Hotspur HQ

Although Roberto De Zerbi has been in the Premier League before as a manager after a successful spell at Brighton that ended in another implosion behind the scenes, it is still valid to call his first match in charge of Tottenham Hotspur a rude awakening of sorts.

Spurs hired De Zerbi to turn around a club floundering in the relegation battle, and after Sunday's 1-0 loss to Sunderland, the Lilywhites find themselves officially in the relegation zone now, failing to respond to West Ham United's scintillating 4-0 win over Wolves.

De Zerbi has to be getting some serious stick from Spurs supporters, because even though it was only his first game and an adjustment period is needed, the club looked no better than how they did under Igor Tudor before him. Worse yet, the personnel decisions De Zerbi made were shocking.

Randal Kolo Muani was not so good after all

In particular, De Zerbi entrusted Conor Gallagher and Randal Kolo Muani with starts against Sunderland when there were a couple of much better options like Mathys Tel and Xavi Simons (among other switches he could have made).

Before the match against Sunderland, Roberto De Zerbi had praised Gallagher to the surprise of many fans, and he also had some kind words to say about Kolo Muani, even though he did actually admit that the striker is not having a good season by any means.

Perhaps it was hubris and De Zerbi wanted to prove that he is right about these guys being good footballers or perhaps he genuinely thought he could get the most out of him in his first game in charge, but whatever it was, both Conor Gallagher and Randal Kolo Muani were horrendous against the Black Cats this past weekend.

Now, they were far from the only culprits in the shutout loss, but they were both at the bottom of the barrel. Gallagher did what he has done all half season long for Spurs since coming from Atletico Madrid in January. He was overrun in midfield, did not provide any of the ball winning or progression that was advertised, and was a huge creative black hole, especially in comparison to the player who should have started for him in Xavi Simons.

Meanwhile, Kolo Muani was part of a clown show trio of strikers, and he only doesn't get even more stick because Dominic Solanke was somehow miles worse. De Zerbi entrusted these two players against basic logic to start, and it blew up in his face. He may not be as willing to give them a chance next weekend when he tries to exact some revenge on Brighton.

Tottenham Hotspur are officially in the relegation zone. After watching West Ham United dust Wolves 4-0 on Friday night, Spurs responded to their London rivals by putting together another offensive disaster class against a stingy Sunderland defense, failing to take any advantage of Dan Ballard's injury in Roberto De Zerbi's managerial debut for a Premier League Big Six club.

De Zerbi obviously has a lot of work cut out for him, and he is not even one of the top five biggest problems, at least in a footballing sense, at Spurs right now. Spurs were terrible before De Zerbi, and they will, logically, most likely continue to stink for the remainder of the season.

But De Zerbi was hired for a lot of money immediately to help Spurs stink less - and at least mitigate the rotten stench of a decaying organization enough to survive relegation. He didn't help himself, though, with the decisions he made both during and before his first match as Tottenham manager against Premier League returnees Sunderland in this 1-0 loss.

Mathys Tel and Xavi Simons snubbed already

It was baffling to see Xavi Simons and Mathys Tel sitting on the bench, only coming on in the second half as substitutes. Roberto De Zerbi attempted to justify the Simons snub in the press conference after the loss, but all of his fumbling fell on unreceptive ears.

Spurs supporters had seen Thomas Frank embarrass himself by leaving off his most dynamic attacking players, as Tottenham are a much worse team without these two. De Zerbi snubbing Tel was particularly bizarre, considering he had just spent the pre game press conference time telling everyone that he liked the Frenchman enough to try to sign him for Marseille.

Alongside Archie Gray, Mathys Tel had been Tottenham's best player over the last few weeks and the only real source of attacking threat. With the only other true winger in the squad actually out injured for the rest of the season in Mohammed Kudus, you would have thought that De Zerbi would have written Tel's name in permanent marker as a starter.

Instead, he rolled with three strikers. And all of Richarlison, Randal Kolo Muani, and Dominic Solanke were predictably poor and even worse together. It was the sort of managerial blunder that you, again, would have thought that De Zerbi would have learned from by watching Frank's mistakes before him.

