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Roberto De Zerbi *OFFICIAL*

harr1984 said:
Can't remember his exact words, but he made it clear in his interview that his usual style wasn't important right now, more about the mentality and getting points on the board or something to that effect....
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Re. style, he arrives with a reputation of playing attacking footy. As such, I'm a little surprised there hasn't been more said about it and/or made of it? People wanted, and even demanded, an attacking coach, right? In addition, Guardiola, Slot, Klopp, and others have said he's 'Top 3' in the world.
Of course, the priority right now is 7 games, as it should be. However, as we know, before the season and the hiring of Frank - which was only about 8 months ago - style was a huge topic of conversation. There were endless, sometimes repetitive, essays on the subject... 'He's a long ball merchant, He won't play the style of football I want to see, His style is not what we want and need at this club' etc. It was of huge importance reflected by the sheer volume of chat on the subject. Well, here we are now with a guy...who just signed a 5-year contract, and who will play in a more attacking and attractive way and yet....there's hardly been much mention of style? As I say, the priority right now is 7 games, and I get that. Yet, in the midst a 3-week break, there's still been enough room found to discuss a host of 'other' things about him, including his clothes, and his beard.;)
 
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Mikey10 said:
Could someone interested in continuing the conversation around sexual violence perhaps start a separate thread for this widening discussion which seems to be further and further removed from anything to do with our new manager? Maybe someone can start one in the Cheese Room area and this discussion can be taken there?

I’m not trying to be flippant, and I honestly don’t want to offend anyone, but I come into this thread hoping to read and comment about De Zerbi and don’t want to to wade through 10 off topic conversations to get to a relevant one.

Thanks in advance.
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Well said. 👍Everybody has a right to have a opinion. If they feel they can not support Zerbi because of what he has said about the situation should accept what others feel about without sounding holy then though. IMO.
 
thfcsteff said:
I think it's very hard to accurately gauge how De Zerbi's appt is going to work out until the summer.
These 7 games coming up are going to be simply a test of how much he can make the players remember they're decent players and feel confident again. I suspect there's a core he will look to for that, Gray, Porro, Romero, VdV, Vicario, Richarlison, Palhinha, Gallagher. I think if gets Bentancur back he will be all over that. Of course, a returning Kudus will be up his strasse too. I am interested to see how a striker like Solanke will do under him. I think that is the core he is going to lean on heavily these last 7 games.

I have to say too I am a little alarmed at just how much freedom they are reportedly giving him, in terms of signing power, etc. I mean, he is getting the full monty! Or is it just carte blanche on paper?

I will say it must be scary for the clubs around us to note that we appear to have hit our bottom a while ago,De Zerbi signs on as new manager and we still aren't in the bottom 3? I think he'll keep us up.
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The freedom thing is so interesting. It’s the sort of freedom I wish they were able to give Poch. But they’ve given it to RDZ, and again I like the strategic bet around it.

I really liked Jack Pitt-Brooke’s article on this a couple of days ago. That Spurs have gambled on an idea. And I’ve been saying very similar things. We need (the players especially) need something to buy into. Especially at Tottenham, especially not having the most money. We have to be bought in to something more. We had it with Poch and we had it with Ange and I think we’ll have it with RDZ, and that’s a good thing.

So giving him this freedom I think gives him the best possible chance of his idea being fully realised. It means the buck is going to have to stop with him, he’ll be more accountable and can’t place blame elsewhere, but he’ll also feel more committed. And that is what’s great about him sticking with us even if we go down. We are truly a big club, because no other relegated team outside the other big 6 could take a long view like that.

So I’m fairly happy with the decisions that have been made over the last week. I think moving away from ‘club signings’ that Levy deems good value to actually trusting in someone that really knows football and backing his vision is a good thing. Lange also is clearly not someone who drives an overall talent strategy for a club. He may well be a good head of scouting effectively but not someone the board should be trusting in. De Zerbi in terms of football knowledge and ideas probably is. And as long as we actually back him, I think we’ll be ok long term.

Two questions will be: do we actually back him? He can’t demand City level players or wages, but with our looser wage structure my hope is that our backing of him is good enough.

And does his personality combust too soon to realise the long term value we wanted to get out of him? I hope not. Hard to know.
 
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Yiddo said:
Wow, a coach actually coaching, thats a good sign.

Ange and TF used to stand there watching others do the session.
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To be fair this is neither here nor there. I like what RDZ is doing. Equally Ange trusting in coaches and making a point of refreshing his staff at each club to also bring in new perspectives is a good thing. Many ways to skin the cat in football management.
 
harr1984 said:
Can't remember his exact words, but he made it clear in his interview that his usual style wasn't important right now, more about the mentality and getting points on the board or something to that effect....
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...which, if I recall, precisely echoes what Tudor said when he arrived. I guess the hope has to be that De Zerbi has the secret sauce Igor didn't.
 
I'll accept it might be because I've not seen us "play" for a couple of weeks

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But I feel slightly more confident of staying up watching the clips from training with him in charge
 
Legohamster said:
I'll accept it might be because I've not seen us "play" for a couple of weeks

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But I feel slightly more confident of staying up watching the clips from training with him in charge
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It is also really interesting that he didn’t want to speak too much about his philosophy in his first interview. He made a point of saying there wasn’t enough time.

So what does a De Zerbi team look like when it’s tasked with getting immediate results? I assume there will still be some ideas in possession more than what we’ve had so far, and we clearly need them. But what’s that middle ground?

Also thought it was interesting just from the perspective of communication, and how important these opportunities are for managers to shape narratives and get player buy in around the message you want to deliver. It was very intentional of him to not want to talk up his philosophy, lest the players lose focus from results being the most important thing right now.
 
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