How Roberto De Zerbi set up Tottenham against Sunderland
Tactical analysis of Roberto De Zerbi's first match in charge for Spurs
Roberto De Zerbi is now the third manager to take charge of Tottenham and is tasked with getting them out of the relegation zone.
The hire itself isn’t a bad or strange one, the timing though is quite odd.
De Zerbi is an elite tactical manager and with the right squad could take Tottenham back to the Champions League. However, that day is a long ways away and now he needs to figure out the right tactical system that the previous two managers couldn’t.
His first test against Sunderland on Sunday was a complete dud and left everyone asking more questions if one of the Premier League’s Big Six clubs is really about to be relegated.
Sunderland physically took it to Tottenham and in the end deserved a 1-0 win, which keeps them alive for European football.
There were some interesting things Roberto De Zerbi did tactically, but in the end the same problems exist for Tottenham and it’s going to take him a lot of time to get this team to play his brand of football.
Let’s dive into how Tottenham set up tactically in their first match under Roberto De Zerbi.
Tottenham Starting XI
Very interesting starting XI from De Zerbi going with a 4-1-2-3 formation playing three strikers up top.
image via FotMob
It was the first time this season he’s played this formation because when he was at Marseille he typically switched between a 4-2-3-1 and a 3-4-3.
Roberto De Zerbi Tactics In Possession
Spurs started out in their fairly standard 4-2 base that they have been using since the beginning of the season.
Like most teams that face De Zerbi, Sunderland did not take the bait and press the ball. Instead they cut off any route playing through the center of the pitch, which forced Tottenham to either go long or build through the wide areas where Sunderland could trap them.
Once Tottenham got into the final third, they switched to a 2-3-5 with Porro inverting alongside Gray and Gallagher with Udogie pushing up to the last line of defense.
Early on from Tottenham, there really wasn’t a structural problem, it was simply a lack of execution.
Here Kinsky plays a beautiful ball over the top to Porro in space and he simply misplays the pass to Kolo Muani that could have sprung Tottenham forward.
It took over half an hour, but Tottenham finally took advantage of their 5 v 4 overload on Sunderland’s last line of defense.
The ball goes wide here to Richarlison and Udogie makes a run into the space available to eventually send a decent cross into the box.
Tottenham really couldn’t find a way through Sunderland, so as the match went along, they started to play more direct balls over the top.
This ball here to Udogie almost opened up Sunderland to give Tottenham the lead.
This was probably Tottenham’s best build up of the match and it was the first time they baited Sunderland into pressing. Once they did the ball went out wide and a couple of quick passes and good movement from Porro freed him up to play a switch ball to Richarlison for a shot.
De Zerbi made a triple substitution, but didn’t change the structure at all. Even when he had Joao Palhinha and Conor Gallagher as the double pivot (who are both well below average on the ball), that is another reason Tottenham was forced to play more direct.
Once we got into desperation time, Tottenham cleared the midfield, put secen guys on Sunderland’s last line of defense and started firing direct balls into the box.
None of it worked because Tottenham only attempted four total shots and created 0.15 xG in the second half.
image via FotMob
Roberto De Zerbi out of Possession Tactics
When Tottenham got pushed back into their own final third, it was a pretty standard 4-4-2 from De Zerbi.
Tottenham started in their 4-4-2 midblock like this, which is something fairly standard with De Zerbi when he was at Marseille making sure that teams aren’t able to make that initial pass through the middle.
Then there were times when the ball went wide where they jumped into a man to man press.
However, when they did press it wasn’t intense enough and they allowed Sunderland far too much space.
Here Sunderland is able to play an easy pass right in the center of the pitch, switch the play to the other side to create a 2 v 1 against Udogie.
Conclusion
What was kind of shocking about this performance from Tottenham is just how many times they decided to go long.
Kinsky had over half of his passes go long and also attempted the same number of long balls as Robin Roefs did.
image via FotMob
I say that was shocking because that meant Spurs were at the mercy of winning both duels and second balls. Aerially they had a good day, but on the ground, they got completely dominated by Sunderland and actually held less than 50% of the ball.
image via FotMob
I also have to point out that Lucas Bergvall was 0 for 11 on duels.
The other problem for Spurs is how many times they turned it over in dangerous areas. Sunderland averages a PPDA of 13.4 on the season, but against Tottenham they cut that in half to 6.9.
image via markstatsbot on X
I would say that is concerning for Tottenham, but that has become the norm for Spurs. They are not a good build up team and credit De Zerbi for at least recognizing it and trying to play more direct, which is why I think he started Richarlison, Solanke, and Kolo Muani up top trying to use them as target men.
Pretty typical with De Zerbi is he wanted his team to stay patient to try and bait Sunderland into pressing them, but they didn’t press and took away any sort of progression through the middle of the pitch.
Because of that, it produced a pretty shockingly bad pass map from Spurs.
image via Opta the Analyst
Chance creation was also a big problem for Spurs in this match as they failed to create over one expected goal on 11 shots.
Aside from tactics one thing I noticed about De Zerbi is how calm and poised he was towards his players. He is an authoritarian manager and I think he recognizes that isn’t going to work with this group. So, it will be interesting to see how patient he is with so few matches to go.
Tottenham now for the first time in their history are in the relegation zone this late in the season. De Zerbi now gets to face his old Brighton team on Saturday in a must win match for Tottenham.