‘Bully’ – Roberto De Zerbi cannot keep making scapegoats as Tottenham reign predicted to unravel in weeks

Roberto De Zerbi's reign at Tottenham has been predicted to be a short one as his side continues to struggle.

After a 0-0 draw with Everton at the weekend, Spurs are one of only two Premier League sides yet to score a goal with one game until the international break.

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De Zerbi appeared to lose it after the match when he went onto the pitch to publicly berate Mathys Tel, leaving the Frenchman stunned.

The Italian made some bizarre claims in his post-match press conference about how he would be the best manager in Serie A

Tottenham backed De Zerbi in the summer with a whole new rebuild and several big-money signings.

However, talkSPORT's chief football correspondent Alex Crook, ex-Premier League striker Troy Deeney, and talkSPORT's lead commentator Sam Matterface believe that things could start to go very wrong at Tottenham.

Speaking on the Premier League All-Access Podcast, Crook said: "I think this is going to unravel pretty quickly for Tottenham and Roberto De Zerbi because he's already getting his excuses in.

"I think he mentioned the number of passes they played, the number of opportunities they had, and he was basically saying, 'well, it's not my fault my team can't put the ball in the back of the net. We kept a clean sheet, therefore, I've done my job.'

"But he is already passing responsibility. He is already outing players like Tel.

"I don't think this is going to last very long."

Deeney then added his thoughts.

"What he is already doing is laying into everybody else, the media the fans and saying, 'there's your problem, it's not me'.

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"He stinks to me as a bit of a bully, to be honest.

"Richarlison, who I am not the biggest fan of, is not the same kid I knew at Watford, but he'd been doing alright now.

"He has a bit of fight about him and puts his body around and maybe get a goal.

"Now, he's not even in the squad, so Richarlison was a problem, and you made him look silly.

"Now, it's Tel, and it's so cheap and easy to find one person and say, 'you're the problem.'

"What about [Mateus] Fernandes? The kid you spent £85million on?

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"He was f****** mint again, wasn't he?

"[Sandro] Tonali, who you spent £100m on. Can he pass it and dictate a game?

"What about the winger you brought in [Savio]? Or are you going to just let [Omar] Marmoush keep shooting from 65 yards, so at some point, it's got to be with the lads.

"I think his ability to self-harm and self-sabotage is going to be the unravelling of this over the next four to five weeks."

Defending De Zerbi

It is still relatively early on in De Zerbi's Spurs tenure and he has been backed to turn it around.

Spurs fan and talkSPORT regular Ricky Sacks said: “I think we will come good. I think you have to bear in mind De Zerbi, when he first started at Brighton, he didn't win his first five. Lewis Dunk said it takes around five to 10 games to really understand what De Zerbi ball is.

“You have to bear in mind, we're playing a different style of football with De Zerbi this season in comparison to last. 

“We are trying to gel in nine to 10 new faces. That is going to take a bit of time.”

Fiery De Zerbi

De Zerbi has left both of his last two managerial roles with Marseille and Brighton and Hove Albion by mutual consent, but that doesn't tell the full story.

The Italian's time with the Seagulls saw them qualify for Europe for the first time.

But after being thrashed 4-0 in the last 16 of the Europa League by Roma, De Zerbi called out the owners for not strengthening the squad.

In that previous summer, Moises Caicedo, Alexis Mac Allister and Robert Sanchez all departed.

And in an interview with the Daily Telegraph last year, the former Sassuolo gaffer revealed his thoughts on that summer.

He said: “That year after finishing sixth, the squad should have been strengthened as they did the year I left.

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“We reached a point where after qualifying for the Europa League, I didn’t understand what the next step forward was.

“And you can offer to double my salary, but if I can’t see a dream or goal to achieve, I can’t give my all as I would like.”

“I would lose motivation and a purpose I always had in football.”

Many Brighton fans also felt he downed tools in the second half of the 2023/24 season.

At Marseille, De Zerbi's whole time was fiery before it came crashing to an end earlier this year.

He left in February following their Champions League exit and a 5-0 thumping to Paris Saint-Germain.

Spurs then opted to make a move for De Zerbi, who kept them in the Premier League.

And they've since handed him a war chest to strengthen the squad, but the results and goals aren't there.

The Italian was blaming, in part, issues in pre-season for their sluggish start.

“I said we started this season late for many, many reasons; too late,” he said.

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"Many players at the World Cup, many injuries, many problems in Australia. Micky van de Ven suffered an injury in Australia. Domi Solanke the same. James Maddison the same. Mateus Fernandes suffered an injury in Australia. He lost 15 days and it’s not so quick.

"Sávio and Marmoush, they came 10 days ago. I started to work with this [whole] group not last Thursday but two Thursdays ago. So, I think we have not the right physical condition yet.

"We played very well in the first 30 minutes and then maybe the energy, maybe the fact we didn’t score … maybe we lost in some players a little confidence. We have to be not positive but realistic."

Next up, they host Aston Villa on Saturday lunchtime, live and exclusively on talkSPORT.