Roberto De Zerbi has identified the most important area of improvement Tottenham Hotspur need if they want to evolve into a top team.
There were no positives to take from Spurs’ opening game of the season against Brentford, with the Lilywhites struggling to cope with the Bees’ intensity and game plan.
De Zerbi would have wanted a response from his side in their first home game of the season against Charlton, and he certainly got that.
Tottenham were extremely dominant, emerging with a 5-1 win, with new signing Savio delivering an exciting cameo off the bench and getting his first goal and assist for the club.
Roberto De Zerbi admits Tottenham need to create and score more than they have
The Lilywhites struggled for goals last season, managing to find the back of the net just 48 times across their 38 Premier League matches.
De Zerbi made it clear that the biggest improvement Tottenham need to make is in the final third, insisting that they need to create more chances and score more regularly, given the quality they have at their disposal.
When asked if he was pleased to see his side score five in the second round of the Carabao Cup, the Italian told Football.London: “Yes we need goals, we need to create chances to score. To become a top team, we need many things but one of these many things is to score, to be stronger when we are attacking in the last 30 metres.
“We have to score, we have to shoot and make combinations. We have a lot of very good players and they have to make a big target, a big goal for them to score and increase the number of goals. There will be competition in every position of the pitch and I will put on the pitch the players with more goals and who are able to create more chances to score.”
De Zerbi admits it will take time to see the ‘real Tottenham’
The performance yesterday evening was undoubtedly much more encouraging than it was a few days ago in West London, albeit against a much inferior side.
De Zerbi revealed that there is still plenty of work to be done to change the mentality at Spurs, admitting that it is a process.
When asked if we saw the real Tottenham against Charlton, he responded: “I think we have to see the real Tottenham game by game. We have to be consistent, we have to win a game in a row, three, four, five, six. Like I said yesterday in the press conference, I think we have to change the mentality inside of us, speaking in the dressing room. Our perspective has to change, because we are working well, we have good players.
“Even in the last two seasons, we lost many games and we finished 17th position on the table. It doesn’t matter for this season, this season is a new season, it’s a different atmosphere I think, I hope. Different players, different targets.
“I will push every day to keep the humility, to keep the eyes on the ball and not on other things, but anyway we can’t come to the training ground without ambitions. I want players to be ambitious to win many games in a row, to build the new mentality, to build a different mentality. And then, I don’t know when we arrive, what we will be able to achieve, we will see. But at the end, without the right mentality, we can’t achieve anything, for sure.”
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