- 6 hours ago
Roberto De Zerbi's start to life as Tottenham manager ended in another defeat; this time 0-1 to Sunderland. But across his first 90 minutes, were there actually signs that he might have the tools needed to turn their form around and escape the relegation zone. Adam Clery looks at the good, and the bad, to find out.
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00:00Right, hello everybody, welcome to the Adam Cleary Football Channel, and what?
00:04This old thing, don't worry about it, just my medal from the London Landmarks,
00:08half marathon, and the only thing in worse condition than my groin today
00:13is Tottenham Hotspur, who are in deep, deep, um, trouble, let's say.
00:20Roberto Dezerbi is the man they have decided can fix all this,
00:23but before he even took charge of his first game, the slender buffer they had was gone.
00:28So there is no honeymoon period here.
00:32Now, this either has to work straight away, or they are going to get relegated.
00:38Now, getting beat away to Sunderland in the first game is obviously not a great sign,
00:41but we are going to look at that match, plus the system he is employing,
00:45to see if there were any other slightly more encouraging signs.
00:50So pull up a seat, if for some reason you're still standing.
00:54We're going to do that now.
01:00Now, of course, before we begin, a reminder that ACFC is proudly brought to you by our pals
01:04at Trading 212, hence why I'm joined by Teddy Sheringham here.
01:08So you'll be hearing from them in a little bit, and also, I do want to talk to you about
01:13this
01:13at some point, because it is, uh, quite important.
01:16But I'll save that right for the end, because if you're a Tottenham fan,
01:20I understand how priorities work.
01:22So, first things first, the one thing everybody agreed about with this change of management
01:27was that we were going to see an end to Igor Tudor's Back 3, which looked about as uncomfortable
01:33and awkward as this Gareth Bale outfit that I still, for some reason, think about roughly
01:38once a month.
01:39And instead, he was going to go back to a 4-2-3-1 that, in reality, played more like
01:45a 4-2-4.
01:46And that is because Deserby loves this system, because you've got four lads all spread across
01:51the top end of the pitch, pushing the opposition defence back, and then all taking it in turns
01:57to be the one who will drop to drag a defender out of position, and then somebody else can
02:02then get into that space.
02:03They can all do it and run various channels.
02:06And while all that is going on, your six or seven technically players at the back here
02:11will all retain possession very patiently, playing it amongst themselves, to create the
02:17angles and the passing lanes to get those direct balls into the forward line.
02:22And when people talk about Deserby ball, this is what they mean.
02:26Patience, patience, patience.
02:28Keep it at the back.
02:29Bait a press onto you.
02:31And then, bang, go back to front in as few passes as possible.
02:36Now, to be fair, Deserby himself has said that he's not going to try and bring anything
02:40too complex to this team in these final games of the season.
02:44It's more about getting them doing the basics right, which is correct.
02:47And yes, absolutely fair play.
02:49But you still do need to have a style of play.
02:53And 20 seconds into this game, from the kickoff, and ba-bang, there is that exact setup.
03:00You've got width across the pitch to try and stretch the press out, with both players
03:05sitting here to protect the central area.
03:07And there was, even, I got a really big kick out of this, because I'm that kind of nerd,
03:12right?
03:13That old classic Brighton trademark of the, well, come on then, you cowards, foot on the
03:19ball from Kinski.
03:20And Sunderland don't, like, rabidly rise to the bait here, but they do still try and press
03:25the ball.
03:26So he goes long and, yeah, bang, back to front.
03:30And you can see the front four are all pushed up together.
03:34But the problem, which, I mean, fair enough, they are literally 20 seconds into competitive
03:39life under this manager, is that the space hasn't really been created.
03:43So it's just a long ball, and they lose it straight away.
03:46But then, after only one minute, they do actually manage to get this off.
03:52The ball, again, is with Kinski.
03:54He's patient, he gives it wide.
03:56And now, when the forward ball comes in, Solanke has dropped into the gap they've made between
04:03Sunderland's midfield and defence.
04:05And it really is just, like, as simple as that.
04:07They go from the back, up the other end of the pitch, and they retain the ball in a good
04:12position.
04:12Richarlison wants it in behind.
04:13Now, that doesn't happen.
04:15So he, instead, drops.
