Tottenham's Goal Drought: Where is it Breaking Down for De Zerbi?
Tottenham are four games into the Premier League season without a goal to their name. Only Coventry City share that unwanted statistic.
This is a club that has spent around £320m, much of it on attacking firepower. Yet the scoreboard refuses to budge.
So where is it breaking down for Roberto De Zerbi?
Same principles, new league
The Premier League De Zerbi has returned to is not quite the one he left when he walked away from Brighton in 2024. The pace is different, the pressing structures have evolved, and opponents know far more about his methods.
But the Italian has not abandoned his ideas. He has adjusted them.
His teams invite pressure. They slow the game down, roll the ball backwards, almost daring opponents to jump out of their shape. Once the press comes, they spring. Tempo rises, passes zip forward, ball-carriers drive into the gaps left behind.
De Zerbi himself summed it up in a 2020 coaching seminar: "The stronger the pressure of the opponent, the more vertical [our] action becomes. [The fewer opponents behind], the easier it becomes to go and score."
We have already seen the familiar pattern at Spurs this season: forwards suddenly in large pockets of space, facing fewer defenders than you’d expect in a league this unforgiving.
The problem is not getting into those situations.
The problem is what happens next.
The 2-3-2-3 and the moving parts
Spurs’ structure in possession is slippery, but most often it resembles a 2-3-2-3.
Two centre-backs. In front of them, a holding midfielder – usually Rodrigo Bentancur – anchoring the middle and rarely straying. That trio forms the platform, staying broadly fixed while the rest of the side rotates around them.
Ahead of them, the shape is supposed to stay intact even as the pieces move. Wingers, full-backs, and central midfielders swap zones, filling gaps as they appear, preserving the geometry of the 2-3-2-3.
There are rules. Players rotate, but someone must always occupy the right space. On top of that, De Zerbi layers his principles: attract pressure, play through the middle, then explode into the spaces that open up.
It is broadly the same blueprint that powered his Marseille side between 2024 and 2026, when they averaged 2.3 goals per game. The system can be ruthless when it clicks.
At Tottenham, it has not clicked yet. But the framework is visible.
Tight spaces, brave players
The key passes in De Zerbi’s game model often go into the heart of the pitch, into crowded central zones. That is where the risk – and the reward – lies.
For that to work, the receiving players must be comfortable taking the ball under pressure, often with opponents snapping at their heels and limited time to turn.
Not everyone is built for that.
Sandro Tonali, for instance, is more dangerous when he can face forward in bigger spaces. De Zerbi has recognised this and has rotated him with Archie Gray, who starts nominally at right-back. Gray steps inside, Tonali moves wider or higher. It is a logical adjustment.
Gray, just 20 and not a natural central midfielder, has coped reasonably well in those tight pockets. He looks like he understands what his manager wants, even if the execution is not always flawless.
The return of James Maddison changes the equation. Back from a shoulder injury for the Carabao Cup tie at Liverpool, he offers exactly what this system craves: someone who can receive in traffic, twist away, and connect play into the final third. His presence should help Spurs reach dangerous zones more consistently.
But even with better technicians, this style demands repetition. Players must internalise the patterns, trust the cues, and unlearn the habits drilled into them by previous managers.
Under Thomas Frank at the start of last season, Spurs largely avoided the centre in build-up, funnelling play down the flanks to reduce the risk of losing the ball in dangerous central areas. Now they are being asked to do the opposite: to step into congestion, to risk turnovers, to be brave.
That mental shift does not happen overnight.
From promising breaks to wasted chances
The irony is that Spurs are often doing the hard part. They lure the press, break through it, and find themselves running at exposed midfields and backlines.
Then the move fizzles.
Three things must align to turn those moments into goals: the passer must see the right option, the movement ahead of the ball must be sharp, and the final ball must be executed cleanly.
So far, the biggest blockage has been the first of those. Spurs players are not consistently recognising – or not choosing – the through ball in behind.
The runs are there. Omar Marmoush, in particular, has made intelligent, aggressive sprints beyond the last line. Too often, the pass never arrives.
Gray has tried to slide balls down the line from that inverted right-back role, but the central lanes have not been used often enough or decisively enough.
The return of Pedro Porro could be significant here. For Spain’s World Cup-winning side in the summer, he operated more centrally in possession and showed his ability to create from those inside channels. His natural instinct to punch passes through lines and combine in tight areas dovetails with De Zerbi’s demands.
If he can bring that version of himself to Tottenham, the quality of final balls should rise – and with it, the volume of clear chances.
Width, crossing and the missing cut-back
Spurs are not just trying to slice teams open through the middle. When they accelerate play and push wide, they can hurt opponents from the flanks as well.
The Liverpool tie on Tuesday showed a glimpse of that. Destiny Udogie repeatedly surged into advanced positions on the left, especially as the game stretched. Andy Robertson has been solid for Tottenham this season, but Udogie’s power and timing gave Spurs a different kind of threat out wide.
Those runs forced Liverpool into awkward defensive sprints towards their own goal, leaving Tottenham in promising crossing situations against a disorganised back line.
When a team suddenly ups the tempo, defences tend to retreat in a hurry to protect the box. That creates a secondary opportunity: space at the edge of the area for late-arriving midfielders or for strikers clever enough to drop off.
Marmoush has tried to exploit that, peeling into pockets just in front of the centre-backs. He has not been picked out often enough.
Some of this is chemistry. New combinations, new patterns, players still learning each other’s timing.
There is also a technical wrinkle on the flanks. Savio, a left-footed right winger, is excellent at driving to the byline on his stronger foot. But pulling the ball back across goal on his weaker side is more awkward. On the opposite flank, left-footed Udogie and Robertson have produced clearer chances with their crosses, naturally cutting the ball back with comfort.
At Marseille, De Zerbi had a different balance. Both his right winger and right full-back were happy cutting the ball back on their right foot, feeding a penalty-box predator. Those deliveries were maximised by the sharp movement of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, still lethal at 37, constantly darting across defenders and attacking space.
Tottenham are replicating the patterns, but not yet the precision.
Almost there – but “almost” doesn’t score
Look closely at Spurs’ attacking sequences and the outline of De Zerbi’s plan is obvious. They draw teams in, punch through pressure, flood forward, and reach areas from which good sides usually score.
The final details are missing. The last pass delayed or misjudged. The cut-back under-hit. The run spotted a fraction too late.
This is not a guarantee that it will all suddenly click. Marseille’s success was built not just on structure but on ruthless finishers who thrived in space and punished half-chances.
Tottenham’s forwards must prove they can do the same.
But if the small details sharpen – the decision-making in transition, the bravery to play the killer ball, the timing of the runs and crosses – the chances will come in volume.
And once the first goal finally arrives, the real question will be whether this De Zerbi project turns a slow, stuttering start into something far more dangerous for the rest of the league.
