Roberto De Zerbi admits fear of being relegated is impacting his Spurs players – and gives update on Romero

Roberto De Zerbi admits fear of being relegated is impacting his Spurs players – and gives update on Romero

Roberto De Zerbi says his Tottenham players must improve their mentality if they are to avoid relegation from the Premier League.

Spurs will end the weekend in the relegation zone after suffering a 1-0 defeat to Sunderland at the Stadium of Light in De Zerbi’s first game in charge.

And asked if the fear of relegation is impacting his players, the Italian said: “I think so, yeah.

“If you ask me, I am 46 years old, I have much more experience than the players and I am positive absolutely because I know them as guys and as player and for that I am positive, not because we are Tottenham or because I have to be positive, no.

“They have the quality enough to win one game and the target now, the closer target is to win one game because if we win a game we can see everything in different way.

“We are Tottenham but we have not to win the game just because we are Tottenham, you can’t win the game with the paper, you have to win the game showing the quality on the pitch, the fighting on the pitch, you have to score the goal and you have not to concede the goal for sure.

“But they are human and they are suffering maybe too much and all together we have to stay close, to be positive, to work, to improve in the details, in the football but to be better as a mentality.”

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In a further blow for Spurs, captain Cristian Romero was forced off in the second half and De Zerbi is hoping it is not a serious issue, stressing the Argentine’s importance.

“We don’t know yet, we have to see in the next game, in the next days,” he said.

“I hope for us it’s not a too important problem because he’s a crucial player for us, he’s a good guy, good player, top player, big personality and we need him to finish the season and to achieve our goal.”

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