‘We can change everything’ – Roberto De Zerbi names two positives from Tottenham defeat
Roberto De Zerbi is remaining upbeat about Tottenham’s chances of staying in the Premier League despite his side dropping into the relegation zone for the first time.
Tottenham fans would have hoped to see the side play with a lot more fight and attacking intent in Roberto De Zerbi’s first game in charge, and that was the case for most of the first half against Sunderland.
However, the lack of quality in the final third, which has been an ongoing problem for almost the entirety of the season, cost the Lilywhites again.
While they failed to make most of their opportunities, Sunderland struck at the other end of the pitch around the hour mark, consigning the North Londoners to yet another loss.
Roberto De Zerbi claims Tottenham were good against Sunderland but they can be better
The Tottenham boss admitted that he liked what he saw from his players at the Stadium of Light, especially in the first half.
He suggested that his challenge is to allow the Tottenham players to show their quality amidst the pressure cooker of a relegation battle, and he is confident that his side will get better.
When asked what he thought of Spurs’ performance at the Stadium of Light, De Zerbi responded: “I think we played a good game, especially in the first half, with order, with the ball, without the ball. We had three clear chances to score, one with Solanke, one with Richarlison, and another with Bergvall. We played well, but we didn’t play well enough to win the game, because in the second half we suffered too much. To Sunderland, we lost 20-30 metres of the pitch.
“We had another important chance with Richarlison, just two minutes before conceding a goal. We can play better, we can do something more, as energy, as passion on the pitch, with more enthusiasm. Yes, but now we are in a difficult moment and I would like to help the players to show what they can do on the pitch.
“Because we played a good game, but we can play much better than today. Just it. My job is not now to change the style of play. I did two or three things with the ball, two or three things without the ball, but the crucial part is not with the ball or without the ball.
“It’s in our mentality to be positive, but to be positive just because we have the quality enough to win a game, and when we go to win a game, we can change everything.”
De Zerbi wants Spurs players to transfer training ground performance to matchday
The Tottenham boss made it clear that his focus for the final six games of the season is to help his players mentally, so that they can play at their best.
He admitted that he has seen a lot to like in training over the past 10 days and wants to see the Spurs stars play with the same freedom during matches.
When asked if he has learned anything new about the team on Sunday, De Zerbi responded: “You know me as a coach, but one very important part for me, for my style of being a coach, is the mental part, is to transfer the confidence of the players, to give them what they need in terms of mentality, in terms of confidence.
“And for that I said we could play better because during the week they play better because they are clear in their head, and during the game it’s different for sure. And my work is to help them to show what they do during the week, on the game, during the game.”
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