze the potential situation where we could shoot, where we could score, where we could make better decisions.”
On shooting: “The first 30 minutes where we were very good but we didn’t find the goal and at that moment we suffered too much in self-confidence. This is another important part for this moment. In many parts of the second half I observed my players with less confidence and I don’t like this because they to believe that we are in the right way.”
You’re very positive. Why aren’t the players feeling that way on the field? “The players are human and they have sensitivities and emotions. They think with their heads. My position is to help them and stay focus on the things we have to do. If we play 90 minutes like the first 30, we’re going to win many games.”