Hotspur HQ

Tottenham Hotspur have a number of top talents whom Roberto De Zerbi should be excited to work with as the new manager, especially consdering Spurs are in dire straits and literally now sitting in the Premier League's relegation zone following rivals West Ham United dunking on Wolves 4-0.

Mathys Tel, Archie Gray, and Lucas Bergvall are all future superstars. Xavi Simons may already be one with better coaching. Cristian Romero, Pedro Porro, Destiny Udogie, Micky van de Ven, and Kevin Danso are all, in theory, very good footballers as well. Maybe a healthy Guglielmo Vicario is, too.

But there are also a number of players on Tottenham who look like disasters. One player who has drawn a lot of ire from the supporters in recent months is winter signing Conor Gallagher, for whom Spurs both overpaid in wages and transfer fee only to watch completely flounder in the middle of the park.

Roberto De Zerbi has always liked Conor Gallagher

Despite Gallagher's obvious issues and lack of upside, Roberto De Zerbi is, surprisingly, a big fan of his, even though most Spurs supporters would have expected RDZ to want absolutely nothing to do with him.

At the press conference before the match between Tottenham and Sunderland in the Premier League, De Zerbi spoke very highly of Conor Gallagher and stated that while the center midfielder was playing at Chelsea, the former Brighton manager loved him as a player.

Roberto De Zerbi said of Gallagher, via Lilywhite Rose, "I want to see again the same Gallagher I loved in Chelsea time. And I think I am lucky because I have a big confidence in my players and their qualities."

Gallagher was actually a great player in the Premier League for mid table Crystal Palace a few years ago, and he did have his moments for Chelsea, though they did rightfully dump him off due to his limitations at an elite club.

Spurs need to be careful not to overrate him, but maybe De Zerbi can calculate the best usage for the British Bulldog. Gallagher is a great athlete who can win the ball and drive it forward, even though he has only shown that quality about once in a Tottenham kit all half season long.

De Zerbi taking a liking to Gallagher is a bit surprising, but it is less surprising when you factor in that he's talking about the times when he was an effective Premier League player and not a current walking disaster for Atletico Madrid and Spurs. Now let's see if he can get anything out of him.

The Roberto De Zerbi era has officially dawned on Tottenham Hotspur, and if the former Brighton and Marseille manager is indeed in it for the long haul at the N17, then the fans are especially intrigued to see how he makes use of the many top young talents at the club.

Players like Mathys Tel, Archie Gray, and Lucas Bergvall are just dying to break out into true superstardom. But there are also young players at Spurs who are already stars in world football, and the one who comes to mind the most is attacking midfielder Xavi Simons.

In all honesty, Simons has been a bit disappointing in his first season since making an approximately 60 million euro move from Bundesliga giants RB Leipzig to Spurs, but there have been flashes of world class quality from the former Barcelona academy product that made him such a stud for both PSV and Leipzig before his time in the Premier League.

Roberto De Zerbi is a fan of Xavi Simons

At the press conference before Sunday's crucial matchup with Sunderland in the Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur manager Roberto De Zerbi spoke highly of Xavi Simons, praising the Dutch international as a "big talent", via Lilywhite Rose.

Yes, it is an obvious statement for De Zerbi to make, and it would maybe be more headline worthy if RDZ said anything else about his 22 year old attacking midfield gem. But it is nonetheless something for Tottenham fans to get excited about, because De Zerbi gassing up and being happy to work with Simons is a reminder of how much further the Dutchman can go with the new coach.

Simons looked so frustrated under the cowardly football under Thomas Frank, and, honestly, the coaching of Igor Tudor was only marginally better by comparison, simply because Frank was so hopelessly inept.

Meanwhile, Roberto De Zerbi is a coach with the same philosophy and mentality of Ange Postecoglou in terms of always wanting to go all out and win, and yet he has the actual tactical acumen to potentially execute for a club like Tottenham.

The result could be their athletic starting No. 10 truly busting out and playing some great football, just like he did in the Dutch and German top flights, as well as in the Europa League and Champions League. And even in the Champions League this season when even Frank was trying to score, Simosn showed that quality. He could be eating good soon.

