Roberto De Zerbi is asking Tottenham for patience they have not needed in fifty-two years.
His answer to a scoreless start and last place was to point to the calendar. The squad, he said at the City Ground on Saturday, had trained together for a matter of days.
“We bought very, very good players but you can’t just build the team with the names like in Football Manager,” De Zerbi told reporters after the 0-0 draw.
“We started just last Thursday to work together and to create, to build the team.”
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Spurs have not failed to score in their opening three top-flight matches since the 1974-75 season, a run older than the Premier League itself. Against Nottingham Forest they also failed to register a single shot on target, the club’s first blank in that column in the competition since April 2022, when they last drew one against Brentford under Antonio Conte.
The disallowed goal that saved a point
The match handed Tottenham their first point of the season only because Neco Williams saw a second-half strike ruled out for handball. Without the VAR overturn, De Zerbi would have opened his first full campaign in charge with three straight defeats.
His arrivals include the two most expensive signings in the club’s history: Sandro Tonali from Newcastle United on a deal reported at £100m, and Mateus Fernandes from West Ham United for £85m, which briefly held the record between the two moves. Sávio joined from Manchester City on a fee reported at £75m, with Omar Marmoush also arriving from City on loan with an obligation to buy for £60m, and Mykhailo Mudryk on loan from Chelsea. Jan-Paul van Hecke, Andy Robertson, Marcos Senesi, Tosin Adarabioyo and Martin Dubravka completed the ten.
“I love these players”
De Zerbi’s frustration is aimed at execution, not the roster.
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“We have to improve in every part of football, organisation with and without the ball,” he said.
He pointed to the final third of the pitch as the specific worry, describing chances where the runs were made but the ball did not follow. Tonali, De Zerbi said, had produced his “best game so far” for the club, with Dean Gallagher and Marmoush also singled out for praise.
“I love these players,” De Zerbi said in his post-match press conference.
“This is the right spirit and the right way to move on in this moment.”
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Bottom of the table
Tottenham sit bottom of the Premier League after three matches, with one point and no goals scored. De Zerbi was appointed head coach on 31 March 2026 after the club came close to relegation the previous season, and the summer that followed produced one of the largest transfer outlays in the club’s history. The wait for the first goal of it, and the first league win, now carries into the next matchday.
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