Although Roberto De Zerbi can pull a Thomas Frank lite and tell the press that Tottenham Hotspur deserved to win after a clearly inferior display in which he set the team up to fail with woeful personnel decisions, every Spurs fan saw that the team, as a whole, just wasn't good enough. Not even close.

It doesn't matter who is coaching Tottenham, there are serious issues in the squad, and it will take De Zerbi more than one or two games to fix all these issues. And there is still a lot for him to learn about the squad.

As terrible as the 1-0 loss to Sunderland was, there was one important positive that Spurs need to take with them going forward as a team. It was the performance of an individual, yes, but young goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky's bounce back display in his first game since that debacle at Atletico Madrid in the Champions League was a rare heartwarming moment in a season filled with turmoil.

Antonin Kinsky delivered under pressure

Kinsky was the best player on the pitch for Tottenham. Now, it is never a good sign when a goalkeeper is a team's best player in a game that they lost, but Kinsky was solid in goal and commanded his defense well. He did not waver on crosses or on the ball, and he avoided making any mistakes, which is important for a Spurs side that has burned themselves in so many games with terrible individual errors at the back.

He showed real toughness, too, getting injured by a wild Brian Brobbey, whose antics of absolute insanity should have been punished. Antonin Kinsky looked every bit the young, rising goalkeeper Tottenham Hotspur fans had him tabbed for, and he washed away a lot of the stain of the Atletico Madrid performance, which was the worst possible mix of pressure, rust, and rotten luck on a notoriously slippery pitch.

Kinsky did not slip against Sunderland, and though Tottenham were, once again, second best on this day, Kinsky's courageous outing has to be a point of inspiration for his teammates. With Guglielmo Vicario out recovering from finally getting hernia surgery, Kinsky looked every bit like the Tottenham No. 1, stepping in and delivering a match that was legitimately better than anything we have seen from Vicario in several weeks. But there is more to this story than just Kinsky challenging Vicario as the starter or getting more cred before the season ends and the transfer window begins.

Tottenham need a rallying point, and Kinsky just gave his teammates something real for them to look at and lift them. In the face of adversity and insane levels of criticism, Kinsky rose to the occasion, And it was wasted. Spurs players need to look at what this young man did and raise their games amidst the pressure just as he did - and to not waste the heroic performances of their teammates who are rising. The tide must bring all the ships to a higher level together.

Clearly, it is going to take new manager Roberto De Zerbi time in order to get Tottenham Hotspur to play respectable football again, because the swashbuckling style De Zerbi hinted at going back to from the Ange Postecoglou days was nowhere near on display this Sunday.

Instead, Tottenham looked like they could not have scored even if they were given a full 12 hours on the pitch, falling 1-0 to Sunderland just days after West Ham United's win over Wolves put them in the bottom three of the Premier League.

There were a number of terrible individual performances, naturally, but it is truly jarring to see how awful Conor Gallagher continues to be. De Zerbi appears to be a big fan of the former Chelsea and Crystal Palace man, handing him a start in his first game as manager despite having the clearly superior Xavi Simons on the table as an option.

Conor Gallagher was horrible again

Gallagher got completely overrun again in the midfield. It is appalling how little threat he offers on the ball, and, somehow, his lack of creativity is an even bigger problem than Spurs supporters expected. As the only experienced signing Tottenham Hotspur made in the winter transfer window, Gallagher's signing looks worse and worse by the week, a classic case of subtraction by addition. His wages have broken the wage structure, and Spurs paid 10 million euros more than Aston Villa would have to sign him from Atletico Madrid.

That all gives Gallagher a compelling case for being an all time bad signing, but he has some pretty stiff competition within his own squad. Because summer 2024 signing Dominic Solanke is actually the most expensive signing in Tottenham history at 65 million pounds

Although Solanke won the Europa League last season and had some key contributions, nobody can look at his overall body of work and lack of goals as the starting No. 9 after Harry Kane and think that he was anywhere near 65 million pounds. This season, he spent more than half the campaign injured, came back and was great for three games, and now he has literally been the worst player for Tottenham this last month or two in the thick of the relegation fight.

Richarlison may be a contender, but at least he tries. And at least he has been scoring goals this season. Dominic Solanke was more expensive and is neither scoring goals nor putting in the intensity required in a relegation fight.

