Tottenham's relegation looks increasingly inevitable after loss at Sunderland
SUNDERLAND, England -- Relegation has never felt more real than this for Tottenham Hotspur. The optimism of appointing a new manager as lauded as Roberto De Zerbi is now set against the dawning realization that one of the Premier League's traditional powerhouses might actually go down.
Sunday's 1-0 defeat at Sunderland means they will end a weekend in the relegation zone for the first time this season with just six matches to play. It is the first time they have been in the bottom three this late in the season in Premier League history.
Their captain, Cristian Romero, left the field in tears, and several players including Micky van de Ven looked stunned at the final whistle. Welcome to Spurs, Roberto.
- Why did Spurs hire De Zerbi? Are his tactics right for relegation fight?
- How players really approach a battle against Premier League relegation
- How did Spurs go from Europa League champions to facing the drop?
Faced with staring into the abyss, is the fear itself of relegation the problem?
"I think so," said De Zerbi in response postmatch. "If you ask me, I am 46 years old. I have much [more] experience than the players, and I am positive absolutely because I know them as guys and players and for that I am positive, not because we are Tottenham or because I have to do positive [things].
"They have the quality to win one game and the target now ... is to win one game. Because if we win a game, we can see everything in a different way."
Winning one game is easier said than done. Spurs have now gone 105 days without winning a league game. Fourteen matches without victory is their longest such run since 1935 -- and they went down that year, too.
De Zerbi is a talented head coach, but he is not a magician. He talked before the game about hoping Spurs could invoke the spirit of their attacking, dynamic best under Ange Postecoglou.
On one hand, it was an effort to draw on recent inspiration, reminding a palpably deflated squad of the quality they possess. But on the other, it was also an indication of the dangerous cycle Spurs are in.
After all, the negative aspects of Postecoglou's high-risk football are in part what set Tottenham on their present trajectory. UEFA Europa League winners, yes, but 17th place in the league last season and 18th now.
De Zerbi wanted Spurs to think like the big club they are. Randal Kolo Muani, Dominic Solanke and Richarlison all started a Spurs game together for the first time. Where De Zerbi's predecessor Igor Tudor went for pragmatism, the former Brighton & Hove Albion boss wanted bravery, at least in his team selection.
When referencing the best of Postecoglou's style, De Zerbi mentioned Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie by name. So it followed that Tottenham's fullbacks often inverted and pushed on as was a feature of "Angeball."
The midfield pairing of Conor Gallagher and Archie Gray was also a throwback to Thomas Frank's spell in charge this season, a choice he adopted initially after Gallagher's January arrival before scrapping that plan. And so it is the story of Tottenham's season so far: managers trying ideas to extract more from a group of players who continue to deliver a performance level alarmingly removed from their reputational level.
Nordi Mukiele's 61st-minute goal was unfortunate in one sense -- his left-footed strike took a huge deflection off Van de Ven to give goalkeeper Antonín Kinsky no chance. It is, as the old cliché goes, the sort of luck you get at the wrong end of the table. But Mukiele was allowed to drift infield under almost no pressure to work himself into a shooting position -- precisely the sort of slack defending that has put Spurs in this position.
Kinsky, incidentally, was one of the only Tottenham players to emerge with any credit in his first appearance since his calamitous 17 minutes against Atlético Madrid a month ago, surviving a clash with Romero that led to a lengthy delay. Sunderland's Brian Brobbey pushed Romero, whose knee collided with Kinsky's face. Romero looked inconsolable as he walked off, but De Zerbi expressed his hope that it was not a serious injury, adding the Argentina international is a "big personality and we need him to finish the season."
There is no silver bullet. And in any case, De Zerbi believes now is not the time for radical change.
"We are inside a difficult moment," he said. "My job is not now to change the style of play. We did two or three things with the ball, without the ball, but the crucial part is our mentality, to be positive."
The mentality point is clear. Both Frank and Tudor expressed concerns about this squad's inability to cope with setbacks, and the statistics back that up. Spurs have now failed to win any of their last 33 league games when conceding first.
"You know me as a coach, but one very important part for my style of coaching is the mental part, to transfer the confidence of the players, to give what they need in terms of mentality and confidence," De Zerbi said.
"For that, we could play better, because during the week they play better because their heads are clean. During the game, it is different for sure. My work to help them, to show them what they do during the week during the game."
De Zerbi has only just started, but the table tells us time is already running out to get that work right.
