What another Premier League stalemate revealed about Tottenham and Roberto De Zerbi
After spending hundreds of millions trying to banish years of neurosis, Tottenham Hotspur so quickly have another hang-up.
They can’t score and, as this inevitable 0-0 draw with Everton went on, they looked less likely to score. That is the greater worry than a worsening record.
Roberto De Zerbi even reached for Italian football phrases, to talk about how this team needs to be “unblocked”.
“Sbloccare,” in Italian.
A mess of a second half ensured Spurs went four games without a goal from the start of a season for the first time in the Premier League, to make it 403 minutes without a goal overall - excluding stoppage times. Their last goal was actually the one that kept them up, a 43rd-minute strike by Joao Palhinha against Everton on the last day of the season, but they now seem to have a whole different set of problems.
Spurs are still some way off the record, which is Crystal Palace going into their eighth game of the 2017-18 without a goal, but matching that should maybe be a concern.
What was so striking here was the regression. Spurs actually started the game well, swarming Everton and really pushing them with moments of near panic.
Once they went about 20 minutes without making that breakthrough though, it was as if the block was more psychological than it was the Everton backline.
As well as David Moyes’ side defended, after all, they immediately undid that by giving the ball straight back to Spurs.
The game quickly devolved into one that couldn’t successfully play two consecutive passes against one that couldn’t successfully play a forward pass. The Spurs fans, who booed by the end, gradually groaned more and more at another backward ball. And this from a team put out by Roberto De Zerbi, whose career was supposedly built on tactical risk. The manager was resorting to public shows of post-game tactical instruction here, as Mathys Tel was subjected to an exasperated and frustrated monologue. De Zerbi seemed to be pointing him where he should go.
"Yes, I coach him on the pitch... the striker can't play with his back to the goal,” the manager said. “He has to play like a striker, looking at the goal, or on the cross for Robertson. He has to stay inside. He started as a striker, eh, now he's playing as a winger."
"But I love Mathys as a player and a guy, there is not a problem.”
The team has other problems, though.
They appeared to be afraid of taking any other risks, or really seizing the game.
A dismal match almost became an engaging spectacle because of all of that, because of how technically poor it was.
In one spell that summed up the second half, Brennan Johnson played a five-yard pass to no one, ultimately allowing Savio to play a worse ball to Archie Gray but then berating him for it.
All of this was evidently starting to afflict Spurs. They were snatching at chances and looking visibly low on assurance. Not even substitute James Maddison, one of the few remnants of their old attack, could change that.
And if his expensive new players may not have been here as this club developed more and more scar tissue, they’re now enduring other cuts.
Not scoring is now very much “a thing”.
They were also fortunate this wasn’t a defeat.
Spurs may have had more of the territory and play, but they didn’t have the better chances. They didn’t even have a better xG.
Everton’s was almost double, at an admittedly paltry 1.26 to 0.73, mostly courtesy of big chances for Johnson and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
After the game, Moyes even declared himself surprised that Everton had more shots on target.
It was that kind of game. Moyes felt his side were poor, outside the defending. Jarrad Branthwaite was especially good, particularly in cutting out a Sandro Tonali ball.
You could say they had it easier than expected, even allowing Everton’s poor record at this stadium.
De Zerbi admitted confidence may have become an issue, as they went longer and longer without scoring - “four games without a goal is not good” - but he almost entirely put it down to the physical rather than the psychological. He pointed to how he’s barely had this set of players together, fit to work with.
"I started working with this group two Thursdays ago,” De Zerbi said. “We have not the physical condition yet. If we extend the first part of the game, my opinion, my belief, we gonna win many games.
"We have to improve in the last third of the pitch, for sure.”
It was put to De Zerbi whether all of this was just making excuses, since many sides have had the same issues without the benefit of such expenditure. Moyes certainly hasn’t enjoyed that.
"I came last season when the s*** was like this,” De Zerbi responded, putting his hand to his forehead.
"I repeat, the s***. I have been positive but realistic.
"Now, I explain, I'm sorry for the results but today we played as a team. Today and Nottingham.”
In other words, a goal might do it. Spurs just need that break, and the bounce it will bring.
There are maybe bigger questions about De Zerbi’s approach. An argument is growing within the Premier League that the tactics he used to make his name no longer have the same effect, since everyone is now wise to them.
It is probably unfair to say anything definitive on that, until De Zerbi has the chance to properly integrate this new team into his approach.
But, in the same way that the Italian needs time, time also works against him: the ever-increasing minutes without a goal.
