Roberto De Zerbi has taken us behind the scenes of Tottenham’s relegation fight, revealing the moments when the belief changed internally at the club.
Many pundits had written off Tottenham’s chances of survival many weeks ago, and it is not hard to understand why.
The Lilywhites had not won a single league game in 2026 until April 25 at Wolves, and it was hard to see where their points were going to come from.
However, the one man who believed all the way was De Zerbi, who kept reiterating confidence that Tottenham would stay up, and he achieved what he set out to do on the final day of the season.
Tottenham team dinner was a turning point
The Italian revealed that the team dinner he had with the players and staff soon after arriving was crucial in changing the mentality of the squad.
However, he also shared that the players were hurting badly after the loss to Sunderland, and admitted that the performance against Brighton and the win at Villa Park were critical to restore the confidence of the squad.
When asked if there were any moments along the way that stood out as the most important during Tottenham’s relegation battle, the 46-year-old told the club’s official website: “I think, sincerely, the dinner, the day of the dinner together, because you build a relationship in the training ground, on the pitch. After the training ground, the pitch, the football, there is a people, there is a man, there is a relationship with the players and maybe in that situation, they knew better myself, I knew better them, and I think it was an important day.
“But to achieve the target is day by day. It’s day by day. You can’t lose energy, you can’t lose training, and the reaction we showed after the defeat in Sunderland or in Chelsea is the same – I think the reaction was good.
“Again, Brighton, we played a great game. We deserved to win, absolutely, and the other game, the other crucial game was Villa Park. We played well, we won against a great team. They showed the right spirit, the right passion, the right attitude.
“Also the confidence of the players was different, completely different than three weeks before in Sunderland, for example. At the end of that game, I saw the players on the floor crying. What is this situation? I said, ‘no’. I have a great memory about these seven games.”
De Zerbi admits Spurs cannot repeat the mistakes they made this season
In his post-match press conference after the win over Everton, the Tottenham boss stressed the need for a summer rebuild to ensure this situation does not repeat itself in the future.
De Zerbi has once again reiterated the need for the North London club to learn from the errors they made this term and to avoid them in the future.
When asked if he feels Tottenham will be stronger next season, the Italian responded: “No, for sure. For sure. I love smart people. The smart people learn from the mistakes. If this season was like this, it’s because we made many mistakes and sincerely, from the mistakes, you have to find the reason to improve, to work harder and to understand the mistakes. Otherwise, you can’t compete.”
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