04:17And you've now manufactured this space by pulling the full-back short with him.
04:22And don't get me wrong, it's not textbook, and it's not perfect, but it does work.
04:26And they manage to play in behind Sunderland.
04:28They cut it back from the byline.
04:29And Bergwahl is, like, teeny, tiny inches away from getting on the end of that.
04:35And it is good, this.
04:37Like, I think that's a really effective and repeatable pattern of play that will do Tottenham
04:42a lot of good between now and the end of the season.
04:44But the issue, when you were watching it, was that they didn't look massively comfortable
04:49in trying to execute it just yet.
04:51Several times in that first half, they rushed the out ball when the space wasn't really there.
04:58And if we take a look at Kinski's long passes from this game, right?
05:02So I've got rid of all the nice little side-to-side ones, right?
05:05These are only the times he tried to go over or through the Sunderland press.
05:09You'll see he gets a little bit of joy going out into these wide areas where it's less congested.
05:15But the ones you really want through the center of the pitch, these were very rarely controllable passes.
05:21Like, they were usually headers that they had to jump and challenge for, or something they could only flick on.
05:26When the idea with this system is that you create the space by moving the opposition around,
05:32and then these passes can effectively be drilled at pretty much ground level.
05:37So when a player drops to receive it, they can get it under control immediately, get turned, and you're away.
05:42So the point is, when you look at this, you can see that the game plan is there.
05:45You can see that's what they're trying to do.
05:47Just the execution, not yet.
05:50Now that sounds bad, right?
05:53Because it is, obviously.
05:54But the one big chance they get in this game, the one really clear opening they make,
05:59is a direct result of playing this way.
06:01Like you can see, they're being patient.
06:03They're trying to invite the press.
06:04And Kinski finds a doggy it is this time, in a bit of space.
06:08And he can actually control this ball.
06:11He drops it off when it comes to him.
06:12And this is exactly what you want here, right?
06:15You've got the opposition all running back towards their own goal,
06:19with an option to play in behind them.
06:22And don't get me wrong, this is not a brilliant opportunity by any stretch of the imagination.
06:27Like any cross in this situation is unlikely to create a clear chance for Solanke directly.
06:35But it causes enough problems that one does appear anyway.
06:39Defender cuts out the ball, it breaks in the box, but the angle is just too narrow.
06:43And it's a really good save from Roofs.
06:45So on the one hand, that is quite good, I think.
06:49But on the other hand, that was also it, really.
06:54Sunderland get really fortunate with a deflection on the goal.
06:57And then immediately realize they do not need to press to the point where they leave this much space.
07:03This is the next passage of play from Spurs after they go behind.
07:07And look at the difference in the starting position from Sunderland.
07:11Like they are fully 40 yards deeper there.
07:15They won't take the bait.
07:16And even though this is an excellent pass out from the back,
07:19it spends so long in the air into a congested area, it's quite easily cut out.
07:24And just to really show you the difference here, right?
07:27These are all of Kinski's successful passes from after the Sunderland goal.
07:33Not just the long balls, literally every single successful pass he made from there, right?
07:38And the one you're looking at, the one that looks like he's gone over a press and found a teammate,
07:42that is in the 102nd minute and is only going down as a successful pass
07:49because it like skims Kolo Mwani's head on its way through to a defender.
07:54And the point I'm trying to make here is that this is an effective way for a team to build
08:00up their attacks
08:01when they've got the ball at the back.
08:03It can and indeed does do things for you, but it only does them in quite specific circumstances.
08:11Like if you just cast your mind back, Brighton caught the whole league out with this four years ago
08:16because everybody's suddenly got this big, massive lob on for pressing you as high as they possibly could.
08:23But teams that will do that and try and win the ball back here are now a far rarer sight
08:27compared to teams that will sit in a mid or a low block.
08:31And as Spurs learned against Sunderland, it's very difficult to get the movement or the space right
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10:38Now, one positive I definitely did see, right,
10:40was the way De Zerbe tried to alter this when he realised it wasn't quite working.
10:44And the way he did that was sort of by, like, pushing Dogi up here,
10:49and then you've got Bergwahl, and then Richarlison sort of goes there,
10:52and you pull Conor Gallagher across.
10:55So you've kind of got this, like, 2-3-3-2 shape.