Tottenham Hotspur manager Roberto De Zerbi steps into his new job with a tall task to tackle. Spurs are now officially in the Premier League relegation zone after watching London rivals West Ham United beat on the 20th placed team, Wolves, 4-0 on Friday Night Football. And in their last game, Spurs were the ones who got trounced in a head to head relegation fight, falling 3-0 to lowly Nottingham Forest.

So De Zerbi clearly has his work cut out for him, and with Mohammed Kudus and Dejan Kulusevski not coming back to a right side that also lost Wilson Odobert an ACL tear, finding attacking production is largely going to fall on the purported master tactician's plate.

But there is more to coaching than tactics, and Tottenham fans want to see De Zerbi prove that he is the right man - as a person - for the job. Even though Thomas Frank was a nice guy, Tottenham fans could not stand the way he spoke about the team and then had the team play - with cowardice and no ambition, literally telling people to expect to lose a lot of games and then going out to do precisely that.

Roberto De Zerbi wants to win it all

De Zerbi, though? He wants to bring Tottenham Hotspur trophies. The manager said of his ambitions at Spurs, via Football.London's Alasdair Gold, "In my plan for sure there is the idea to stay for a long time, to try to put Tottenham, I'm not speaking about the titles because it's not the right moment now, but to put Tottenham to stay in the first position in the Premier League because there are all parts to reach that level."

Now, Roberto De Zerbi is going to have to do more than just talk, of course. From a character perspective, he needs to show that what he did at Marseille, especially the stuff he did with Mason Greenwood, is not who he is today. But also from a footballing perspective, he needs to actually bring those results and win with Tottenham before anyone can anoint him or lavish him with praise.

At the same time, Tottenham fans can't help but find it refresing to hear a manager speak about their beloved club in terms like these again. Ange Postecoglou wasn't a great coach, but he brought optimism and ambition. De Zerbi is already talking about winning the Premier League even in these dire times, and that's at least a glimmer of hope - even just the fact that a Spurs coach is saying something like that out loud.

It was a big signing for Tottenham Hotspur when they secured Mohammed Kudus from West Ham United last summer. Kudus was the first player to join the club from rivals West Ham since Scott Parker made the move back in 2011.

His time at Spurs started brightly as he got two assists in a 3-0 win over Burnley in the first Premier League game of the season. While his output wasn't outstanding during the first half of the season, he carried a dreary team led by Thomas Frank.

Kudus has been out of action since January after sustaining a quad injury in a 1-1 draw with Sunderland. There was optimism that he could soon return to action. However, he is now set for an extended period on Spurs' sidelines.

We are in for a big end of the campaign for Tottenham as they look to avoid relegation. They will need someone to step up in his position on the right wing. Unfortunately, Wilson Odobert, James Maddison, and Dejan Kulusevski are all injured, as they would have been able to do a job in Kudus's absence. Here are three players who could fill Kudus's boots.

Three players who could replace the injured Mohammed Kudus?

Randal Kolo Muani is naturally a center-forward, but he can play on either wing. He arrived at Spurs with a big reputation, having played for France, Paris Saint-Germain, and Juventus. However, he has failed to make a big impact at Tottenham since arriving last summer.

In total, Kolo Muani has scored just five goals with four assists in 34 games for Spurs this season. He has recently been used more as a substitute. However, with Spurs now with a new manager in Roberto De Zerbi, Kolo Muani could be in for more of a key role.

Xavi Simons can also play on either wing, but is more of an attacking midfielder. He also arrived at Spurs with big expectations, having also played for PSG, and starred in the Bundesliga for RB Leipzig.

However, his record for Spurs is also not great. He has scored just four goals with five assists for Tottenham in 38 games. A highlight for him recently was a brace against Atlético Madrid in the Champions League. However, Spurs lost that tie 8-4 on aggregate.

Simons has not had a goal or an assist in the Premier League since an assist against Manchester City eight games ago. A switch to the wing could be what is needed to get the best out of the attacking midfielder.

All of these players have one thing in common: they arrived at Tottenham from big clubs but have failed to adapt. Mathys Tel joined Spurs from Bayern Munich initially on loan at the end of last season. He helped the club win the Europa League, but he was left on the bench in the final as Spurs defeated Manchester United.

Tel scored two goals with two assists in 13 Premier League games, which was enough for Spurs to sign him permanently. However, this season, he has scored just three goals, with zero assists in 24 league games.

