Roberto De Zerbi warned over negative spiral as Tottenham struggles continue

Roberto De Zerbi’s difficult start at Tottenham is attracting growing criticism across Europe, with French journalist Daniel Riolo warning that the Italian risks falling into a familiar negative cycle.

Spurs remain without a Premier League goal under De Zerbi and their problems continued with a 3-1 Carabao Cup defeat to Liverpool. His recent sarcastic comments about Serie A have also caused a backlash in Italy, increasing the attention surrounding his early months in north London.

Riolo has now drawn comparisons with De Zerbi’s previous spell at Marseille.

Speaking to Radio Napoli Centrale, Riolo claimed De Zerbi struggled to deal with criticism during his time in France.

“De Zerbi had good ideas, but in Marseille he went crazy, and even at Tottenham he struggled,” Riolo said. “In Marseille they remember him as a ‘crazy’ coach. At a certain point, he couldn’t handle the criticism.”

That is Riolo’s characterisation rather than an established assessment of De Zerbi’s behaviour, but he also made a more specific claim about how the former Marseille coach dealt with outside opinion.

According to Riolo, De Zerbi instructed members of his staff to bring him negative coverage rather than praise.

“On TV, they might have spoken highly of De Zerbi’s football, but he only saw and heard negativity,” he added.

The concern for Tottenham is whether increasing criticism could become another distraction during an already difficult start.

Italian newspaper Il Messaggero recently hit back at De Zerbi following his comments about Serie A, while criticism has also emerged from France as results have failed to improve.

There have still been encouraging passages in Tottenham’s performances, including during the Carabao Cup defeat at Liverpool, but those moments now need to translate into results.

Spurs have gone four Premier League matches without a win or a goal and face a difficult upcoming schedule.

For De Zerbi, avoiding the kind of increasingly confrontational atmosphere that surrounded the latter stages of his Marseille spell could become almost as important as solving Tottenham’s problems on the pitch.

De Zerbi’s immediate priority is ending Tottenham’s winless and goalless Premier League run.

Improved performances will help, but Spurs ultimately need results to reduce the external pressure and prevent criticism of De Zerbi from becoming an increasingly dominant part of their season.