Tottenham lost against Liverpool on Tuesday night and pundits including former Spurs man Jamie O’Hara are beginning to question manager Roberto De Zerbi’s future as the north London club’s dismal start to the season showed no signs of abating.
Spurs are still yet to beat a Premier League side this season. In the league itself, they’ve played four times, losing two games and drawing their other two. Worse yet, they are yet to score a single goal in the competition.
And after seeing off Charlton in the League Cup, their run was ended by Liverpool, who beat Tottenham 3-1.
With De Zerbi’s only win of the season amounting to nothing, pressure is ramping up, and former Spurs man O’Hara feels issues are going to continue.
O’Hara said on talkSPORT: “I was all for De Zerbi, but this is getting a bit flaky. Basically, what’s happened is De Zerbi is the flake in the ice cream, that’s what it is right now.
“And it’s melting around him, it’s melting. It’s hot, it’s melting, the fans are trying to hold the flake up and he’s De Zerbi in the middle of it. Eventually, the flake’s going to break.
“You can’t be a 99p flake. You can’t be. You can’t keep melting every week.”
A bit of a strange analogy, but the sentiment that the struggles are going to continue seems solid given the performances so far, and the fact Tottenham have only scored one goal against Premier League opposition this season – a Conor Gallagher consolation against Liverpool.
Christophe Dugarry feels Roberto De Zerbi has pulled off a heist
Former French forward Christophe Dugarry has also hit out at De Zerbi, suggesting he’s pulled off a heist by being given a five-year deal at Spurs.
He told RMC Sport: “I have never really understood what his level actually is. They tell me he did well at Brighton, Sassuolo and other clubs, but for me he is still not an absolute guarantee for coaching the big teams.
“He signed a five-year contract. What he has done is a genuine robbery, without even needing to wear a mask. It is incredible.”
De Zerbi likely only took the job with seven games left of last season if he was given guarantees of a long deal.
Elsewhere, journalist Adam Joseph has suggested Tottenham might have to part with big money if they’re to sack the manager.
He wrote on X: ‘Tottenham gave Roberto De Zerbi a five-year contract in March worth £12m per season.
‘It would cost them £57.4m to sack him & they just let him spend nearly £400m in the summer.
‘Almost impossible to fathom how disastrous that all is.. & I support Manchester United.’
While there’s likely a clause which means Tottenham wouldn’t have to pay the entire remainder of the contract, it would still be a poor look to sack a manager who they gave a lucrative five-year deal to just last season.