He is also naturally a center-forward, but can also play on either wing. Tottenham will need a hero in their final seven games of the Premier League season to ensure that they do not finish in the bottom three and suffer a devastating relegation to the Championship. It would be unprecedented to see Spurs go down, and they may need an unlikely hero from now until the end of the season.

Right now, the Tottenham Hotspur job is the most pressurized in world football, somehow making the situation at Real Madrid look like a joke by comparison. New manager Roberto De Zerbi steps into a situation in which Spurs are at real risk of relegation, and, now, they are officially in the relegation zone before Sunday's must win matchup against newcomers Sunderland.

That's because Spurs London rivals West Ham United just trounced Wolves 4-0 on Friday night in Premier League action, moving out of 18th place and two points ahead of Spurs, who entered the Matchday just one point ahead of the Hammers.

West Ham took full advantage of facing the worst team in the Premier League, picking them apart in a display that should have Tottenham very worried. Because when was the last time Spurs scored four goals or won a game 4-0? When was their last clean sheet? Their last win even?

Tottenham are in the relegation zone

Roberto De Zerbi is committed to Tottenham Hotspur even if they are relegated from the English top flight, so the issue is not his own job security - though Spurs fans may not trust him bolting the club after the events of his Marseille and Brighton tenures.

But the pressure comes from relegation. If Spurs were to be relegated, the consequences would be devastating. We are talking about working class human beings who live in North London losing their jobs due to budget cuts. And then, of course, we are talking about young rising stars and established players - the former hurting much more than the latter - leaving the club to make EFL Championship wage cuts. They would likely have to leave at discounted rates.

West Ham United have just put Tottenham under the kibosh. Well, Spurs were already under a fair bit of pressure for De Zerbi to walk into straight away, which is why Spurs had to do some convincing to bring in the Italian manager by throwing around some serious dollar signs in the contract, but now the pressure is titanic with Tottenham officially moving into the relegation zone.

And after West Ham added a big goal differential boost, Spurs are under even more pressure. Only by winning this weekend against a stingy Sunderland defense - and without Mohammed Kudus, mind you - can Spurs get out of the relegation zone. A draw is not enough. Now it is your move, Mr. De Zerbi.

If Tottenham Hotspur are relegated in six weeks times, it will largely be due to their home form. Last time out, three weeks ago now, the Lilywhites were crushed 3-0 by relegation rivals Nottingham Forest, suffering a fourth home league defeat in a row. This means, across an elongated period, Spurs have beaten fewer Premier League teams at home than a certain side not even based in England.

This season, Tottenham have won only two of 16 Premier League home games, defeating Burnley on the opening day and Brentford in December. This means Spurs have claimed just four victories from 30 home league games since 3 November 2024, a period of 523 days, having enjoyed victories over Manchester United and Southampton during the second half of last season. Of these 30 games, 19 have produced defeats.

This means, including the first leg EFL Cup victory over Liverpool, Spurs have won just five home matches against Premier League opposition since 1 January 2025. As noted by Colin Millar of the Athletic, this is one fewer than Paris Saint-Germain. During this timeframe, les Rouge-et-Bleu have had eight home matches against English opposition and collected six wins, beating Manchester City, Aston Villa, Arsenal, Tottenham themselves, Chelsea and now Liverpool on Wednesday night.

This is obviously a statistical quirk, but also a damning indictment on just how miserable the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium has been for home fans for a prolonged period. So, will this continue and see Spurs become an EFL Championship club?

Tottenham Hotspur's remaining Premier League fixtures

Sunday 12 April: Sunderland - Stadium of Light. Kick off 2pm.

Saturday 18 April: Brighton & Hove Albion - Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Kick off 5:30pm.

Saturday 25 April. Wolverhampton Wanderers - Molineux. Kick off 3pm.

Sunday 3 May. Aston Villa - Villa Park. Kick off 7pm.

Monday 11 May. Leeds United - Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Kick off 8pm.

Sunday 17 May. Chelsea - Stamford Bridge. Kick off TBC.

Sunday 24 May. Everton - Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Kick off 4pm.

