On Sunday, Tottenham finally managed to avoid relegation and their stay in the Premier League is now guaranteed. They hung on to a 1-0 win over Everton at home, as they avoided a disaster, with West Ham beating Leeds United in their own game.
The result was massive for Spurs and Roberto De Zerbi, who has actually done quite a good job, despite having only managed them for a short time. His imprint is already clear to see and we look at three key ways that helped De Zerbi arrest the slide at Tottenham.
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Man management
Usually, De Zerbi is a very demanding communicator and every press conference makes him come across as a radical who believes purely in his ideas. At Tottenham, he has adapted to the situation.
When someone like Igor Tudor caused more fires instead of fighting them, De Zerbi has cut a very calm presence in pressers. He has constantly expressed believe in every player, signalling that they are very much capable of winning games, which was refreshing to see. It helped players move away from the darkness of the last months and know that they are much more than good enough to survive relegation.
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Focus on player strengths
De Zerbiโs system is usually very technically demanding. One of Tottennhamโs main problems has been a low technical flooring of individual players โ especially in midfield and upfront.ย
The Italian recognised this early and made sure of adapting his system to their physical profiles. He adapted to make sure that the system relied upon physical capabilities, ability toย cover distance and press the opposition. This has made sure that he is getting more out of players โ even those who were previously underperforming. He has tailored the setup to go direct, which has worked quite well.
Next season, things will only change.
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Finding the first team
Neither Thomas Frank nor Tudor managed to find their first-team. De Zerbi made sure this wasnโt the case, relying on established players to meet short-term needs. Rodrigo Bentancur and Joao Palhinha mainly played in the double pivot, with Mathys Tel and Richarlison starting regularly. Kevin Danso and Micky Van De Ven also became regulars, with De Zerbi showing inclination towards Antonin Kinsky over Guglielmo Vicario.
This has worked in Spursโ favour, with players benefitting from trust and the consistency of system.
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Kaustubh Pandey I GIFN
