Roberto De Zerbi appointment is risky move in bid to stop disaster
Spurs have taken one final roll of the dice with Roberto De Zerbi
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Matt Verri
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One final roll of the dice for Tottenham to prevent an embarrassing season becoming an historically disastrous one.
They have dared to back Roberto De Zerbi to do what Igor Tudor - the supposed interim specialist - could not and stave off the relegation threat.
For all he has signed a five-year contract, that feels almost irrelevant. De Zerbi has managed more than 90 matches at a club only once. His scope right now is seven games.
Spurs have turned to the most fiery of characters as their firefighter. The Italian is a demanding, volatile figure.
Tottenham have appointed De Zerbi on a five-year contract
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At Marseille, the club he left in February, he had angry clashes with players and De Zerbi previously left Brighton due to irreconcilable differences with the club’s hierarchy.
Those issues at Brighton were often around recruitment and tension with his Spurs bosses on that theme seems likely.
But those are issues for another day. More of an urgent concern is whether De Zerbi can get an instant tune out of this squad.
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Tudor tried the tough love approach and it backfired. He was an interim manager, though, who was certain to leave in the summer. The players cannot try to wait out De Zerbi.
The Italian is far more of an innovator and his training sessions will be more engaging compared to the running focus of Tudor. Within the game, few are more highly rated.
De Zerbi wants to play an aggressive style of play, taking risks in building up from the back and then attacking at pace with numbers.
It is yet another shift in philosophy from one manager to another at Spurs, again lurching between extremes.
On the pitch De Zerbi’s football will in theory be far more to the liking of the Spurs supporters. Pep Guardiola is a keen admirer and De Zerbi is perhaps the most talented coach currently available.
The major question is whether he can implement his ideas effectively in such a short period of time and with a group starved of any confidence.
De Zerbi has seven games to save Spurs from relegation to the Championship
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De Zerbi made a good start at Marseille but that was after a full pre-season. At Palermo in 2016, he was sacked within three months after winning just once in 13 games. In the 2017-18 season, De Zerbi did not win any of his first nine matches and Benevento were relegated.
Those were both jobs he took mid-season, as it was at Brighton when the Italian began with a five-match winless run.
De Zerbi asks a lot of his goalkeeper and centre-backs in inviting the press. At Tottenham, often an anxious cauldron, those demands will be even tougher to meet.
In a 2023 interview, Lewis Dunk revealed how difficult it was to adapt to De Zerbi. “The first couple of weeks were horrendous... I wouldn’t say horrendous, they were baffling,” Dunk said. “Roberto came in and it was a carnage two weeks.” At least De Zerbi’s English is now much better, removing one key obstacle.
However, he will have sections of the fanbase to win over. Several supporter groups have urged the club not to appoint De Zerbi because of his support for Mason Greenwood.
The Italian signed Greenwood for Marseille in 2024, two years after he was charged with attempted rape and assault. The Crown Prosecution Service discontinued that case.
De Zerbi said Greenwood was a “good guy” who had paid a “heavy price”. Women of the Lane said those comments raised “serious” questions over De Zerbi’s judgement and that “this is not an appointment Tottenham Hotspur should make”.
Spurs have long needed a unifying figure in the dugout to bring all sections of the club together. Mauricio Pochettino would have been that man in the summer; De Zerbi is certainly not.
His appointment is a risk on and off the pitch. Spurs’ dire situation means any decision would have been a gamble but this one must pay off.
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