The new Tottenham Hotspur head coach has been speaking about what he plans to do with the north London club in the weeks and years ahead
Roberto De Zerbi wants to bring back the attacking verve of Ange Postecoglou’s first season to take Tottenham to the top of the Premier League after first keeping them in it.
The Italian shelved his plans to rest until the summer after leaving Marseille to get started at relegation-threatened Spurs. The north London club have seven games of the season to go and are in all kinds of trouble in 18th place in the table after West Ham’s emphatic 4-0 victory against Wolves.
While Thomas Frank bewilderingly declared in his first press conference last summer that Tottenham would lose matches – and they did – De Zerbi is focused on taking Spurs to the top after first saving them from the drop.
De Zerbi’s tenures at Brighton and Marseille ended after 19 months apiece but after penning a big money, five-year contract at Tottenham, the 46-year-old intends to be in it for the long-term and take the club to the other end of the Premier League.
“In my plan for sure there is the idea to stay for a long time, to try to put Tottenham, I’m not speaking about the titles because it’s not the right moment now, but to put Tottenham to stay in the first position in the Premier League because there are all parts to reach that level,” he said.
De Zerbi stressed that joining early was never about the money, with his deal reportedly worth £12million a year.
“No, you can find the right answer in my history, because I left a lot of money in my life, and the money never changed my focus on my work,” he said. “For me, it’s not a problem, this situation for Tottenham. You have to have a longer vision. The focus is on this season, these seven games, to keep in the Premier League and then we will see.”
De Zerbi is Spurs’ fourth head coach in nine months after Ange Postecoglou was sacked weeks after ending the club’s trophy drought with the Europa League triumph last summer. The more pragmatic Frank and Igor Tudor followed but did not last.
The new man in the hot seat wants to bring more of the attacking flair that Tottenham showed in the first season of Postecoglou’s reign, rather than giving up possession as they did under his successors.
“I want to keep the ball. I want to see again the Tottenham I watched with Postecoglou because in my second season in Brighton, there was Postecoglou here with a lot of these players and it was one of the best teams in terms of quality of play,” said De Zerbi.
“With Pedro Porro, Udogie, Van de Ven, with Romero and I would like to see it again.”
De Zerbi has had little time for anything else in his first week outside of football as he has worked to get his core beliefs across to the players, mainly the mental aspect of the game.
“I’ve had a lot of individual meetings with the players. A lot. I’ve spoken with all players. I analysed Sunderland because it is a tough game. They are playing a great season with very good players and a very good coach,” said the new head coach.
“I have no time to think of other things. Just football, just meeting the players, organising, transferring and finding the best way to transfer my ideas, two or three, not too many ideas, that I want to see on the pitch from Sunday.”
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Goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario will not be fit yet after his hernia surgery for De Zerbi’s debut in the dugout at Sunderland on Sunday. That means Antonin Kinsky will take to the pitch for the first time since being hauled off by Tudor just 17 minutes into his gaffe-strewn horror show at Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.
De Zerbi is not worried about a repeat against another team in red and white stripes this weekend though and while he has spoken to many of the players in the past week, he has not felt the need to put an arm around the 23-year-old Czech stopper.
“I didn’t speak yet with him because I think he doesn’t need to speak too much,” said the Italian. “I have confidence. He has to be strong, but he is strong enough to show what he can do.
“Not more, not less. I think his qualities are enough to play at Tottenham. The other players believe in him. He has to stay calm and confident. He is playing at Tottenham, so he has to be stronger than the mistakes and move on.”
De Zerbi was also asked whether he was surprised by the backlash to his comments about Mason Greenwood while he was at Marseille with the controversial former Manchester United striker.
Supporter groups Women of the Lane, Proud Lilywhites and Spurs Reach had all released statements with a ‘No to De Zerbi’ campaign and the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust made their feelings on the 46-year-old clear. It came from him describing Greenwood as a “good guy” that had paid a “heavy price” and added: “It saddens me what happened in his life, because I know a totally different person than the one who was described.”
Ex-Manchester United forward Greenwood was charged in October 2022 with one count of attempted rape, one count of controlling and coercive behaviour and one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm over allegations relating to a young women after images and videos were posted online. The Crown Prosecution Service dropped the charges in February 2023 due to a “combination of the withdrawal of key witnesses” and “no realistic prospect of conviction”.
Speaking in Italian on Friday to ensure he could make himself clear, De Zerbi said: “I wasn’t surprised [by the backlash]. I was a bit sad and sorry it happened, because I’m sorry if somebody took offence. I must repeat what I said the other time [in his club interview]. This topic is very close to me, I’m very sensitive about this topic, because of the person I am and because I have a daughter.
“And so I must repeat what I said the other time. I have always been against – always – any type of violence, especially against women. But not only violence – even just sexist jokes or other sexist behaviour. I have a daughter and I’m directly affected by it. I know who I am, I know the type of person I am, so I wasn’t annoyed by the questions – I’m just sad about them.”
He added: “Yes [I hope the fans will accept the apology], also because I’m not going to go back over this topic. I spoke about it in my first interview, I spoke about it today, and it wouldn’t be right to go back over this topic again.”
De Zerbi explained why he believes he can save Tottenham from the drop.
“The qualities of the players. The guys know the situation is very difficult, but if you watch them against Liverpool and also Atletico Madrid in Madrid, they showed their qualities, they showed sometimes the right spirit. We have to show this for 90 minutes and we have to believe in ourselves,” he said.
“The most important part in football is the mental part. You are used to speaking too much about the style of play, the tactical disposition, blah, blah, blah. But in the end, the mental part is crucial in every work, especially in football, especially in this moment in Tottenham.”
On his players he added: “They are working very, very well. I’m not surprised, but it’s not normal after we didn’t win too many games in 2025 and we haven’t won any game so far in 2026.
“So you imagine the atmosphere inside of the dressing room, of the training ground, but it’s not like this. I saw the players with energy, with the passion when in the meeting room and we are speaking about football, about two or three principles. They were on with the right focus, so I’m positive for that.”
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