Tottenham's Struggles Continue as Aston Villa Defeats Pile Pressure on De Zerbi
Tottenham will spend the international break in the relegation zone. That single fact hangs over everything after a 3-2 home defeat to Aston Villa that stripped away any lingering optimism and left Roberto De Zerbi staring down the barrel.
Still no win. Five Premier League games, three defeats – to Villa, Brentford and Newcastle United – and draws with Nottingham Forest and Everton. For a club that has finished 17th in each of the last two seasons and thrown more than £300m at avoiding another survival scrap, the table makes brutal reading.
The mood around De Zerbi is turning just as sharply.
Bright start, same old story
For half an hour, Spurs actually looked like a side ready to turn a corner.
They pressed high. They snapped into tackles. They dictated the tempo. They worked the Villa goalkeeper with a handful of efforts – nothing spectacular, but enough to suggest control and a bit of bite.
Danny Murphy, watching on for the BBC, saw the same pattern he’s been tracking for weeks.
“In the first half-hour they [Spurs] showed good intensity, controlled the tempo of the game and created a few chances – not great chances but shots that forced the keeper into a couple of good saves,” the former Tottenham midfielder said.
Then the familiar slide began.
“As has happened in weeks previous, they’ve let the opposition grow into the game and gain confidence,” Murphy added. The warning signs were there. Spurs didn’t take theirs.
The punishment arrived deep into first-half stoppage time. Down to 10 men with Micky van de Ven off injured, Tottenham switched off and Johan Manzambi struck in the fourth minute of added time. A gut punch, right on the whistle.
Murphy didn’t sugar-coat it: “To concede when they’re down to 10-men with Van de Van off injured is a big blow to them and makes the second half very difficult.”
Villa ruthless as Spurs chase shadows
The second half became a test of nerve that Spurs failed.
Aston Villa sensed fragility and went for the throat. Nicolas Jackson doubled the lead, Emi Buendia added a third, and the home crowd’s early energy dissolved into anxiety and anger.
Tottenham did rally late on. Conor Gallagher and Jan Paul van Hecke dragged the scoreline back to 3-2 and at least injected a hint of drama into the closing stages. But it felt cosmetic. Villa had already done the damage, and the pattern Murphy highlighted – bright start, loss of control, ruthless punishment – had played out again.
“They didn’t really look like a team struggling for confidence,” Murphy argued. “They won the ball back a lot high up and there was a lot to like, but ultimately if you can’t score when you’re on top in games in the Premier League you get punished.”
Spurs are living proof of that right now.
De Zerbi’s demeanour under the microscope
Results are one thing. De Zerbi’s demeanour is becoming another problem.
Kevin Nolan, speaking on BBC 5 Live before the game, did not hide his concern about where this is heading.
“I am really worried about Tottenham,” the former Premier League midfielder admitted. “Every week Roberto de Zerbi has a different excuse. He doesn’t stay around much at clubs and falls out with a lot of his owners. He’s probably thinking: ‘Do I need this?’.”
The contrast with last season, when De Zerbi’s interviews brimmed with energy and conviction, is striking.
“He is not inspiring me as he was at the back end of last season in his interviews when he was very jolly and very positive about what he had to do,” Nolan said. “Everything is downbeat and it doesn’t feel right when you’re watching him in a press conference. Laying the blame on players and staff…it doesn’t go anywhere other than the wrong way.”
That last line cuts to the heart of the unease. If the manager is openly frustrated and the squad feels the heat, the relationship can sour quickly. At a club that has already burned through managers and money, patience is not a guaranteed commodity.
McKenna sighting fuels speculation
All of this is playing out against a backdrop of intrigue in the stands.
Kieran McKenna, out of work after leaving Ipswich Town, was spotted at the recent Spurs vs Everton game, sitting in the crowd with his wife. One photo, one sighting – and a wave of speculation about what it might mean for De Zerbi’s future.
Former Manchester City financial adviser Stefan Borson called it “weird” and “strange” when speaking to Football Insider.
“We’re looking at £10m to bring somebody new in. Those are the sort of broad-brush numbers that we’re working to in the Premier League,” Borson said, underlining the financial weight of any decision.
“Obviously, if you get a manager that’s out of work… It was interesting and a bit weird, to be honest, to see Kieran McKenna in the crowd at the home game against Everton.
“He was in the crowd with his wife. It was a bit strange, really, that on a Saturday night, he would take his wife to watch Everton.
“I don’t know if there’s something behind that. It all looks a bit too obvious it’s all a bit strange. Maybe he was watching Everton.”
Maybe he was. Maybe he wasn’t. At a stable club, it would be a curiosity. At a club stuck in the bottom three after spending hundreds of millions, it feels like a hint, a shadow on the touchline.
De Zerbi insists he is fighting on. The table, the mood, and the faces appearing in the directors’ box will decide how long that fight lasts.