10:59And I think what he wanted to do was whichever midfielder was sitting on Conor Gallagher
11:03was going to end up getting pulled out into a wider area
11:06while the Dogi got into the space sort of alongside them.
11:09And that might then open up a few different passing angles
11:12to find any of these five at the top end of the pitch.
11:15And there's, like, this whole sequence here at, like, the 55-minute mark
11:20where they go from that shape back to the 4-2-4 and then back again.
11:25And again, I do think that's a positive because they're probing Sunderland's defences.
11:29They're rotating their positions.
11:30They're trying to find solutions with the ball.
11:33And if you watch it, like, a doggie drops central, then back wide, and then pushes up.
11:38They find Gray in space here.
11:41They find Gallagher in this slightly wider space here.
11:43They recycle the ball.
11:45All the stuff this sort of flexibility is supposed to give you.
11:49But, and this is a but so big, Kanye West would probably try and marry it, right?
11:54This is not 2022.
11:56Sunderland are way too disciplined to get opened up this easily.
12:00And in the end, they run out of ideas, smash it along into the channel, and it goes out of
12:05play.
12:05And whether the issue, right, is confidence on the ball or quality on the ball.
12:10And if you're a Tottenham fan, I will let you make your own mind up about that, right?
12:15I want to show you this exact moment here, right?
12:18You've got here just enough of an opening to play through Sunderland.
12:23Like, when Romero gets this ball, Bergwahl has dropped, and the pass needs to be fired straight into him to
12:30feet,
12:30and then immediately bounced into this space for Gray to receive it and get moving forward.
12:36And it's a little moment exactly like that, that Roberto Di Zerbi's style of football is specifically supposed to create.
12:45Because if you execute that right, you immediately take all four of these players out of the game.
12:50Granit Xhaka would have to jump to close the ball.
12:54And once you play around him, you're then just attacking the back line.
12:58And I know we can talk about his Marseille side and what they would have done,
13:00but that is exactly how that would have worked with his Brighton team.
13:04The only issue is that doing this would have been Moises Caicedo and Alexis McAllister.
13:10Now, the thing is, right, this was a game of very few chances, of very low quality,
13:16and if you are of a Tottenham persuasion, I would imagine very little encouragement.
13:24But, purely in terms of structured attacking play, this looked to me to be a level above already
13:32anything they were doing under Tudor.
13:35And that is not nothing.
13:37The issue is that there's only six games left,
13:40and the only games where teams are likely to come out and attack them
13:44and leave the space for this system are Villa and Chelsea, which is not good.
13:49And the irony is that what Roberto Di Zerbi needs is some sort of solution that will adapt this style
13:56of play
13:57to the very ways the league itself has adapted to his time at Brighton.
14:03And I know I'm going to sound like an absolute dork here,
14:06but I cannot stress enough to you just how influential this team has been
14:11on what is unkindly referred to as the rest of the division.
14:16Like, the guy is coming back to this country where the tactical seeds he himself sowed,
14:23sown, whatever the word is, right, are being reaped.
14:27I've gone all over the place with this metaphor, right in front of him.
14:30But, my friends, the big issue, bigger issue, right, is not a tactical one.
14:36It's this.
14:37Spurs have been defensively awful this season,
14:40and not through a lack of effort or just simply not trying,
14:44but because they consistently make very bad, very rash decisions off the ball
14:49that unravel their entire structure.
14:52The forest goal, they concede, is just you'll never get a better example of it than this, right?
14:56Papsar points at Gibbs White instead of doing anything about him, which is bad,
15:01so they let him receive the ball, which is bad.
15:03Three players panic to try and fix it, which is bad,
15:06which opens up all this space down the flank, which is bad.
15:09Then Saar, attempting to make up for the bad he's already done,
15:13gets attracted to the near post, which is bad,
15:16and Tell doesn't react to cover the man he leaves, which is bad.
15:20There is a panic and a fear to their play every time the opposition get anywhere near their goal.
15:28And if you are their new manager, that is the first thing,
15:32the only thing, arguably, you have to fix.
15:34And while I thought the on-the-ball stuff against Sunderland was a little bit better,
15:38it's still that exact mentality that loses them this game.
15:43They're set nicely here.
15:45They can't get played through.