That Tottenham have invested so much in two players who are so consistently failing them when they need the most is an indictment of their recruitment and the sorts of players they are going for. They are spending big on the wrong players, and it is holding back the actual decent young players with upside in the process.

In Roberto De Zerbi's first game in charge of Tottenham Hotspur, he did absolutely nothing to make Spurs supporters think that there is any hope of the club getting out of this predicament. Whereas rivals West Ham United took care of business on Friday night with a 4-0 drubbing of last splaced Wolves, Spurs looked like they could never even come close to scoring in a 1-0 loss to Sunderland.

Yes, the refereeing was beyond atrocious yet again, but, well, Spurs were even worse. And these five players deserve a whole lot of blame for what transpired on Sunday as Tottenham remain in the three relegation places in the Premier League - and look like a team that 100 percent deserves to go down.

ST Dominic Solanke

Dominic Solanke was beyond horrendous on Sunday against Sunderland, and it is wild to think that he is the club's record signing when he can scarcely even get on the ball or create a sense of danger for Spurs against a mid table Premier League side. Solanke looks like he genuinely cannot be bothered in a relegation fight, as his performances are inexplicably getting worse and worse.

CM Lucas Bergvall

Although Lucas Bergvall is a bright spot for Tottenham and someone who should blossom under Roberto De Zerbi in the long term, he's been quite poor since coming back from another lengthy spell on the sidelines with injury. He will get better, but he made zero impact vs. the Black Cats.

CB Micky van de Ven

Micky van de Ven has been the most disappointing star player these last couple of months as Tottenham Hotspur have slid further into the relegation abyss. The Dutchman was partially at fault for Sunderland's goal, but it was his overall performance that was most concerning. Van de Ven isn't winning the ball for his team, he isn't leading by example, and the quality he should be having on the ball is totally invisible.

CM Conor Gallagher

Perhaps the worst signing in Tottenham history. It is baffling how De Zerbi looked at what Gallagher has done not just for Tottenham this season, but even for Atletico Madrid before that, and thought that the overpaid Englishman is exactly what was needed in the starting XI. Gallagher might be the worst midfielder in the entire Premier League right now.

ST Randal Kolo Muani

Randal Kolo Muani is done in the Premier League. Like Gallagher, De Zerbi seems to be a fan of Kolo Muani's, but he just realized why Tottenham fans and even Igor Tudor wanted little to do with him. He doesn't care about the club, he is ready to leave, and if Spurs are relegated, Kolo Muani could not be bothered one bit. And he plays like it every single week.

Tottenham Hotspur made one of the worst signings of the winter transfer window, adding Conor Gallagher for way too much money on wages and a 10 million overpay on what Aston Villa were about to spend to sign him from Atletico Madrid after Gallagher had already played himself out of the Spanish capital with poor performance (not to mention the fact that rivals Chelsea already didn't want him before that).

They nearly made another bad signing in Andrew Robertson, and while the 32 year old Liverpool left back ultimately did not join Spurs due to logistical issues, he is on the verge of a move to the N17 this summer. Because per Fabrizio Romano, there is a verbal agreement reached for Robertson to join Spurs this year if the Lilywhites are able to avoid relegation.

Robertson would be similar to the Gallagher signing. He is a well known Premier League player who has been poor lately, would not help the club, would not be better than who they already have, would have no future upside, and would come on high wages.

Spurs are finalists for Marcos Senesi

Well, Andrew Robertson isn't the only defender Tottenham Hotspur supporters have to worry about their club joining just to be an overpaid bench option. Because Matteo Moretto of MARCA, Fab's closest colleague on the transfer reporting beat, says that Spurs are one of the three finalists to sign Bournemouth center back Marcos Senesi.

The impending Premier League free agent is close to choosing his next club, and Moretto says that his agents have been in close touch with Tottenham, rivals Chelsea, and another Premier League powerhouse in Manchester United. Everyone else is said to be "much further away", which would presumably include the likes of Juventus.

Senesi is having a great year for Bournemouth, but with how easy it is for top players to dribble past him, he feels like fool's gold. While Senesi can make a lot of interventions, he is not a particularly skilled player, neither in his quality of the tackle, nor in his athleticism. And his technical quality is well below all the options Tottenham have.

