Tottenham Hotspur have no plans to move away from Roberto De Zerbi, with the club’s hierarchy firmly convinced he is the right man to turn around their disastrous start to the season, sources with knowledge of the situation have confirmed to TEAMtalk.
We understand that there is no consideration being given to replacing De Zerbi, despite the pressure mounting on the Italian after Tottenham’s latest defeat at home to Aston Villa, which left them bottom of the Premier League following other results this weekend.
It is the first time in 18 years – and the 2008/09 season – that Spurs find themselves bottom of the pile after five games of the new season, fuelling talk that another change is needed.
However, the north London club remains fully behind the 47-year-old, despite winning just four of his 14 matches in charge and with his win percentage rate at the club now sitting at an alarming 28.57%.
One source explained to TEAMtalk: “There is nobody better than Roberto to turn this around; this was never an easy fix, despite the summer outlay. He is very much still the man for Tottenham.”
Spurs were one of Europe’s biggest spenders during the summer after only just surviving last season, but their investment has yet to produce the expected results. They have taken just two points from their opening five Premier League games and now head into a three-week international break at the foot of the table.
However, there is also an important factor behind Tottenham’s continued faith in De Zerbi: he has actually only been in charge of the club for 14 games, and the belief inside the club is that the project was always going to need time…
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The Italian took over late last season with Spurs in serious danger of relegation and helped rescue them from the drop before being backed heavily in the summer as the club looked to build for the long term.
The club’s hierarchy are therefore understood to believe it would be premature to consider a managerial change after such a short period in charge, particularly given the scale of the squad changes made during the summer.
TEAMtalk understands De Zerbi is hugely frustrated with the performances of his players and feels they are not currently operating anywhere near the level expected of them.
However, Tottenham’s hierarchy are understood to share that frustration and recognise that the issue is not necessarily with the manager, but with the performances being produced by the squad.
There remains a strong belief inside the club that De Zerbi is the best man to get the results required to change the situation and that he needs time to work with the players following the significant changes made to the squad during the summer.
Tottenham’s latest setback came against Aston Villa at the weekend, with the defeat leaving them bottom of the Premier League after five matches.
The result has increased the scrutiny on De Zerbi, but TEAMtalk understands the club are not looking at alternatives and have no plans to make a change during the international break.
Instead, the expectation is that De Zerbi will use the three-week period to work with his squad and address the weaknesses that have contributed to their poor start.
The Italian has himself admitted that he is struggling to understand the inconsistency being shown by his team, delivering a remarkably frank assessment after the defeat to Villa.
“In my career, 14 years as a coach, I’ve never seen one team like us. So fragile, so inconsistent,” De Zerbi said.
Those comments reflect the frustration within the Spurs camp, but they have not altered the club’s stance on his future.
Tottenham invested heavily during the summer after a difficult campaign last season, and the hierarchy remain convinced that De Zerbi needs the opportunity to get more from the squad they assembled.
The feeling is that the players have simply not performed at the required level and that De Zerbi remains the coach most capable of correcting that.
There is also an acknowledgement that the situation was never expected to be an instant fix, despite the scale of the summer spending.
For now, therefore, there is no managerial search taking place at Tottenham and no move to look beyond De Zerbi.
Meanwhile, one of the Premier League’s hottest young bosses has made a decision on replacing De Zerbi at the Tottenham Hotspur helm.
Elsewhere, a former Spurs star has exclusively revealed to TEAMtalk why the Italian can count himself lucky that Daniel Levy is no longer running the club after he addressed the manager’s public shaming of his players.