De Zerbi ‘sacked in the morning’ as Villa have spine ripped out and still show more backbone than Spurs | OneFootball

Well they scored a goal. Two, in fact. But those absurdly expensive, driverless North London buses arrived so late that half of those waiting had already left, safe in the knowledge that another weekend had been entirely Spursed.

Roberto De Zerbi’s side remain, if not goalless, then certainly winless and apparently hopeless.

Of course Spurs lost their final game heading into the international break – an even longer one than usual for added void-screaming despair. Of course their first goals of the Premier League season came when 3-0 down at home. Of course they handed a team their first win of the campaign.

And of course they started well, failed to take advantage of that superiority due to poor finishing, a correct VAR call and supreme opposition goalkeeping, then crumbled the moment the tide turned the other way.

The last game Spurs won from behind was against Aston Villa almost two whole years ago, but history was never going to be repeated here. The moment Andy Robertson kept an errant Rodrigo Bentancur header from going out for a corner, only to watch Villa open the scoring within five seconds, the game was lost.

Nicolas Jackson embarrassing a pair of £50m centre-halves, then Emiliano Buendia curling a stunner into the top corner to a growing chorus of boos, was just confirmation of another Spurs surrender once their opponent had weathered a mild gust and some drops of rain.

It is remarkable just how fragile Spurs are, how prone to collapse they have become as individuals and a team. While their world champion right-back was forced off through injury in the first half, they still had a Premier League and Champions League winner at left-back, a couple of Serie A winners in midfield, and a pair of wide forwards who have experience of a trophy-hoarding dressing room at Manchester City.

Many members of this squad were part of what was supposed to be Tottenham’s moment of maturation in the Europa League final an impossibly long 16 months ago. That increasingly looks like a broken institution’s final hurrah.

Villa had as many new summer signings in their starting XI – six each – and another coming off the bench late on in Ibrahim Mbaye. But Unai Emery has laid foundations and installed a structure which has allowed them to be embedded properly.

And those were deals done out of necessity. Villa had their spine ripped out in the summer and still showed more backbone than a Spurs side at home, backed by the most expensive transfer spree in their entire history.

In any ordinary profession, that would mortify De Zerbi – treated to ‘sacked in the morning chants’ by the visiting fans – into submitting his resignation. But Spurs have tied themselves so inexorably to the Italian that this ship might well have to go down with him.

It remains the case that “the best coach” of his nation has only ever coached three consecutive league clean sheets once, six years ago. That the top scorer of his Spurs reign is now Conor sodding Gallagher, one goal ahead of former loanee Joao Palhinha and the exiled Richarlison, whose physical condition might still surpass Dominic Solanke’s currently.

De Zerbi once again spoke about taking “the responsibility” on his own shoulders, but actions speak louder than words. And right now not a single soul at Spurs is strong enough to withstand being held accountable for how abysmal they are.