Roberto De Zerbi Reveals Tottenham’s Key Priorities Ahead of New Season

Roberto De Zerbi has outlined the areas Tottenham Hotspur must improve during the offseason as he prepares to lead the club into a new campaign.

The Italian coach arrived in the Tottenham dugout following Igor Tudor’s departure, with the immediate task of steering Spurs away from a potential relegation battle. Tottenham eventually finished 17th in the Premier League last season, narrowly avoiding the bottom three after another difficult campaign.

However, De Zerbi believes the club must now turn the page and establish a clear identity under his leadership.

‘Our style has to be the key to our season’

De Zerbi has built his managerial reputation around possession-based football, structured build-up play and encouraging opponents to press before exploiting the spaces left behind. At Tottenham, he initially focused on restoring confidence within the squad, but he now wants the team to develop a much clearer footballing identity.

Speaking about his plans, De Zerbi admitted that his short spell at the club had already felt much longer because of its intensity.

“It seems I’m here for 10 years. Three months, just three months. Very intense three months,” he said.

The Tottenham boss stressed that last season’s struggles must serve as an important lesson for everyone at the club, while insisting that the focus must now shift towards building a new project.

“We can’t forget what happened last season. It’s a lesson, a big lesson for us, for every one of us. But anyway, we have to go on another page and start another season, an important season. We are building, I think, a new project.”

De Zerbi identified two major priorities for the campaign: discovering the team’s character and improving the way they play both with and without possession.

“Our first two targets are very clear in ourselves. The first is to find the soul of the team. The second target is to improve our organisation of football,” he explained.

“With the ball, without the ball, our style has to be the key of our season, like our soul. These two characteristics I want to find as soon as possible.”

The Italian revealed that Tottenham had already begun laying the foundations for his preferred style during the previous season, although circumstances prevented the squad from working extensively on tactical principles.

“We started last season to build something about the style of play. Not too much because it was not the right time to work too much on the style, on the principles with the ball or without the ball, but we started working on the soul.”

De Zerbi believes signs of that mentality were already visible during his first six matches in charge, even in defeat.

“And the last six games with me, I think we showed that a lot of times — even when we lost at Chelsea. I think it is the first point and the most important part in football now.”

With a new season ahead, De Zerbi will be hoping to transform those early foundations into a Tottenham side capable of competing with a much stronger identity and consistency.