Roberto De Zerbi wants more from his players in Tottenham’s fight for survival

Roberto De Zerbi admitted Tottenham are in a “difficult moment” as he looks to turn the club’s fortunes around going into the final stretch of the season.

The Italian’s first game as Spurs boss ended in a 1-0 defeat to Sunderland, meaning the club finished the weekend inside the Premier League’s relegation zone.

In an open first half, Tottenham had a penalty decision overturned by VAR and had opportunities through Richarlison and Dominic Solanke.

However, Sunderland broke the deadlock in the 61st minute when Nordi Mukiele’s strike deflected off Micky van de Ven and dipped into the net, leaving goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky no chance.

Pedro Porro was denied twice by Robin Roefs in additional time, but the north London side ultimately slipped to a 16th league defeat of the season.

Spurs are left languishing in 18th with only six league games remaining and are yet to win a Premier League game in 2026 – with their last triumph coming against Crystal Palace on December 28 – but De Zerbi is hoping to help show his players what they are capable of.

“I think we played a good game, especially in the first half, with the ball and without the ball,” he said.

“We had three clear chances to score, one with Solanke, one with Richarlison, another with (Lucas) Bergvall.

“We played well, but we don’t play well enough to win the game because in the end, in the second half, we suffered too much. To Sunderland, we lost 20/30 metres on the pitch.

“We had another important chance with Richarlison just two minutes before conceding the goal. We can play better, we can do something more, as energy, as passion on the pitch, with more enthusiasm, yes.

“But now we are inside of a difficult moment. I would like to help the players to show what they can do on the pitch because we played a good game, but we can play much better than today.

“My job is not now to change the style of play, I did two or three things with the ball, two or three things without the ball.

“The crucial part is not with the ball or without the ball. It’s in our mentality to be positive, but to be positive just because we have the quality enough to win a game.

“When we go to win a game we can change other things.”

A difficult afternoon on Wearside was compounded further with a worrying moment concerning Cristian Romero, who was involved in a collision with Kinsky while defending the ball from Sunderland striker Brian Brobbey.

The tearful Tottenham captain was substituted off, while Kinsky had a bandage wrapped around his head and was able to continue.

Speaking after the match, De Zerbi was uncertain about the extent of Romero’s injury.

“We don’t know yet, we have to see in the next game, in the next days,” he said.

“I hope for us it’s not too important a problem because he’s a crucial player for us.

“He’s a good guy, good player, top player, big personality and we need him to finish this season and to achieve our goal.”