Tottenham Hotspur’s difficult start to the new Premier League season has left Roberto De Zerbi with a clear problem to solve, despite the club’s huge investment in rebuilding his squad this summer.
Tottenham Hotspur have rather surprisingly made a disappointing start to their 2026/27 Premier League campaign, losing both of their opening games.
A 3-0 defeat to Brentford on the opening day was followed by a 2-0 loss to Newcastle United, although there was a marked improvement in the performance at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The surprise comes from the level of investment made by the club, with almost £400m spent on eight new arrivals this summer, many of whom have already featured during those two defeats.
That said, Tottenham are in the midst of a full rebuild of the squad, and such significant changes will inevitably take time before they begin to produce the desired results.
De Zerbi had already admitted last week that his side were not ready for the Premier League, and following Sunday’s defeat to Newcastle, the Italian had more to say about one of the biggest issues facing his team.
Roberto De Zerbi identifies Tottenham’s biggest problem: mentality
After the defeat to Newcastle United, Football.London asked De Zerbi about Tottenham’s mentality and the way heads appeared to drop immediately after conceding in both games. When asked if that was his biggest problem, the Italian replied: “Yes, you are right, for sure.”
He was then asked how that could be improved, to which De Zerbi said: “It’s the biggest problem, it’s the biggest challenge and it’s the biggest target to find the right mentality.
“Unfortunately, you can’t buy the mentality in the transfer market or putting many players inside.
“Football is like a magic thing, you know? You can change many players in a window, in one window of transfer market and you can find the balance immediately or you need more time.
“I think we (will) achieve this target and this goal. I would like to achieve this target quickly and as soon as possible because it is crucial to play football, but the plan and the project of the club and what we are doing to build and rebuild a new team with great players is a great plan and a great project.”
Roberto De Zerbi remains confident in Tottenham project
Despite the difficult start, De Zerbi remains convinced that the rebuild will eventually produce the results he is expecting and urged his players to respond rather than allow the latest defeat to derail their progress.
The Tottenham head coach added: “I have no doubt the result of this project. We have to accept and to be stronger to move on after this defeat.
“I think in the first half, if we scored two goals today, now we would have talked about different things, unfortunately we lost the game, and you know in Italian, who wins, celebrates and who loses, explain why and then explain why.”