Having been appointed during the international break, following the departure of Igor Tudor, new manager Roberto De Zerbi will take charge of Spurs for the very first time on Sunday. He commences with a tricky trip to Wearside, given that Sunderland have only been beaten three times at the Stadium of Light all season. By the time that kicks off, if West Ham manage to beat Wolves on Friday night, Spurs would do so in the bottom three, cranking up the pressure further.

Their other away games are at Wolves, Aston Villa and Chelsea, making it alarming that they cannot rely on good home form. De Zerbi's former side Brighton will travel to N17 this time next week, with relegation rivals Leeds and Europe-chasing Everton doing so in May.

Tottenham Hotspur signed only one experienced player during the winter transfer window, mistakenly overpaying for Conor Gallagher, who has proven to be useless to a cause that is now nearing relegation. As part of their intent of signing "leaders" - read: overrated and finished players with a Premier League pedigree - Tottenham were also highly interested in Liverpool backup left back Andrew Robertson, who only did not move to Spurs because the Reds could not find a new backup to replace him.

Robertson is now confirmed to be leaving Liverpool as a free agent this summer transfer window, which is no surprise since he has been finished for a couple of years now, playing no role at the club in 2025/26 even when Milos Kerkez struggles after a legitimately poor 2024/25 season before that.

But even though Liverpool obviously don't care to keep Robertson because he is done being a starter at the top Premier League level, apparently Tottenham are still interested in signing the 32 year old defender from Anfield.

Tottenham could still go for Andy Robertson

The information comes from Paul Joyce of The Times, who also reports that reigning Serie A champions Napoli and La Liga giants Atletico Madrid will also join Tottenham Hotspur with an interest in the aging Liverpool left back in free agency.

Napoli's interest makes sense. Premier League players tend to do well in Serie A, specifically for the Partenopei, and Serie A is a great league for older players. Atleti make little sense, but maybe they want to make the Conor Gallagher mistake twice themselves, too.

But Tottenham make the least sense. They actually did sign a left back in the winter, bagging top Brazilian prospect Souza from Palmeiras. Souza has been excellent when played, and he is already a talented backup to another great player, when healthy, in Destiny Udogie.

So Tottenham already have two dynamic, high upside left backs in Udogie and Souza. Why add a slow player like Robertson who gets burned by top wingers and cannot offer much in the attack anymore when you have two players who could really blossom in a better team with superior coaching under Roberto De Zerbi?

It just makes no sense. And there is not a single Tottenham fan who wants Robertson. He would just be taking playing time and development away from Souza with no upside. Obviously, he would not be a candidate if Tottenham are relegated, and half of that is because of the wages he will command as a free agent. Spurs are better off leaving this track than going back to it.

Tottenahm Hotspur supporters are mere days away from watching the first match with new manager Roberto De Zerbi in charge, as nothing less than three points will satisfy this club going forward with so little margin for error left in the relegation battle following the 3-0 debacle to Nottingham Forest just before the break.

Spurs will battle Sunderland this weekend, and everyone is excited to see De Zerbi's first starting lineup in charge of the Lilywhites. The Mohammed Kudus injury blow leaves more questions than answers lingering, especially with James Maddison still out and Dejan Kulusevski pretty much already ruled out for the rest of the season on the right wing.

Perhaps the most intriguing positional storyline is how De Zerbi will utilized the underperforming trio of No. 9's in Richarlison, Randal Kolo Muani, and Dominic Solanke. All three have flashed at various points this season, and while Solanke is the best on paper, the man of real intrigue during this Premier League relegation fight is the man who succesfully navigated one before with another historic English club, Everton.

Roberto De Zerbi has plans for Richarlison

In an interview with the 2 Robbies Podcast for NBC Sports, Roberto De Zerbi spoke about utilizing Richy and praised his all around quality and versatility, almost hinting at using him in a position other than striker. He also said that he views Richy has important to his plans, “Richarlison can play in different positions. He’s a good guy, he’s a clean guy, he’s a honest guy. I like him, as a player, as a mentality, as an attitude. In the same position, we can play with different players, but I think, to achieve our target, we need Richarlison in the best way possible.”

Nothing De Zerbi is saying is out of line, and the Tottenham Hotspur faithful will 100 percent agree with the statements of liking Richy as a person and his mentality. Whereas players like Randal Kolo Muani have come off as mercenaries who don't care since they know they will be leaving anyway, Richy, transfer listed himself, will always give it his all for the badge, especially since he was the one who rejected those transfer rumors in the first place.

