Tottenham Hotspur are only three Premier League games into Roberto De Zerbi’s new era, but Saturday’s visit of Everton already feels considerably more important than the fourth match of a long season ordinarily should.
There should be no talk of crisis at this stage and certainly no rush to judgement on a manager attempting to rebuild a side after two successive 17th-place finishes. Yet there is no escaping the unusual position in which Tottenham find themselves. After three league matches they have one point, no victories and, most surprisingly of all considering the attacking talent available to De Zerbi, no goals.
It is certainly not what anybody envisaged after a summer in which Tottenham committed around £332million on 10 new players and undertook one of the most extensive reconstructions of any Premier League squad.
This was not a summer of adding two or three players to an established team. Tottenham have attempted something much more ambitious. They have changed significant parts of the defence, midfield and attack while placing the entire project into the hands of a manager with very particular ideas about how football should be played.
That context is important when assessing what has happened so far.
The opening 3-0 defeat at Brentford was followed by a 2-0 loss against Newcastle before last weekend’s goalless draw at Nottingham Forest finally brought Tottenham their first point. The clean sheet represented progress, particularly after conceding five times in the opening two matches, but the failure to register a shot on target at the City Ground illustrated the problem De Zerbi is still attempting to solve.
Tottenham are getting into promising positions without making enough of them.
De Zerbi was not despondent after the Forest game. In fact, he saw considerable improvement in the way his team controlled parts of the match, competed in midfield and defended. His frustration centred much more on what Tottenham did once they reached the final third.
“I think we played well, but in the last third we have to improve,” he said.
“We have to take the better decisions. We have to keep more calm when we are very close to doing something important in the last third.”
That is perhaps the most accurate description of Tottenham at present. There are passages of football where the beginnings of De Zerbi’s team can be seen, but the final connection has been missing.
He pointed to specific moments against Forest when another pass, a different run or greater composure might have transformed an attack. Omar Marmoush had an opportunity to use Andrew Robertson on an overlap rather than taking the shot himself, while there were other situations where Tottenham found good positions but the final cross or decision was wrong.
These are not necessarily structural problems. They are the small details which separate promising possession from productive possession.
That distinction matters with De Zerbi because his football relies heavily upon players understanding each other.
His best teams have never simply moved the ball around for the sake of accumulating possession. The objective is to draw opponents towards the ball, create spaces elsewhere and then attack those spaces quickly. Central defenders and midfielders have to be comfortable receiving possession under pressure. Wide players need to recognise when to stretch the pitch and when to move inside. The striker has to understand what is happening behind him and the players around the penalty area have to anticipate the next pass before it arrives.
It is sophisticated football when everybody understands it. Tottenham are still learning it.
And they are attempting to learn while integrating a huge number of new players.
Sandro Tonali was brought in as a major part of the midfield reconstruction, while significant investment was also made in Mateus Fernandes. Jan Paul van Hecke, who knows De Zerbi’s methods from Brighton, adds familiarity with the manager’s approach at the back, while Marmoush and Savio have brought further pace and attacking quality.
Tottenham have Conor Gallagher’s energy and Rodrigo Bentancur’s experience in midfield, Mohammed Kudus provides unpredictability in attacking areas and Dominic Solanke remains a proven Premier League centre-forward.
On paper, there is an enormous amount to like.
De Zerbi, however, made a telling observation when discussing Tottenham’s summer recruitment and the expectations surrounding it.
“It’s not enough the paper, the transfer market,” he said.
That sentence probably explains Tottenham’s opening weeks better than any statistic.
Money can buy quality. It cannot immediately buy relationships.
Ten new signings do not automatically become a team because the transfer window has closed. Players have to understand each other’s movements, personalities and tendencies. A midfielder needs to know whether the full-back behind him is going to overlap before he receives the ball. A centre-forward needs to recognise where the winger wants him to move. A defender playing out from the back has to know where his next pass will be before an opponent arrives.
Those things are developed on the training ground and sharpened through matches.
The difficulty for Tottenham is that £332million creates expectation. Supporters understandably want to see evidence quickly that the enormous summer investment has changed the direction of the club.
There were signs at Forest.
De Zerbi was particularly pleased with Tottenham’s midfield and singled out Bentancur, Tonali and Gallagher for praise. Bentancur’s contribution is particularly interesting because the arrival of expensive new midfielders could easily have pushed him towards the margins. Instead, he has shown why, when fit and confident, he remains such an intelligent Premier League footballer.
Tonali brings a different dimension with his range of passing and ability to dictate possession, while Gallagher provides relentless running and aggression. Fernandes gives De Zerbi another technically gifted option and the eventual challenge will be deciding which combination gives Tottenham the best balance.
That midfield could ultimately become one of the strongest areas of this Spurs side.
The greater concern remains what is happening ahead of it.
A squad containing Marmoush, Savio, Kudus and Solanke should not remain goalless for long. There is too much pace, technical ability and Premier League experience for that sequence to continue indefinitely.
The question is when everything begins to connect.
Tottenham’s attacking players are currently producing moments rather than sustained combinations. There have been runs which have not been found, crosses delivered when an additional pass might have been better and shots taken when teammates were occupying more dangerous positions.
That is why De Zerbi continues to emphasise decision-making rather than simply demanding greater effort.
The players are getting there.
