Tottenham's Struggles Continue Under De Zerbi
Roberto De Zerbi is going “nowhere other than the wrong way”. The table says it. The mood around Tottenham says it even louder.
A 3-2 defeat to Aston Villa on Saturday leaves Spurs still searching for their first Premier League win of the season. Losses to Villa, Brentford and Newcastle United, plus draws against Nottingham Forest and Everton, have chained them to the relegation zone heading into the international break. The pressure now lingers for weeks, not days.
This was supposed to be the year they broke free of all that. Tottenham have finished 17th in each of the last two campaigns and spent over £300m in the summer to make sure they weren’t anywhere near this fight again. Yet here they are, stuck in the same neighbourhood, only with a bigger bill to pay.
Bright start, brutal punishment
For half an hour at Villa Park, it didn’t look like a side drowning in doubt.
“In the first half-hour they showed good intensity, controlled the tempo of the game and created a few chances,” former Spurs midfielder Danny Murphy said on BBC. “Not great chances but shots that forced the keeper into a couple of good saves.”
Tottenham pressed high, pinched the ball back in dangerous areas and, for once, didn’t resemble a team short on belief. The problem came where it always seems to come: in both boxes.
They failed to turn pressure into goals. Villa waited. Villa grew.
“And then, as has happened in weeks previous, they’ve let the opposition grow into the game and gain confidence,” Murphy added.
The turning point was cruel and familiar. Down to 10 men with Micky van de Ven off injured, Spurs switched off at the worst possible moment. Deep into first-half stoppage time, Johan Manzambi struck in the fourth added minute to put Villa in front. A punch to the gut, delivered just as the whistle was about to offer some respite.
The second half only twisted the knife. Nicolas Jackson and Emi Buendia both found the net as Villa stretched their lead, exploiting the gaps and uncertainty that have become Tottenham’s calling card.
Spurs did at least show some late defiance. Conor Gallagher and Jan Paul van Hecke pulled two goals back to drag the scoreline into something more respectable, but the comeback never truly felt on. Again: promise, then punishment.
“Ultimately if you can’t score when you’re on top in games in the Premier League you get punished,” Murphy said. Tottenham are living that sentence every week.
De Zerbi under fire
The scrutiny now settles squarely on De Zerbi. His team are winless. His club are stuck in the bottom three. His demeanour, according to some, has shifted from sharp and upbeat to flat and accusatory.
Former Premier League midfielder Kevin Nolan did not hide his concerns.
“I am really worried about Tottenham,” he said on BBC 5 Live’s preview of the game. “Every week Roberto de Zerbi has a different excuse. He doesn’t stay around much at clubs and falls out with a lot of his owners. He’s probably thinking: ‘Do I need this?’”
Nolan remembers the version of De Zerbi who finished last season with a smile and a plan. That man feels distant now.
“He is not inspiring me as he was at the back end of last season in his interviews when he was very jolly and very positive about what he had to do,” Nolan continued. “Everything is downbeat and it doesn’t feel right when you’re watching him in a press conference. Laying the blame on players and staff…it doesn’t go anywhere other than the wrong way.”
That’s the fear at Spurs: that the mood around the manager is turning as sharply as the results. A club that has spent heavily to escape the bottom end of the table can’t afford a public drift into finger-pointing and excuses.
McKenna in the stands, questions in the air
The uncertainty has only been fuelled by an unexpected guest at Tottenham’s recent home draw with Everton.
Kieran McKenna, out of work after leaving Ipswich Town, was spotted in the stands with his wife. One of the brightest young coaches in the English game, he instantly became the subject of speculation. Was he just watching football on a Saturday night? Or was he watching something else?
Former Manchester City financial adviser Stefan Borson raised an eyebrow at the sight.
“We’re looking at £10m to bring somebody new in,” he told Football Insider, outlining the kind of figure Premier League clubs face when changing managers. “Obviously, if you get a manager that’s out of work… It was interesting and a bit weird, to be honest, to see Kieran McKenna in the crowd at the home game against Everton.
“He was in the crowd with his wife. It was a bit strange, really, that on a Saturday night, he would take his wife to watch Everton.
“I don’t know if there’s something behind that. It all looks a bit too obvious it’s all a bit strange. Maybe he was watching Everton.”
Maybe he was. Maybe he wasn’t. That’s the point: when a club sits in the relegation zone after spending over £300m, every glance, every visit, every guest in the directors’ box starts to look like a clue.
For now, De Zerbi stays. For now, Tottenham wait out the international break, stuck in the bottom three, clinging to the hope that performances like the first half at Villa can become something more.
Because if the pattern doesn’t change soon – bright starts, missed chances, late collapses, downbeat press conferences – the next decisive move at Spurs may not be on the pitch at all.
