Roberto De Zerbi chose his words carefully after Aston Villa left north London with a 3-2 win on Saturday.
“In my career, 14 years as a coach, I’ve never seen one team like us,” he said.
“So fragile, so inconsistent.”
The Italian was jeered off his own pitch by supporters who have watched Tottenham score twice at home all season, and both of those goals arrived when the Villa game was already lost.
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Spurs sit last in the table with two points from five matches, their worst start to a top-flight campaign since 2008/09. It is the first time they have been rooted to the bottom of the Premier League on any morning in 18 years.
A £300m summer overhaul
The summer that produced this table did not lack ambition. Tottenham spent more than £300m on ten new signings and let seventeen players leave, according to Sky Sports, a reshaping that would be dramatic even at a club with a habit of squad churn.
Sandro Tonali arrived for around £100m. Brazilian winger Savio and Portuguese midfielder Mateus Fernandes joined for roughly £85m each, and Dutch defender Jan Paul van Hecke followed for £52m. De Zerbi has said Financial Fair Play constraints shaped the strategy. He has also let it be known that he would have preferred to keep João Palhinha, who departed against his wishes.
The numbers behind the collapse
The eye test is bleak, and the data is worse. In the calendar year 2026, Spurs have accumulated eighteen league points, one more than relegated West Ham managed across the same window. They have not won a Premier League game after conceding first for close to two years, and they have picked up only nine draws from losing positions since the start of the 2024/25 season.
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Score first against Tottenham, and Tottenham stop. WhoScored data cited by To The Lane And Back records the opening five as the longest winless run in the top flight this season.
De Zerbi’s public post-mortem
In his post-match press conference, De Zerbi took the blame directly.
“Today I was very disappointed, very sad, very frustrated for the performance,” he told reporters.
“For sure, it is my responsibility. I take my responsibility.”
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“The leaders have to be leaders and to lead the team,” he said.
In comments carried by Goal, he added: “Maybe the communication between the players is the problem, maybe the leaders have to be stronger.”
He also stood by Dominic Solanke, whose form has drawn open frustration from supporters.
“We need more from him, for sure, but he’s one of my players,” De Zerbi said. “I like Domi as a player and I stay with him until the end.”
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The board still backs him
Publicly, the hierarchy is not moving. Fabrizio Romano confirmed that Tottenham continue to believe in the manager, with a club source telling TEAMtalk: “There is nobody better than Roberto to turn this around.”
The next test comes at Old Trafford after the international break, where Manchester United will host a Tottenham side that has not yet scored an away goal in the league this season.
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