Will De Zerbi roll with two strikers together? Utilize Richy on the wings to make use of his versatility in different positions? De Zerbi is the experimenter who holds all the keys to the laboratory, but it sounds like Richy is a guy he has plans for.

Tottenham Hotspur fans are likely too fixated on the threat of relegation and the fact that it would erase the club's ability to sign top players to actually think about summer transfer at this point, but as Johan Lange and Vinai Venkatesham learned the hard way, any top club worth their salt has to be thinking about all future opens in order to stay ahead of the curve.

And one area Tottenham have been wanting to upgrade this summer transfer window is the goalkeeping position. Guglielmo Vicario has been slowed by playing through a hernia, and while Roberto De Zerbi could try to convince the Italian international to stay, it honestly looks like Vicario is already very close to a return to Serie A as a replacement for Yann Sommer for the presumable champions Inter Milan. The Italian league looks like a much better spot for him anyway.

So Tottenham are out for replacements. De Zerbi's old Brighton signing Bart Verbruggen is one strong option, as is another Dutch Premier League star in breakout man Robin Roefs, whom Spurs will get a close look at this weekend against Sunderland if he is able to make it through injury to play.

James Trafford is set to leave Manchester City

But the strongest option Tottenham Hotspur want to consider is James Trafford. When the Guglielmo Vicario transfer exit rumors first started, Trafford rumors were popping up, as the Manchester CIty goalkeeper appeared to be rightfully disgruntled with his situation at the Etihad. A top young keeper, Trafford was excited to sign with the Premier League powerhouse as their new starter to take that next step, but after he was signed, Man City added one of the world's top three keepers in Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Trafford is too good to be a backup, but Man City, to this point, had shown no interest in parting ways with such a valuable young goalkeeper. However, a new report from the Manchester Evening News's Simon Bajkowski states that Trafford is now set to leave the club this summer, as Man City are open to a sale.

Perhaps Man City were not interested in selling James Trafford in the middle of the campaign with no possibility of cover for Donnarumma, should he get hurt. But Pep Guardiola has never been in the business of holding back players from leaving if they want to go; he just needs the time to replace them. So now, Trafford is going to be available, and if Tottenham can stay up in the Premier League, maybe they have a chance at their ideal prize.

This damned football club really does have a knack for sucking the life out of you. No wonder the majority of us seldom veer from a state of pessimism.

There was reason for genuine excitement at a critical juncture in our modern existence. We're just a point above the relegation zone with seven games to play, but there's now an idea to believe in, folks. Sure, the man with said idea may not be the most adorable of characters, but Roberto De Zerbi is a talented coach capable of adhering to the mystical "Tottenham way".

One man he must've been excited to get his hands on was Mohammed Kudus. Brighton & Hove Albion were keen on signing the then-Ajax forward in 2023 before the Ghanaian opted for West Ham (?), and the signs had been pointing towards an imminent return to action after more than three months out.

But on Thursday we were reminded that we cannot have nice things.

Kudus setback only raises relegation fears

Vicious, nasty rumours circled on social media earlier today regarding a possible injury setback to Kudus that could require surgery, thus ending his season.

'ITK’s' are very hit and miss, we all know that, but those on the inside were unfortunately incredibly accurate about this bit of terrible news.

Opting for transparency, the club have since confirmed the aforementioned reports. Kudus had been in training and may well have been in contention for Sunday's trip to Sunderland, having injured his quad in the reverse fixture at the start of the year.

The setback means Kudus, who carried a bleak Thomas Frank-led era, won't at all aid our fight for survival. We haven't won a Premier League game without him, by the way.

This isn't good, of course its not. I've remained confident that we'll shake off this nightmare situation, but I also thought we'd be getting our best attacker back for the run-in. Now what do we do? Johan Lange stiffed us in January, and that comment about players soon returning from injury doesn't look so smart now does it, fella? God, just get the guy gone already!

Fortunately, there's a gifted coach to get behind, and we can hold out hope that James Maddison, yet to play a single minute this term, could contribute at some point. The English playmaker is continuing to step up his recovery from an ACL tear, and Igor Tudor—remember him?—was confident that Maddison would play again this season.

So, I wonder when he'll be rupturing his Achilles, knowing our luck...