De Zerbi wants Tottenham to ‘play with courage’ for Premier League survival

LONDON (AP) — Roberto De Zerbi wants Tottenham to keep it simple.

The new Spurs manager knows there’s little time for anything else in a relegation battle.

“I don’t want to put confusion inside of the players. They have to be with a clear plan of the game and not too much instruction, not too much thinking,” the Italian said Friday at his first press conference.

“They have to play with courage, with personality and they have to fight. My demand is to show the right spirit I want to see.”

De Zerbi was handed a five-year contract — though with no escape clause if relegated — with the immediate task of Premier League survival. Tottenham fell into the drop zone for the first time this season, overtaken by West Ham beating Wolves 4-0 on Friday night. Spurs have seven matches remaining.

De Zerbi previously worked in the Premier League as Brighton’s manager and was most recently at Marseille, which he left in February after a disagreement with the French club’s leadership.

Tottenham’s first test under the new boss comes Sunday at Sunderland. He’s not overly concerned about implementing his style of play.

“What I want to do, what I want to achieve immediately is the character, is the right spirit, the right courage to play, to attack, because the DNA of this club, of this squad, is to find the goal, to score,” he said.

After a week or so of working with the players, he said “I’m more positive, for sure” about Premier League survival.

Spurs, the reigning Europa League champions, fired Igor Tudor after 44 days of an interim coaching spell that worsened Tottenham’s plight. Tudor was brought in after Thomas Frank lasted just eight months on the job.

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De Zerbi paid them respect on Friday.

“I’m not better than Thomas Frank or Igor Tudor because I consider them very good coaches,” he said.

“I try to bring my style, myself, my character, my personality, my passion to help the players. First of all, to show their qualities, because they have a lot of qualities and then to achieve our target, because the most important part now is our target.”

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer