In three Premier League games, Tottenham Hotspur have yet to score a goal and have lost two of those fixtures. As a result, criticism is beginning to fall on manager Roberto De Zerbi and his tactical game plan.
Moreover, in the most recent game against Nottingham Forest, Spurs failed to register a single shot on target, resulting in a scoreless draw on Sept. 5.
This production is seeing Tottenham regress from their first two games, recording nine total shots on target, but both ended in losses for De Zerbi and his team. After three games, ESPN FC’s Stewart Robson believes that the Tottenham manager has to head back to the drawing board with his game plan.
“If you look at the highlights packages that I’ve seen of them recently, none of their chances have come from slow buildups,” Robson said on the Sept. 5 edition of “ESPN FC.” “It’s all been about counterattacks, the few chances they’ve had. So the actual game plan isn’t working. They aren’t creating chances and getting the ball into the front areas as they would like to do under De Zerbi.
“So that’s a problem. I saw them last week, and it was a woeful performance against Newcastle. It was too slow, too predictable, not enough penetration, not enough guile, and that’s been the case over the first three or four games, and unless that changes, they’re going to be in for a very, very tough start to the season.”
Tottenham Hotspur Haven’t Showed Signs of Improvement
Moreover, in that same segment, Don Hutchison echoes the view that the Spurs’ game plan needs to change, as he’s seen no signs that it’s working and that the team should stick with it.
“No, you can’t say you have [seen any improvement from Tottenham],” Hutchison said. “I think the biggest thing, and De Zerbi touched on this last week, is the mentality. He said you can’t buy the mentality in a transfer window. You buy elite players, and it’s De Zerbi’s job to turn them into, as Klopp once said, mentality monsters. They have to believe.”
Roberto De Zerbi Needs to Change Spurs’ Mentality
Apart from the tactical plan, which appears to need changing, Hutchison elaborated further on the mentality that needs to be improved at Tottenham. After escaping relegation last season, Spurs made shrewd moves this summer transfer window.
Nonetheless, the struggles from last season continued, and at some point that might be the mindset that the players have.
“It’s almost like the Tottenham players are putting that shirt on thinking, ‘Right, what can go wrong today if we go behind?'” Hutchison added. “When was the last time you saw Tottenham go behind and win a game? I can’t remember for a long, long time.
“So somehow they’ve got to get rid of putting that shirt on and fearing what the worst that can happen. They’ve got to go there because they’ve got good players. They’ve got very good players, not elite players.”
After the draw with Nottingham Forest, Tottenham will now have to turn the page and aim for their first Premier League win of the season when they face Everton on Sept. 12.
Tottenham Handed Harsh Message After Nottingham Forest Draw