Roberto De Zerbi has identified one moment in Tottenham’s 3-2 loss against Aston Villa when his team did not do the basics and lacked leadership.
The season gets from bad to worse for Spurs, who suffered their second loss at home and third loss of the campaign, with Villa taking all three points from North London.
The game had an all too familiar theme for Tottenham fans, with their side starting well and putting the opposition under pressure but failing to take their chances.
They were punished by Unai Emery’s side, who sailed into a 3-0 lead before Spurs scored two consolation goals in the end.
Roberto De Zerbi criticises Tottenham players for their part in Aston Villa’s opener
Spurs were down to 10 players when Johan Manzambi opened the scoring for the away side in first-half stoppage time, with Micky van de Ven having come off to get treatment for a head injury.
Inexplicably, Andy Robertson chose to keep the ball in play when it was going out for a goal and managed to play it straight into the path of Boubacar Kamara, whose cross/shot was tapped into the net by Manzambi.
De Zerbi admitted that his players had to show better judgement and more leadership when they were temporarily down to 10 men.
When asked about his side’s performance against Villa, the Italian said (via the club’s official website): “Yes, but I don’t want to speak about the first half. When we dominate the game, we create more chances to score, we play well. My focus is on why we concede the first goal with 10 players just for one minute. In that situation, we can stay stronger, we can communicate more and more and more. We can defend compactly.
“I put Bentancur as a centre-back in that moment, Matheus Fernandes as a midfielder. So, if we bring a red card, we can play 40 minutes, 70 minutes, 60 minutes with 10 players. What is the problem? And then, in the second half, we scored the goal with Kudus, offside.”
De Zerbi labels Villa’s second goal as ‘unacceptable’
The Tottenham boss was also not pleased with the effort of his side for Villa’s second goal, which came from a long ball.
De Zerbi revealed that his players knew that Villa would go long, and rued the lack of leadership that he saw on the pitch from his side.
The 46-year-old added: “I don’t know if some players lost energy, but we conceded an unacceptable goal from a long kick with a long ball. We knew before the game, because this season, Aston Villa are playing 86% more long balls than last season. We spoke in many, many meetings yesterday and two days ago. Then, we have to explain another game, like Newcastle, where we played the first half well, 60 minutes, okay, and then we lose.
“For sure, it is my responsibility. I take my responsibility, but in that moment of the game, when the game is different than ball possession, than playing in the last third, because we can’t play 90 minutes in the last third like the first half, because there is an opponent, Aston Villa. It’s a good team, good players, and the moment when we have to defend, we have to defend compact. The leaders have to be leaders and to lead the team.”
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