Roberto De Zerbi says his Tottenham players continue to lack physical fitness and must “unblock” themselves in psychological terms after they drew their latest Premier League blank.
He explained: “There is a word in Italian – sbloccarsi – that literally translates as if we unblock ourselves.
“[It is] a mental block because four games, no wins, no goals scored … it is tough for the players. The team is extremely strong, we can score goals and we can win games. And then we have to respect the history of the players in their careers. Forget Dominic Solanke and Marmoush – the other players … they didn’t score many, many goals in their careers and we have to find these goals. I think we can do so with the quality of our play.”
De Zerbi added: “I said we started this season late for many, many reasons; too late. Many players at the World Cup, many injuries, many problems in Australia. Micky van de Ven suffered an injury in Australia. Domi Solanke the same. James Maddison the same. Mateus Fernandes suffered an injury in Australia. He lost 15 days and it’s not so quick. Sávio and Marmoush, they came 10 days ago. I started to work with this [whole] group not last Thursday but two Thursdays ago. So, I think we have not the right physical condition yet.”