De Zerbi Criticizes Tottenham's 'Fragility' After Aston Villa Loss

Roberto De Zerbi did not hold back in his criticism of his Tottenham players following a home defeat to Aston Villa, stating his frustration with the team's defensive 'fragility' and the manner in which goals were conceded. The team is now winless in their first five Premier League games.

Spurs found themselves 3-0 down in the 86th minute before scoring two late goals. De Zerbi specifically called the second goal, scored by Nicolas Jackson early in the second half, 'unacceptable.'

"I was very disappointed, very sad, very frustrated for the performance," De Zerbi said. "We can’t lose this game in this way, absolutely. We can’t concede the second goal. We can’t lose balance."

The manager also lamented the first goal, conceded while Tottenham was temporarily down to 10 men due to an injury treatment for Micky van de Ven. "I don’t want to speak about the first half when we dominated and created more chances to score," De Zerbi commented. "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, we can defend in a compact way."

De Zerbi noted Aston Villa's reliance on long balls, a tactic he claims the team had discussed in meetings. "We knew Aston Villa are playing 86 per cent more long balls than last season. We spoke about it in many meetings," he said.

The manager also addressed individual performances, specifically mentioning Dominic Solanke and Mateus Fernandes. "We need more from him [Solanke], for sure. He needs to stay better, to feel better. The physical condition is not good enough," De Zerbi stated. Regarding Fernandes, he added, "I have a big confidence in Mateus, but I didn’t like his performance. Otherwise, I wouldn't change."

Reflecting on the transfer window, De Zerbi cited issues beyond his control. "The transfer market was long, and the situation changed many times. There was also the Financial Fair Play to respect at the end of the transfer market," he explained. "We didn’t sell the players we thought, in the beginning, there was the chance to sell. There are a lot of reasons. The club and the coach, we are not sleeping, we know the characteristics of the players, we know everything. And if we didn’t make any different decisions, it was because we couldn’t."

Tottenham will resume their campaign after the international break with a match against Manchester United.