Roberto De Zerbi\u2019s first match in charge delivered a narrow defeat for Tottenham Hotspur at Sunderland and few signs of immediate improvement. Optimism surrounded the Italian\u2019s arrival, but Sunday\u2019s performance at the Stadium of Light exposed a depleted, technically limited side that struggled to impose any consistent control.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Hammers\u2019 result only added to the pressure on De Zerbi\u2019s side at the Stadium of Light, although many were optimistic that the presence of the handsomely-paid Italian in the away dugout could facilitate a swift change of fortunes.\u201d That hope went largely unmet as Spurs failed to convert moments of promise into sustained threat.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to give too many principles, too many instructions on the pitch if we are speaking about just football, but organization with the ball, without the ball,\u201d De Zerbi told reporters in his pregame press conference.<\/p>\n
Early on, a slick move saw Richarlison produce a tame effort rather than an opener. Tottenham\u2019s inverted full-back play showed some intent, with Destiny Udogie able to burst forward when Conor Gallagher drifted into the left back zone. Yet alternative selections drew questions: Mathys Tel and Xavi Simons were surprising omissions, while Lucas Bergvall was used as the most advanced midfielder \u2014 a role Thomas Frank had attempted previously with limited success.<\/p>\n
The second half brightened briefly before a defensive lapse on the edge of the box proved costly. Nordi Mukiele beat Gallagher and saw an effort deflect off Micky van de Ven and into the net beyond Anton\u00edn Kinsky, whose overall performance was one of the few encouraging elements for Spurs. A heavy collision between Kinsky and Cristian Romero, following a Brian Brobbey push, further disrupted the contest.<\/p>\n
Substitute appearances, including Tel, failed to shift the momentum. Pedro Porro\u2019s late drive, tipped over by Robin Roefs, was the closest Tottenham came to rescuing a point. Sunderland held firm in a physical contest and claimed a narrow win.<\/p>\n
Possession was 52% to 48% for Sunderland; expected goals 1.79 to 0.91; shots 13 to 11. Spurs are now 14 games without a top-flight win. De Zerbi has six matches remaining to arrest their decline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Spurs lost at Sunderland in De Zerbi’s debut, showing little attacking progress and rising pressure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11581,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172,689,1464],"tags":[1505,1162,1305],"class_list":["post-11582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-epl","category-sunderland","category-tottenham","tag-accountability","tag-analytics","tag-bench-selection"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}