De Zerbi TEARS into Spurs flops and sends warning to struggling stars after £320m summer splurge

Roberto De Zerbi let rip at his Tottenham flops after crashing to another home defeat which will leave them marooned in the drop zone for the next three weeks.

Spurs were 3-0 down in the 86th minute and Aston Villa had threatened to stretch further ahead before salvaging a little respectability with two late goals.

They are winless in the first five games of the Premier League season and De Zerbi did not try to hide his emotions.

He hit out at his team’s defensive ‘fragility’ and the feeble manner of Villa’s goals, especially the ‘unacceptable’ second, scored on the break by Nicolas Jackson at the start of the second half.

He demanded more strength in adversity and more from certain individuals including Dominic Solanke and Mateus Fernandes, who was replaced at half time.

He also grumbled about the problems in the transfer window.

'I was very disappointed, very sad, very frustrated for the performance,' fumed De Zerbi. 'We can’t lose this game in this way, absolutely. We can’t concede the second goal. We can’t lose balance. In the beginning of the second half I spoke with the four attackers, to use their heads, be calm.

'It was minute 51. All the second half, be calm, play, enjoy, don’t take risks. But the goal we conceded, the second goal was incredible.'

De Zerbi was no happier about the opener, scored by Johan Manzambi when Spurs were down to 10 men because Micky van de Ven was off having treatment on a facial cut after a clash of heads with Tyrone Mings.

'I don’t want to speak about the first half when we dominated and created more chances to score,' said De Zerbi. 'My focus is on why we concede the first goal with 10 players, just for one minute in that situation.

'We can stay stronger, we can communicate more, we can defend in a compact way. I put [Rodrigo] Bentancur to centre back and Mateus Fernandes into midfield. If we have a red card we could play for 60 minutes with 10 players, so what is the problem?'

Spurs thought sub Kudus had levelled at 1-1 but the goal was ruled out by a VAR offside call and soon afterwards were 2-0 down.

'I don’t know if some players lost energy, but we conceded an unacceptable goal from a long goal kick, with a long ball,' said De Zerbi. 'We knew Aston Villa are playing 86 per cent more long balls than last season. We spoke about it in many meetings.

'Then we have to explain another game like Newcastle, where we play well in the first half and then lose. For sure it’s an aspect.

'It’s my responsibility, I don’t want to leave without taking my responsibility, but in that moment of the game, when the game is different to ball possession, to playing in the last third, because we can’t play for 90 minutes in the last third like the first half, because there is an opponent.

'Aston Villa is not such a bad team. It is a good team, good players and the moment we have to defend, we have to defend compact. The leaders have to be leaders and lead the team.'

'Football is like life, either you are stronger or you lose.'

De Zerbi vowed also to work harder and improve but accused his players of losing their way when things conspired against them.

'In the second half, we lost balance because we were losing,' said the Spurs boss. 'We forced the pass, forced the situation, lost the ball.'

De Zerbi dropped Mathys Tel for what he called ‘technical reasons’, and demanded more from individuals including £85million summer signing Fernandes and Solanke.

On Fernandes, he said: 'I have a big confidence in Mateus, but I didn’t like his performance. Otherwise, I wouldn't change. He knows, but it’s normal, it’s not an attack on Mateus, I love Mateus, but we need more from Mateus.'

On Solanke, he said: 'We need more from him, for sure. I like Dom as a player, and I stay with him until the end. He needs to stay better, to feel better. The physical condition is not good enough.

'Maybe he doesn’t have enough confidence in himself in this moment, because he’s much better than this. But maybe many things can be better. We can’t say everything is bad, but it’s not enough.'

On summer transfers and the failure to land a reliable goalscorer, De Zerbi said: 'The transfer market was long, and the situation changed many times. There was also the Financial Fair Play to respect at the end of the transfer market.

'We didn’t sell the players we thought, in the beginning, there was the chance to sell. There are a lot of reasons. The club and the coach, we are not sleeping, we know the characteristics of the players, we know everything. And if we didn’t make any different decisions, it was because we couldn’t.'

Spurs will return after the international break with a trip to Manchester United.