Even if Tottenham Hotspur were to sign Marcos Senesi as a replacement for selling Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven, it's still debatable if he is better than Kevin Danso or Kota Takai - and he definitely is not better than Luka Vuskovic, the Hamburg sensation. Senesi feels like a bad fit, a waste of money, and, well, why would Spurs even bother if they are at risk of relegation? It's another deal that would have mistake written all over it.

Tottenham Hotspur had one of the worst winter transfer windows a team circling around a crisis could possibly have. Instead of beefing up a squad that was begging for upgrades, especially in the attack, Spurs only made one experienced signing, overpaying on both wages and transfer fee for center midfielder Conor Gallagher, who has been dreadful.

But Spurs were also close to another similar signing in Andrew Robertson. Despite struggling since the start of the last season, performing poorly even for a Liverpool side that pretty much ran away with the Premier League title, Tottenham were highly interested in the 32 year old left back as another supposed leadership signing. And the only reason why a deal fell apart was that Liverpool could not bring back Kostas Tsimikas as his Milos Kerkez's backup.

Well, even after the hiring of Roberto De Zerbi, the incompetents in charge of Tottenham Hotspur are still salivating over a possible move for Andy Robertson. Not only have the transfer rumors not died, but they have accelerated.

Tottenham have an agreement with Andrew Robertson

And now, Fabrizio Romano has dropped the bomb shell that Tottenham and the aging Liverpool icon have a "verbal agreement" on a deal this summer for a free agent move. Nothing has been officially signed just yet, but there are "terms in place" for a deal that will reportedly be made final if Tottenham are able to avoid relegation under their new manager. Robertson is reportedly ready to choose Spurs over other suitors, which potentially include European giants Napoli and Atletico Madrid, if they can survive the Premier League drop.

Fab has basically revealed that the Tottenham brass have gone over the head of De Zerbi to make this move that they always wanted, because it is legitimately hard to see De Zerbi wanting a 32 year old player who is mediocre at his absolute best and a straight up liability in many cases.

Spurs already have two intriguing left back options in Destiny Udogie, who is one of the best in the league when healthy, and the highly promising Brazilian prospect Souza, who was signed just this past winter transfer window for a reason.

Andrew Robertson does not help Spurs at all, and his signing would be another step in the wrong direction of the club acting like an even worse version of the old Ed Woodward Manchester United strategy after Sir Alex Ferguson had left, going for known players in the Premier League who stink rather than actual talents.

There is no question that Thomas Frank was a total disaster as the Tottenham Hotspur manager, and the only question Spurs fans have at this point is just how bad was Frank compared to every other manager in the club's history.

Spurs were toothless, cowardly, and spiraled into a Premier League relegation fight. They are on the verge of their worst ever season and the absolute unthinkable, and they are now at the mercy of new coach Roberto De Zerbi to come in and save them.

It has not taken long, but De Zerbi is already showing that he is a much better option than Frank was last summer purely as a coach from a footballing perspective, and he is also a clear upgrade tactically on interim manager Igor Tudor.

Roberto De Zerbi wants to score

Already in his first press conference as Tottenham Hotspur manager prior to his debut against Sunderland in the Premier League, Roberto De Zerbi has outlined a clear philosophy in brief and a plan for how he wants Spurs to play.

Here is what he told the media, via Last Word on Spurs, My style is one part. One part the style of play and part is about the character and personality. I don't have time for principles or build-up, I want to give organisation with the ball and without the ball. What I want to do and what I want to achieve is the character. The right spirit, courage to play and attack. The DNA of this club and squad is to find the goal, to score. I can in this part, I can be able to transfer my principle.”

That is very beautifully said by De Zerbi, and Tottenham fans will especially like the honesty and the humility from RDZ to admit that Spurs are in too dire straits right now in the heat of a relegation battle for him to focus on principles and build-up play.

What De Zerbi is going to do is simple but effective. He is going to build on how Igor Tudor was trying to make Tottenham a more well drilled and organize side so that they did not fold and embarrass themselves. While he had limited success with that, looking at the last 3-0 result to Nottingham Forest, he was better than Frank, and now De Zerbi will be better still.