They are not yet consistently making the correct decision when they arrive.
Injuries and fitness management have added another layer to the situation. De Zerbi has not had every attacking option available to him and some of those who have played are still being carefully managed.
James Maddison’s return could eventually become particularly important. Few players in Tottenham’s squad possess his natural ability to see a pass around the penalty area, and that is precisely the quality Spurs have lacked during their opening matches.
Dejan Kulusevski is also working his way back, while Xavi Simons and Wilson Odobert have been unavailable. Savio has required careful management following muscle fatigue.
De Zerbi revealed after the Forest game that Tottenham’s medical and performance staff had established workload limits for some players. It follows two seasons badly disrupted by injuries and is understandable given Tottenham’s determination to avoid repeating those problems.
But it also creates an interesting tension for a manager trying to win matches.
De Zerbi admitted there are occasions when, standing on the touchline, he would prefer to make substitutions entirely according to what he sees happening in the game rather than predetermined physical limits.
It is another reminder that this Tottenham rebuild is about considerably more than spending money.
The club is attempting to rebuild the team, its style and aspects of the physical preparation around the squad at the same time.
Everton now arrive at an awkward moment.
David Moyes’s side are unbeaten after their opening three Premier League fixtures and demonstrated against Manchester United last weekend that they are increasingly comfortable when games become difficult.
Twice Everton fell behind and twice they recovered to draw 2-2.
What should particularly interest De Zerbi is the way Everton improved through their substitutions.
Hayden Hackney came from the bench and created Tyrique George’s equaliser, Ainsley Maitland-Niles produced a spectacular stoppage-time goal on his Everton debut and Jack Grealish also made a significant impact after his introduction.
Moyes does not have the depth De Zerbi possesses. Christian Norgaard remains injured and Everton’s squad remains relatively small, but there is an increasing resilience about them.
Hackney has impressed despite Moyes originally intending to introduce him more gradually following his move from Championship football.
“I think Hayden’s done well,” Moyes said this week. “I’ve got a wee bit about bringing the boys in from the Championship and throwing them right in right away.
“Maybe even from when I was here before 10 years ago, there’s probably been a change in how things are seen. Everybody wants it even quicker now than they did 10 years ago.
“He might need to wait around and wait until his moment comes, but we like him a lot.”
Grealish is another intriguing factor.
The England international has had very little football after six-and-a-half months out and Moyes is conscious of building his fitness through matches rather than asking too much too soon.
Yet his appearance against Manchester United offered immediate evidence of what he can bring.
Moyes also made clear this week that Everton will not simply ask Grealish to fit into everything they already do.
“We need to use Jack and then we’ll adapt ourselves around Jack,” he said.
That could become important at Tottenham.
Grealish is particularly effective at receiving the ball when opponents are trying to press aggressively. He can protect possession, draw players towards him and create spaces elsewhere. If Tottenham become impatient and begin chasing the ball, he is precisely the type of footballer capable of exploiting it.
The opening stages on Saturday could therefore tell us a great deal.
Tottenham need the crowd.
After three matches without a goal, an early breakthrough could release enormous pressure. The atmosphere inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium would change instantly and players who have perhaps been forcing the final pass could begin playing with greater freedom.
Everton’s objective will be to prevent exactly that.
Moyes has been around the Premier League long enough to understand the psychology of these occasions. Everton do not need to arrive and turn the opening half-hour into an end-to-end contest. They can make Tottenham work for the initiative, remain compact and attempt to frustrate a team desperately searching for its first goal.
The longer the score remains level, the more interesting the atmosphere could become.
Tottenham supporters will unquestionably back De Zerbi and there remains considerable excitement about what this new team could become. But supporters are human. After two successive 17th-place finishes, another difficult beginning was the last thing anybody wanted.
If Spurs score early, the stadium could become one of Everton’s biggest problems.
If Everton score first, it could become one of Tottenham’s.
There is also an unavoidable parallel with Everton’s previous visit to North London.
On the final day of last season Tottenham needed victory to make absolutely certain of Premier League survival. De Zerbi described the occasion as effectively a final and Spurs eventually won 1-0.
Four months later Everton return and, although the circumstances are entirely different, Tottenham once again enter the fixture knowing how valuable a victory would be.
Nobody should seriously call the fourth league game of September a cup final. There are far too many matches ahead and far too much quality in this Tottenham squad for that.
But it might feel a little like one inside the stadium.
A victory would give De Zerbi his first Premier League win of the season, end the extraordinary wait for a league goal and provide tangible evidence that Tottenham’s enormous summer reconstruction is beginning to move.
Failure to win would inevitably bring another week examining why so much attacking talent has yet to produce a goal.
That is the strange contradiction surrounding Tottenham at the moment.
There is genuine reason for optimism.
De Zerbi has a proven footballing philosophy. Tottenham have invested enormously in the squad. There is technical ability throughout the midfield, serious pace in attacking areas and considerable scope for improvement as injured players return and new signings become accustomed to each other.
This could eventually become a very good Tottenham team.
But Premier League seasons do not wait for projects to mature.
De Zerbi understands that better than most.
Tottenham have bought the players. They have changed the squad. They have begun changing the way they play.
Now comes the difficult part.
Turning an impressive collection of individuals into a team capable of winning Premier League football matches.
Everton will arrive in North London determined to make them wait a little longer.
