Roberto De Zerbi must get Tottenham players onside quickly if Spurs are to beat relegation odds | OneFootball

Spurs are slipping closer and closer towards relegation

When deciding where to take his players for a spot of team bonding this week, Roberto De Zerbi had only to look at the description on the website of the lavish Mayfair restaurant, Bacchanalia, for inspiration.

Tottenham’s supporters can certainly say they pay enough - they have the second-most-expensive season ticket in the Premier League - but in watching their team slide towards relegation, there is nothing grand or glorious about where this club is seemingly headed, and De Zerbi knows things need to change.

With six games to go, Spurs are two points from safety and in desperate need of a first league win in four months as they host Brighton this weekend.

A reunion with his former club is the last thing De Zerbi needed, with Brighton in fine form after winning five of their last six games, but he remains optimistic about Spurs’ chances of staying up.

“I believe in the people. I believe in the human relationship. I believe in the spirit. I believe in the soul of the players. Before we speak about tactical dispositions, style of play, defensive phase, with the ball, without the ball, set-pieces.

“All of these things are important, but first of all, I work with people with their problems.”

After losing to Sunderland in his first game in charge last weekend, De Zerbi has been clear that his job from now until the end of the season is to work on his players’ mentality.

“To make them aware not only of what they stand to lose, but also what they still have to give after slipping into the relegation zone for the first time this season.

The absence of captain Cristian Romero, ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury, is another huge blow for the north London club in a season that is beginning to feel fated.

De Zerbi’s confidence, though, remains unwavering, and he is determined to get his squad to fight for each other in the final weeks of the season.

“What I can ask is for them to be closer on the pitch, to consider their teammates likes a brother on the pitch. If you consider your teammate like a brother, you go to help him. If he is wronged, you hug him, and you kiss him, and we need this in this moment, for sure.”

A disjointed performance against Sunderland has not, however, quelled any suggestions that Spurs are now favourites for the drop, and De Zerbi is honest enough to admit that time is not on his side right now.

“I have to get to know my players better and better,” the Italian said.

“Every week is much better, but we have no time. We have no time to lose and no time to understand the problems we have this season.”

De Zerbi wants to transmit the confidence and belief he radiates into his players, and knows that one win could be the catalyst for Spurs’ survival bid.

The problem is that while these mental roadblocks could be hurdled over the course of De Zerbi’s five-year deal, Spurs have just six games to save their season.

A little over a fortnight since taking the reins, De Zerbi is in must-win territory as he looks to change the fortunes of a club whose slide towards the Championship feels more inevitable by the week.