MusaRoberto De Zerbi did not hide his frustration after Tottenham suffered a painful 3-2 defeat to Aston Villa, with the Spurs boss singling out Mateus Fernandes and Dominic Solanke after another disappointing Premier League performance.
Tottenham are still searching for their first league victory, although the final scoreline arguably flattered them after two late goals made the defeat look much closer than the overall performance suggested.
De Zerbi made a significant change at half-time, replacing Fernandes with Mohamed Kudus. The Italian manager admitted that he expected more from Fernandes but stressed that his criticism was not intended as a personal attack.
“Mateus is different than Kudus. I have big confidence in Mateus, but I didn’t like his performance today,” De Zerbi explained. “It’s not an attack on him because I love him. I just want more from him, even in that position.”
The Tottenham manager also addressed Solanke’s struggles, making it clear that he believes the striker must improve while insisting that he continues to have faith in him.
“We need more from him for sure, but he’s one of my players. I like Domi as a player and I stay with him until the end,” De Zerbi said.
“He needs to feel better. His physical condition is not good enough. Maybe he is not good enough in the confidence at this moment, but many, many things can be better than this moment.”
De Zerbi was visibly unhappy when assessing Tottenham’s overall display, admitting that the manner of the defeat had left him particularly frustrated.
“Today I am very disappointed, very sad and very frustrated for the performance,” he said. “We can’t lose this game in this way, absolutely. We can’t concede that second goal. We can’t lose balance. The way we conceded the second goal was incredible.”
The result leaves De Zerbi under increasing pressure as Tottenham continue their difficult start to the Premier League campaign, with the manager now demanding a significant improvement from his players.
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