15:46Gallagher jumps to stop his man turning, which is exactly what you want,
15:50but instead of passing it back to the forwards,
15:53he gets excited and he keeps that pressure going,
15:57which, hey, maybe nine times out of ten you just get away with.
16:01But here, Sunderland punish it.
16:03Once he's come out of the space, they pop it back behind him into it.
16:06And from there, they're straight into this space,
16:09and Richarlison, whose defensive instincts are never going to be faultless,
16:13jumps in to try and fix the situation when you don't have to do that.
16:18Like, yes, they've just got past Gallagher,
16:20but they're wide, they're going towards the touchline.
16:22You're covered in this area.
16:24Just hold your nerve.
16:26Make them beat you.
16:28Don't go flying in and give it to them easily.
16:30Gallagher then gets done again too easily,
16:33trying to recover for both his and Richarlison's mistake,
16:36and Gray tracks the run rather than defending the central area here.
16:41And that deflection is bad.
16:44Like, it's so unlucky.
16:45But the whole thing is born out of a situation
16:49that teams who are, like, at it up here just wouldn't allow to happen.
16:54And that, right there, is De Zerbe's biggest challenge over these next six games.
16:58Get them to cut out these panicked, terrified, rash decisions
17:02when the ball is approaching their own final third.
17:06You do that, and you'll concede a lot less.
17:08And then by extension, you'll see a bit more of the ball.
17:10You'll be under a lot less pressure.
17:12You might start getting these things on the ball to work a little bit for you.
17:15You start with that,
17:17and there's still enough talent in this squad
17:19that the rest will probably just knit itself together.
17:23Maybe.
17:24So, yes, there you go.
17:25That's what I thought.
17:26Roberto De Zerbe's first game in charge of Tottenham.
17:29I, who are a Spurs fan,
17:30I would feel slightly encouraged,
17:33but I would wish to be sat on the toilet when I felt that.
17:37Now, dead quick, before I go,
17:39I said I wanted to talk to you about this.
17:41I did the London landmarks, half marathon of the day.
17:43My legs, my back, everything, and my crack are incredibly sore today.
17:49That's just how these things work.
17:51Look, there I go.
17:52I did it for the Teenage Cancer Trust,
17:53and thank you to all of you who donated a couple of quid.
17:57Now, I've mentioned this a few times, right?
17:59I'm doing four half marathons this year and 12 10Ks
18:04because I'm trying to raise 10 grand
18:06for various charities across the course of the year.
18:09Now, I haven't really been putting a lot of that in these videos
18:12because we've obviously got the FOTMAR of integration.
18:14They're trading 212 sponsorship.
18:15I don't really want to be like,
18:17hey, download this app and also invest your money here.
18:20And by the way, can I have a couple of quid for just doing a run
18:23because this audience is absurdly generous,
18:27as I have learned when I've done fundraising things before.
18:30And I don't really want to take the piss.
18:32I'm not going to mention it.
18:33Loads and loads and loads and loads.
18:35But the next run is the Hackney Half.
18:37It's in five weeks' time.
18:38It is for Calm, the campaign against living miserably.
18:40They're a mental health charity,
18:42which is what I always try and raise money for whenever possible.
18:45I'm going to stick the link down there.
18:46I'm not going to bang on about it as much as I normally would
18:49because I know we've got other stuff going on.
18:51But I just wanted to say that.
18:52And also, show you this medal.
18:55Look, it opens up.
18:57It's the nicest medal I've ever had.
18:59It's got a little map of the route, which is nice.
19:01Although, they should give you that before you start, shouldn't they?
19:03Because then, if you get lost, you can see where you are.
19:06Anyway, I had a great day.
19:07It wasn't anywhere near as bad as I expected.
19:10Doing really bad groin physio for a month actually works.
19:13Who knew you can get me across all the social medias?
19:15I'm going to wrap up now.
19:16At Adam Cleary.
19:17C-L-E-R-Y.
19:18If you haven't already, please subscribe to see it at the Adam Cleary Football Channel
19:21because I think this might be the 200,000 subscribers video,
19:25which would be nice.
19:27Anyway, yes, that's Tottenham.
19:28Best of luck, everybody, there.
19:31Fingers crossed for you.
19:32Goodbye.
19:32Goodbye.
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