Roberto De Zerbi says Tottenham will need more than one transfer window to repair the damage inflicted on the club over the past two years, after a second successive defeat left them bottom of the Premier League without a point or a goal.
Spurs were beaten 2-0 by Newcastle United in their first home league match of the season on Saturday, with Anthony Elanga and Yoane Wissa scoring for the visitors.
The loss followed a 3-0 defeat by Brentford on the opening weekend, leaving Tottenham at the foot of the table after two matches. It is only the third time they have lost their first two league games without scoring, after the 1947-48 campaign in the second tier and the 1974-75 season in the top flight.
Tottenham’s home form has also become a major concern. Since the start of last season, no side has lost more Premier League matches on its own ground than Spurs, who have suffered 11 defeats. Wolverhampton Wanderers are the only other club to have recorded the same number.
Despite their poor start, Tottenham have continued to spend heavily during the current transfer window. The arrivals of Savinho and Omar Marmoush from Manchester City this week took their total spending beyond £350m, including the reported £60m obligation to make Marmoush’s loan move permanent.
De Zerbi remains keen to add another player before the transfer window closes on Tuesday, but the Italian manager says supporters must allow time for the squad and club to recover after back-to-back 17th-place finishes.
“We are not panicking. I know where we are going. I know what the plan is and what the difficult problems could have been,” he told Sky Sports.
“I’m sorry to the fans and players for the result, but we have to improve. To change the last two years… it’s impossible to do that in 10 days or one transfer window.
“We have to work hard on the pitch. We have to find the connection between the players because last season, before the end, we were in the Championship.
“We stayed up together; now we have to be calm.”
De Zerbi also argued that the scoreline did not accurately reflect Tottenham’s performance against Newcastle. The visitors scored with their only two shots on target, while Tottenham had the better expected goals figure, 1.04 to 0.75.
“I think for 60 or 65 minutes we played better than Newcastle. We had a chance to score, but we didn’t. After they scored, we lost our distances,” the Italian said.
“We had more chances and shot more on goal. We are not a team yet. We have to improve a few things.
“Forget the result, I’m not angry. We are working well. We were unlucky today, especially with the result.”
Tottenham’s next opportunity to respond comes away from home against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.
They will then host Everton before travelling to Liverpool for an EFL Cup third-round tie, with Aston Villa visiting Spurs between those two fixtures.
