De Zerbi Reflects on Spurs Defeat and Team Leadership
The mood inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was toxic by full-time. Roberto De Zerbi chose not to add to the noise.
The Italian walked away from his players after the collapse, keeping his distance in the dressing room. Not out of anger, he insisted, but out of restraint.
“Maybe it is better. I didn't speak with the players today because I didn't want to say nothing. No, I have nothing with them,” he said, explaining a deliberate vow of silence to avoid saying something he would regret.
‘Unacceptable’ goals and missing leaders
What really burned De Zerbi was not just the defeat, but the way it unfolded. Spurs conceded with ten men while Micky van de Ven was off the pitch with a facial injury. Later, they were undone by a simple long ball straight from a goal kick. Route one. Predictable. And, in his eyes, preventable.
“We conceded an unacceptable goal from a long kick with a long ball and we knew before the game, because this season Aston Villa are playing 86 per cent more long balls than last season and we spoke in many, many meetings,” he lamented.
They had the data. They had the meetings. They still switched off.
For De Zerbi, this is where his senior players must take over. Not on the tactics board, but in the chaos of the match, when the game stops looking like his ideal of controlled possession and starts to look like a scrap.
“It's my responsibility, I take my responsibility,” he said. “But in that moment of the game, when the game is different than ball possession, than playing in the last third, because we can't play 90 minutes in the last third like the first half, because there is an opponent, Aston Villa is not a so bad team, it's a good team.
“And the moment when we have to defend and we have to defend compact the leaders have to be leaders and to lead the team.”
The message was clear: structure can only carry a team so far. When the match turns, the dressing room hierarchy has to show up.
Solanke struggle adds to the strain
As if the defensive lapses were not enough, De Zerbi is also wrestling with the form of his marquee striker. Dominic Solanke, signed to be the ruthless focal point of the attack, is nowhere near his sharpest.
The manager did not hide from it. He also did not throw his forward under the bus.
“We need more from him for sure, but he's one of my players, I like Dom as a player and I stay with him until the end,” De Zerbi said.
“He needs to stay, to feel better, his physical condition is not good enough for sure, but it's normal for him. Maybe he's not good enough in the confidence of himself in this moment because he's much better than this Dom Solanke.”
Fitness, rhythm, belief – all missing. For a side built around intensity and precision, a misfiring No 9 only amplifies every missed chance and every dropped point.
Break brings a different kind of test
Now comes a three-week international break, often a manager’s worst enemy when a team is stumbling. De Zerbi is choosing to see it differently.
With a large chunk of his squad heading off with their countries, he expects those players to keep their edge away from the club. The real work, he believes, lies with those who stay behind.
“The players who go with the national team they have to play, they have to work,” he said. “And the other players like [Conor] Gallagher, Solanke, Tosin [Adarabioyo], [Marcos] Senesi, Savio for sure we have to work more because of the physical condition I didn't like in this game.”
The plan is simple: hard sessions, sharper legs, stronger minds.
The silence in the dressing room on Saturday will not last. When the players return from international duty and the fixtures start piling up again, De Zerbi expects his leaders, his defence, and his No 9 to answer a question that now hangs over this team: can they turn bruised pride into a backbone?
