"I was very disappointed, very sad, very frustrated for the performance. We can’t lose this game in this way, absolutely," Roberto De Zerbi said after the Aston Villa defeat, and Tottenham now head to Marbella as he looks for a reset. They are bottom of the Premier League with two points from five games, and the trip comes before Saturday's match against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Marbella as the reset
The plan is not a tactical tweak on the training ground in England. Tottenham will use the Spanish camp to get away, work together and try to steady a squad that has started the league with no wins, two points and a minus-six goal difference.
De Zerbi has already pointed to the basics of the collapse. "We can’t concede the second goal. We can’t lose balance," he said, after a game in which he also told the four attackers to stay calm at the start of the second half.
He accepted responsibility as well, but the setup in Marbella is clearly meant to buy time and a cleaner environment for the group. Temperatures are expected to reach 25 degrees there, while rain is forecast in Enfield.
The gap before Coventry
The timing gives Tottenham a rare block of work. There is a nine-day gap between the Manchester United fixture and Monday's home game against Coventry on October 19, so the camp will be followed by a short run of league games before the next international break.
That block does not solve everything, and nobody at Tottenham is pretending otherwise. De Zerbi said the side forced passes, lost the ball and broke shape once Villa got on top, which is why the next few sessions matter more than one session back in London would have done.
The real test is whether the squad uses the Marbella trip to settle down after a rough first five league games. Tottenham go into Old Trafford bottom of the table, and Coventry follows on October 19.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 3 outlets. How we work →
