‘Surprised’ De Zerbi names three struggling Tottenham players after Brentford loss
Tottenham Hotspur boss Roberto De Zerbi admitted he was ‘surprised’ by their 3-0 defeat at Brentford, while also naming Marcos Senesi, Jan Paul van Hecke and Sandro Tonali as three players who are ‘not in the best physical condition’.
Tottenham have backed De Zerbi with £237million of spending this summer, and they have also agreed an £85m deal for Savinho amid talks for fellow attackers Omar Marmoush and Cody Gakpo. But it was same old Spurs against Brentford as they were brushed aside at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Keane Lewis-Potter opened the scoring for Brentford early on and was joined by Vitaly Janelt and Michael Kayode on the scoresheet on a memorable day for the Bees.
It could have been worse for Spurs too, as Igor Thiago headed onto the crossbar while also missing a penalty.
New Brentford signing Mamadou Sangare completely outshone his midfield counterpart Tonali, leaving De Zerbi scratching his head.
In a post-game interview with Match of the Day, De Zerbi said: “Bad game. We lost and suffered the difference in the duels. It was the key of this game. We didn’t fight in the right way. Maybe credit to them because it’s the best quality Brentford have.
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“Our physical condition was not at the right level for all players because many came later after the World Cup and there were many new players in the squad and first XI. But we have to analyse this game better because we can’t play this way in this type of game.
“I am surprised by the result and performance. I knew we were not in the right condition. We can’t find an excuse. I am sorry for the result and performance. We are starting a new project and we couldn’t find the principal.
“Marcos Senesi, Jan Paul van Hecke and Sandro Tonali are not in the best physical condition. We knew that before the game. We have to improve on that and many other things, like organisation and pressing.
“We can improve quickly but first, we have to understand this game better. I know their physical condition and new players but we have to put something more. We had to fight more. Players know I have a lot of confidence in them and we hope to improve quickly.”
Tottenham were ‘outfought’ – Archie Gray
When quizzed on more potential signings, De Zerbi replied: “I don’t want the excuse that the first XI was not enough to compete and get a result. Brentford’s spirit on the pitch was great, it has to be the right example for us.”
Archie Gray had been named as Spurs’ youngest-ever captain before being subbed off in the 86th minute. He said: “For some reason on days in football, a team can outfight another team, it’s on us and the fans have been incredible.
“I don’t think there’s any excuses to be honest.
“We’ve got work to do, you saw that performance. It’s definitely an improvement from last season. It’s not the start we wanted, going into the mid-week game on Wednesday.
“The work we do in the week is about moving in the right direction but today we got outfought.”
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