Plus, the part about De Zerbi talking about Tottenham needing to score and have that DNA of being a team that scores goals is massive. It's something Frank never did and never understood, this need to find the back of thenet and show some character and personality. Frank's teams were flat with no threat, and De Zerbi understands that this was not how Tottenham fans wanted to see their team play - nor was it remotely effective.

The Tottenham Hotspur attack has been a real issue all season long, but it really started to bottom out the longer Thomas Frank coached. As the Spurs players were further removed from the swashbuckling style that Ange Postecoglou had instilled in them, the playing style became more cowardly and lethargic with losses piling up.

Tottenham are desperately hoping that Roberto De Zerbi can turn them around and win some games. Beyond getting the most out of the young stars like Mathys Tel, the new Italian manager must also get the most out of some veteran players who have been real disppointments this season.

None of the trio of experienced strikers Richarlison, Dominic Solanke, nor Randal Kolo Muani have impressed this season. But Kolo Muani, signed on deadline day from PSG on loan, has been especially disappointing in recent months, nearly getting himself tossed out back to Paris with a terminated loan in January until Spurs simply realized they could not afford to bleed any talent.

Randal Kolo Muani is having a bad year

Speaking of Kolo Muani at the pre game press conference before Tottenham vs. Sunderland, Roberto De Zerbi said that the former Ligue 1 flop is a "good player" but admitted that he has not been playing well this season.

The new Spurs manager said, via Lilywhite Rose, “Kolo Muani I know is not playing a good season but he is a good player”.

Randal Kolo Muani was honestly a dreadful for PSG and a massive flop in the same league that Roberto De Zerbi coached in last, but he was decent for Nantes in the French top flight many years ago before shining at Eintracht Frankfurt to earn that ticket to Paris. Kolo Muani was even very good for Juventus on loan the previous season, with Spurs and Fabio Paratici signing him on loan from under the Bianconeri's noses.

There is indeed a good player buried somwhere in Kolo Muani, but he really has to start trying for Spurs in order for us all to see it. Now, Tottenham Hotspur being a step away from relegation may not be conducive to Kolo Muani caring, but perhaps the fiery De Zerbi can extract something out of a player he has not been afraid to admit is basically stinking up the joint in his first public comments of the striker. De Zerbi was respectful about it, but it is good to hear some straight up honesty from the coach on RKM.

The Roberto De Zerbi is about to begin for Tottenham Hotspur, and while many fans wanted Mauricio Pochettino and are upset about the new manager's track record at Marseille, there is no doubt that, overall, you can sense an optimism around the air at the club despite the valid concerns.

De Zerbi is a much stronger manager tactically than either Thomas Frank or Igor Tudor, and he brings the same kind of boldness and optimism that Ange Postecoglou did, which is the kind of mentality that Tottenham fans want to see at the club above all else.

The fans will be especially to see how De Zerbi can unlock the young stars on the team, especially Archie Gray and Mathys Tel, who have both been exceptional in recent weeks despite the club being dreadful - showing improvement even with the modest upgrade from Frank to Tudor.

Roberto De Zerbi tried to sign Mathys Tel before

Well, Roberto De Zerbi appears to be just as keen on working with Tel as the Spurs faithful are to see the Frenchman getting coached by someone who isn't afraid of scoring goals. In fact, De Zerbi revealed to the press at the conference before the game against Sunderland this weekend that he wanted Tel at Marseille all along, via Lilywhite Rose.

Before joining Bayern Munich - and then Tottenham Hotspur - Mathys Tel was one of the most talented young forward prospects in French football while at Rennes, a club that have produced some real hidden gems over the last 10 years.

Tel never made it to Marseille, but now De Zerbi gets to work with the explosive left winger. Tel is his only real option on that flanks, unless if RDZ were to make the ill advised decision to stick veteran striker Randal Kolo Muani over there. But he wouldn't, because, well, now we know he is a fan of Tel.

The fact that De Zerbi wanted Tel in Ligue 1 is huge, and it all but confirms that the Italian manager will have big things planned for a real talent - the most talented forward at the club with Mohammed Kudus out injured, honestly - who was being held back to an embarrassing degree by predecessor Thomas Frank.

Tottenham fans are excited to see De Zerbi be the opposite of what Frank was for this offense, and a lot of that begins with making full use of a player like Tel.