admin‘It’s Rubbish’ – Roberto De Zerbi Slams Negativity Around Tottenham
Tottenham Hotspur manager Roberto De Zerbi has dismissed the negativity surrounding the club as “rubbish,” speaking out ahead of Sunday’s crucial match against Aston Villa.
Spurs finally secured their first win of 2026 last week against Wolves, but the victory came at a cost—injuries to Xavi Simons and Dominic Solanke, adding to the club’s already growing list of absentees.
Despite the win, media scrutiny quickly shifted to questioning Tottenham’s medical staff and pitch conditions, especially after West Ham also picked up three points. The team’s positive result was largely overlooked.
De Zerbi urged everyone connected with the club to “silence the voice inside of us,” arguing that this inner voice fuels negative thinking—such as “we are unlucky” or “we have too many injuries.”
The Spurs boss rejected that kind of mindset outright, calling it “rubbish,” and instead emphasized positive factors, particularly the quality of his players. Speaking in a press conference, he said:
“Listen, I want to be clear one time. The most important challenge now is to silence the voice inside of us, inside of the players, the staff, the fans. This voice produces negative thoughts—it says we are unlucky, we have too many injuries. We lost Xavi Simons and he was one of our most important players in the last two games. Our medical staff is not good enough, our stadium pitch is not good enough, our training pitch is not good enough. Winning two or three games in a row? No, because we hadn’t won a game in 2026. It’s all negative things, and it’s rubbish. I want to keep the focus on myself and the quality of my players.”
De Zerbi also rejected the idea that a Spurs victory at Villa Park would be “a miracle,” calling Tottenham a “big club” while acknowledging Aston Villa as “one of the best teams” in the league.
“We go to play one of the best teams in the Premier League at the moment,” he said, “but if Tottenham win at Villa Park, it’s not a miracle. Maybe we lose, but we have the quality to win this game. We have to be positive because we are lucky to work at a big club.”
Tottenham are running out of chances this season. Former Spurs boss Harry Redknapp has suggested that De Zerbi would achieve hero status if he can steer the club away from relegation.
De Zerbi himself believes the squad has bought into his methods—a notion reinforced by Marseille defender Facundo Medina, who recently claimed he was hurt by the manager’s departure.
Spurs fans may take some hope from Aston Villa’s loss to Nottingham Forest in the first leg of their Europa League semifinal, as Unai Emery now faces a tricky balance ahead of next week’s return leg.
True to his word, however, De Zerbi is likely to focus solely on his own team and their quality, regardless of the lineup Emery puts out on Sunday.
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