Roberto De Zerbi admitted his Tottenham side are not in the best physical condition after their torrid start to the Premier League season continued.
Spurs drew 0-0 with Everton at home on Saturday, their first goalless draw at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the league (140th game), and the first time that Spurs have drawn 0-0 in a home game in the competition since September 2017 v Swansea City at Wembley Stadium.
It has been 407 minutes since Spurs last scored in the Premier League, while they have failed to score in four successive top-flight matches for the first time since September 2006.
Spurs started on the front foot against Everton, with Jan Paul van Hecke missing a good chance early on, but the Toffees grew into the game.
But De Zerbi has urged his side not to lose even more confidence, insisting they will improve as time goes on.
"Now is one of the moments in football when you rebuild a team, when you start late because we started together with [Omar] Marmoush, Savio, [Dominic] Solanke, [James] Maddison two Thursdays ago," he said.
"Now I think we played very well in the first 30 minutes. Then maybe we lost energy because our physical condition is not the best and we are working for that.
"We didn't shoot for the quality of play we showed. We have to shoot more time on goal. We have to work and analyse the decision-making because we made too many wrong decisions, but I think we played well.
"We played as a team. We didn't score, we didn't win, but today and Nottingham I think we played as a team.
"And I can't say nothing as an attitude, as a behaviour of the players, no, no. I said to stay calm, maybe to not lose the confidence because we are not scoring, we are not winning.
"Stay calm, improve, work hard and individually try to understand where is the improvement, no?"
4 - Only Crystal Palace in 2017-18 (first 7 games) have endured a longer start to a Premier League season without scoring than Tottenham Hotspur in 2026-27 (first 4), while it’s Spurs’ longest goalscoring drought to the start of a season in the top four tiers.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 12, 2026
Bleak. pic.twitter.com/uBicemETFW
Everton, meanwhile have avoided defeat in their opening four matches of a Premier League season for the first time since 2021-22, while they have drawn three successive matches in the competition for the first time since March 2025 (run of four).
Jordan Pickford recorded his 100th clean sheet in the Premier League, becoming just the fifth English goalkeeper to do so in the competition after David James (166), David Seaman (135), Nigel Martyn (131) and Joe Hart (127).
David Moyes praised Pickford and the rest of the Everton team for their resilience against Spurs.
"We were under the cosh from the first minute. But the players stuck at it," Moyes told Sky Sports.
"Tottenham were desperately looking for a win. As were we, but them being at home put us under the pressure. We coped brilliantly well.
"I don't think the goalkeeper had many saves to make. We had to fill the box and reduce the spaces for them. Tottenham played well and made it difficult for us.
"With the boys at the back and the goalkeeper, there is real resilience to make sure we do not concede any goals. The goalkeeper [Pickford] has got a great record for clean sheets and he got one today as well."