Tottenham Hotspur recently appointed Roberto De Zerbi as their head coach.
Tottenham Hotspur have endured quite a difficult campaign at N17 with an irregular sense of playing style producing what has been an equally irregular set of results. Those performances have meant that the chiefs at Hotspur Way have had to shuffle their head coach twice this season, with the latest of them being Igor Tudor, who was relieved of his duties after a series of disappointing performances.
But with the Croat out the door, Tottenham were always thinking more in the long term. It was important to bring someone in who would carry the project for a while at least, and that is where Tottenham brought in Roberto de Zerbi.
The former Marseille manager had an impressive spell with Brighton in the English top tier, where his Seagulls were one of the most dominant sides, whilst boasting a certain style of play.
The Lilywhites’ faithful have been crying for an attractive brand of football for a while now, and that is exactly what RDZ will bring to the table.
He has already taken charge of his initial sessions at Hotspur Way, and the following are a few things he will need to tweak before his first game in charge.
Roberto De Zerbi – First three tasks at Hotspur Way
Fixing the first phase play without breaking it
Ideally this is where Roberto De Zerbi puts in his identity on the pitch. His teams always like to put pressure on the ball at the base before they start pulling passes. It is more of a structured chaos that De Zerbi aims for, as he likes to take that risk in the first phase.
But if we look at the sample size of all the build-ups that Tottenham have had in this season, this side hasn’t shown any sense of confidence or composure to execute a structured first-phase build-up.
A lot of times this season, Tottenham haven’t looked sure on whether to play short or to go long, and in that series of non-decisiveness, they have ended up doing neither properly.
And De Zerbi will not compromise on this (surely). He will walk through those doors, and the first thing he will do is ask for a sense of bravery from his goalkeeper and centre backs. He will want the players to control the build-up phase with a mix of positioning and passes. But the question remains, will this group be able to handle it? Because if they cannot, his entire system comes down before it even begins.
Solving that defensive chaos
There has been a bigger problem in this Tottenham side than build-up, and that has been the defensive side of things. Tottenham have not just been conceding chances, but they have been conceding the wrong kind of chances all season.
And historically De Zerbi’s sides have often come to criticism for their defensive risk, but the difference here that Lilywhites fans would like to focus on is structure. While his sides take that defensive risk, he likes the defensive actions to be with a sense of organisation with the ball and a sense of spacing without it. But the problem here is Tottenham has neither.
Ideally, if you want to fix this, it is not about just sitting deeper, but it is about the defence understanding distances, timing and responsibilities. Things like who steps and who holds all while who covers (something we have barely seen all season).
Restoring a sense of creativity but with purpose
Tottenham’s attacking sequences have been quite predictable this season. While there has been possession, there has barely been time where that possession has converted into chances.
Many could point that down to the injury problems at Hotspur Way, but RDZ is known to establish those, creating patterns that generate high-quality chances. And this means that they would want to have better spacing between the lines and a sense of clearer roles for attacking players.
Tottenham do have players like Xavi Simons and Mathys Tel, and they now environment to thrive. But De Zerbi needs to give them that structure.