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Compared to the frenzy of his last game on the touchline, a 5-0 thrashing with Marseille at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain in the Parc des Princes, Tottenham’s training ground must have seemed like a sea of tranquility for Roberto De Zerbi.
Not only its high-security fences, trim manicured lines and tasteful borders, but 10 days of peace to find his bearings, get to know key personnel as his players filtered back from international duty.
Then came the meetings. 'A lot of meetings,' said De Zerbi, who has met individually with all his players in his office as well as holding team meetings between training sessions as he tried to quickly instil his key messages into his new squad. 'Just football,' he explained. 'Just meeting the players, organising, transferring and finding the best way to transfer my ideas. Two or three. Not too many ideas that I want to see on the pitch on Sunday.'
De Zerbi is 10 days into the job and yet to play a game, a factor he referenced yesterday in his first press conference when asked why he accepted the job this time and not in February when he left Marseille on the same day Spurs sacked Thomas Frank.
'For me it was important to have time,' said De Zerbi. 'Not too much time but 10 days, more than one week and I thought it could be important to understand the problems.'
Much has been made of his five-year contract, understood to come with a £12million annual salary, and his power to influence recruitment targets but the 46-year-old Italian insists he is not in north London for the money. 'You can find the right answer in my history, because I left a lot of money in my life,' said De Zerbi. 'The money never changed my focus on my work.'
Ten days gave him time but De Zerbi, a self-confessed football obsessive who is living in the Lodge, the on-site accommodation at the training ground, enabling him to work long hours, has been careful to limit the instructions he has passed on.
All the players were back last Friday apart from Cristian Romero and Pedro Porro who had been given an extra two days off by interim boss Igor Tudor, a privilege honoured by De Zerbi. With Romero and Porro back on Monday, De Zerbi’s early focus has been on confidence.
He wants his players to display courage on the ball, keep possession and play in an attacking style. He spoke about recapturing the attacking flair Spurs had in their first season under Ange Postecoglou, and believes they still have a squad to play in this style.
His first fight, however, is to stay up. To do this he needs to squeeze everything from the players available. So, his messages both in public and private have been to remind players of their talent.
Some needed building up again after the psychological rigours of this season under a barrage of criticism having failed to win a Premier League game in the first 100 days of 2026. Although De Zerbi claimed to be pleasantly surprised by the spirit inside the camp and detected clear improvements after his first week in charge.
'They are working very, very well,' he added. 'It’s not normal after we didn’t win too many games in 2025 and we haven’t won any game so far in 2026 so you imagine the atmosphere inside the dressing room or the training ground, but it's not like this. I saw players with energy, with passion when we were in the meetings speaking about football, about the two or three principles. They came with the right focus, so I’m positive for that.'
Tottenham’s senior stars have been in the front line for criticism and De Zerbi made a point of hailing his captain Romero and his central defensive partner Micky van de Ven, both of whom have been heavily linked with summer moves away, as ‘crucial’ to his plans.
He called Xavi Simons ‘a big talent’ and applauded the ‘attitude’ and versatility of Richarlison. He purred about the prospect of reviving Randal Kolo Muani to his pre-Spurs levels and how he had tried to sign Mathys Tel when he was at Marseille.
While at Brighton, De Zerbi was keen to sign both Conor Gallagher and Mohamed Kudus, although Kudus now faces an extended absence after suffering a setback in training and might not play again this season.
Training sessions have been slightly longer than they were under Frank or Tudor but always with the ball and limited to one per day. There were no double sessions with everyone aware of the cumulative physical strain at this stage of the season.
They were given a day off on Wednesday when De Zerbi had an English lesson to boost his linguistics before he faced the live cameras yesterday and called in at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to meet those working on site.
He made it clear at Brighton that his coaching principles came second to his principles of life, and that treating people with respect and making human connections was vital if he expected them to listen to his tactical advice.
Most coaches would say the same. It is about communicating. Early feedback filtering out of his training sessions from the players has been positive.
De Zerbi is a vocal coach who likes to be on the grass at the heart of training sessions, which is just as well because he will start with a streamlined coaching staff and only two or the seven who worked with him at Brighton and then Marseille. Perhaps there will be scope for this to evolve if relegation is avoided.
The true test of another new era and his attempts to restore confidence however comes on the pitch in the heat of battle. Spurs have gone under when things have gone against them in recent times.
Under Tudor, they collapsed after the red card for Van de Ven at home against Crystal Palace. And against Atletico Madrid in the first leg of a last-16 Champions League tie, when beset by defensive errors, two made by stand-in goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky and one by Van de Ven to go three down inside quarter of an hour.
The young Czech was substituted after 17 minutes in Madrid’s Metropolitano but Guglielmo Vicario had hernia surgery during the international break and Kinsky looks set for a recall at Sunderland.
'I have confidence,' said De Zerbi when asked if he had spoken to Kinsky about Madrid. 'He has to be strong, but he is strong enough to show what he can do. Not more, not less. His qualities are enough to play at Tottenham. The other players believe in him. He has to stay calm and confident. He is playing at Tottenham, so has to be stronger than the mistakes, and to move on.'
Nobody will face a greater test of their character inside the Stadium of Light. And yet they will all come under scrutiny, including De Zerbi as he promises to take Spurs back to the top.
He is renowned for his volatility, and the serious business for him starts in Sunderland. Not in the sea of tranquility near Enfield.