What might Spurs look like under Roberto De Zerbi?

LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 08: Manager Roberto De Zerbi of Brighton & Hove Albion during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton & Hove Albion at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on April 8, 2023 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images) | Getty Images Though much has been said about the non-football context around the hiring of Tottenham Hotspurs’ new head coach Roberto De Zerbi, his support of Mason Greenwood and all that entails is not the only reason to be concerned about the signing of the Italian. His aggressive and complex brand of football is arguably in line with “the Spurs way”, but with the Lilywhites in freefall down the Premier League table and without a win in over 100 days, relegation is looming ever nearer; and it therefore looks to be a huge ask for De Zerbi to implement his tactical system given there are but seven matches to go in the season.

Spurs need to win as many of those as possible, and the whiplash from Ange Postecoglou to Thomas Frank to Igor Tudor to De Zerbi could result in even more of a lack of tactical identity on the pitch than that which we’ve already seen throughout this campaign. With that said, let’s dive into how Roberto De Zerbi likes to set up his sides to operate, and how he could apply that to this flailing Tottenham Hotspur side. Formation De Zerbi typically prefers some variety of a 4-2-3-1 formation.

This can be deployed in different ways, however, depending on opponent or the players he has at his disposal. Sometimes the central attacking role pushes up alongside the striker to produce a 4-2-4; other times that player can drop and one of the double pivot push up to create more of a 4-3-3; and sometimes RDZ opts for a lopsided setup that resembles a back three. It’s the latter De Zerbi often applied to his Marseille side, while with Brighton & Hove Albion his lineups were often closer to the typical 4-2-3-1 / 4-3-3: You can see the nominal positions in each XI above are the same – if you go back and look at Marseille XIs on Fotmob or the like, you will often see a 4-2-3-1 despite Marseille’s setup in possession looking like a back three – but the buildup structures look very different in practice.

At Brighton, the double pivot would usually stay close to one another, with one of the CM roles occasionally splitting the center backs, but with both typically holding central positions. This would change when Brighton drew opposition sides to one side of the pitch, where the CMs could often drop into fullback positions, allowing the fullback to push up, sometimes inverting. The movement of the striker and central attacking midfielder was key to drawing defenses out of shape and breaking the lines, with the CAM/#10 particularly given freedom to find pockets of space and drop while wingers or fullbacks made runs.