It has been more than 100 days since Tottenham Hotspur won a game in the Premier League. Back on December 28, when they beat Crystal Palace 1-0 at Selhurst Park under Thomas Frank, the biggest concern for Roberto De Zerbi was Marseille’s clash with Paris Saint-Germain in the French Super Cup .
Brennan Johnson, the hero of last season’s Europa League final, came off the bench in the 85th minute for Spurs and sealed a £35million ($47m) move to Palace five days later. Conor Gallagher was enjoying an extended break before Atletico Madrid’s next game against Real Sociedad while Fabio Paratici was still Tottenham’s co-sporting director alongside Johan Lange. To put it simply, a lot has changed.
Frank was sacked in February and replaced by Igor Tudor, who only lasted 44 days before he left by mutual consent. Now it is De Zerbi’s responsibility to change the team’s fortunes after he signed a five-year contract last month. Spurs are only a point above 18th-placed West Ham United before Sunday’s crucial match against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
Frank and Tudor both struggled to identify their strongest starting XI and were guilty of constantly changing tactics. The absence of James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski — neither has played a single minute this season due to long-term knee injuries — has starved the team of creativity. Spurs have been punished for their failure to source an adequate replacement for former captain Son Heung-min following his departure to Los Angeles FC last summer. Mathys Tel, Xavi Simons, Wilson Odobert and Randal Kolo Muani have all auditioned for the left-wing role with mixed results.
Frank had to cope without first-choice striker Dominic Solanke for the majority of his eight-month stint as head coach and experimented with different midfield combinations.
Tudor inherited a squad gripped by an injury crisis and ill-suited to his preferred 3-4-2-1 system.
Pedro Porro and Archie Gray both played in three different positions during Tudor’s brief tenure. By the time he tried to change tactics, the damage had already been done.
De Zerbi has an easily identifiable front-footed style, which can be challenging to implement, and it bears some similarities to how Spurs played under former head coach Ange Postecoglou. In an interview on the club’s website, De Zerbi explained how he “loves possession” and “creating chances” but “it’s not the right moment to speak about my philosophy”.
“I’m here now at the end of the season because we have to win games,” the 46-year-old added. “And in football, the style of play, the tactical disposition, are important. But it’s a mentality, and I would like to help the players to reach the best mentality we can show.
“We have no time to work too much on more principles, but we have to know what we have to do on the pitch. We have to have a good organisation on the pitch with the ball, without the ball.”
De Zerbi replaced Graham Potter as Brighton & Hove Albion’s head coach in September 2022 and left at the end of the following season. The Italian took charge of 68 league games and used a 4-2-3-1 formation for 53 of them (78 per cent). He switched between 4-2-3-1 and 3-4-3 with Marseille.
If De Zerbi sticks with a 4-2-3-1 setup for his first game against Sunderland, then Simons could be one of the biggest beneficiaries. The Netherlands international fell out of favour under Tudor and did not start last month’s 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest despite scoring twice against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League a few days before. De Zerbi spent the majority of his playing career in the Italian lower divisions, operating in the ‘No 10’ (attacking midfield) role like Simons. De Zerbi’s teams are often built around passing patterns that feed the ball regularly to their primary playmaker.
Alexis Mac Allister scored 10 goals and Pascal Gross registered nine for Brighton in the 2022-23 Premier League, when they finished sixth. Mac Allister regularly functioned just behind the striker and in front of the midfield duo of Gross and Moises Caicedo. Gross and Mac Allister were encouraged to make late runs into the box while Caicedo protected the defence. Lucas Bergvall, Pape Matar Sarr, Gallagher and Gray all feel like good fits for the Gross role, with Joao Palhinha slightly deeper.
First-choice goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario is recovering from hernia surgery, giving Antonin Kinsky a chance to redeem himself after a dismal performance in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie against Atletico. Vicario is a superior shot-stopper but Kinsky is renowned for his quality in possession, potentially making him a more natural fit for De Zerbi’s plans.
De Zerbi likes his goalkeepers to be involved in the build-up. They need to play crisp short passes and have the ability to fire accurate balls over the top of the opposition’s defence. One of Brighton’s trademark routes to goal under De Zerbi involved Jason Steele or Robert Sanchez clipping a deep pass for one of the wingers to chase. It sounds simple, but it was an intricate move that involved baiting the press and pulling defenders out of position.
It is easy to imagine Solanke, who likes to drop deep and shares some attributes with former Brighton forward Joao Pedro, tricking opposition centre-backs with his movement and creating space for Tel and Mohammed Kudus, when he returns from a hamstring injury, to attack. However, Tel is the only natural winger available, with Odobert also out after an anterior cruciate ligament injury (ACL) in February ruled him out for the season. Tudor hinted Kudus might be available after the March international break.
Kaoru Mitoma started his first season with Brighton slowly but flourished following De Zerbi’s arrival. The Japan international assisted Leandro Trossard’s late equaliser against Liverpool in De Zerbi’s opening game and finished the season with seven goals and seven assists in the Premier League. Spurs have found it difficult to create chances throughout the season and it is enticing to think De Zerbi might be able to unlock their goalscoring potential.
Shifting to a back four could have negative consequences for Kevin Danso. The Austria international missed Tudor’s first game against Arsenal through injury and was a substitute in their next two fixtures before starting four in a row. Danso has been the only reliable centre-back due to Cristian Romero’s poor disciplinary record and Micky van de Ven’s erratic form. Romero is the club captain and his exceptional passing range should complement De Zerbi’s vision while Van de Ven’s speed will be integral to the high line.
Brighton made 143 changes to their starting line-up in De Zerbi’s only full season in charge (2023-24). Only Manchester United in 2013-14 and Manchester City in 2019-20 (both 144) have made more in a single campaign. De Zerbi did not name an unchanged side from one game to the next although this was partially due to Brighton struggling to cope with fixture congestion in their first season in European competition. Marseille only made 73 changes in De Zerbi’s debut season, which was one of the lowest in the French top flight, but they were not competing in Europe.
Tottenham’s extensive injury list and exit from the Champions League will limit De Zerbi’s options and narrow the squad’s focus for these crucial seven top-flight fixtures.