De Zerbi addresses fan concerns over Greenwood comments | OneFootball

Roberto De Zerbi has spoken to Tottenham fans in Italian to address their concerns over his comments about Mason Greenwood whilst he was the player’s manager at Marseille.

In October 2022, Greenwood was charged with attempted rape before all the charges against him were dropped the following year. The former Manchester United man admitted he “made mistakes” in the relationship but denies doing what he was accused of.

De Zerbi was reported as describing Greenwood as a “good guy” in a press conference ahead of Marseille’s match against Newcastle last November and numerous Spurs fan groups, including the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust and Women from the Lane, have come out condemning the club’s appointment of the Italian coach.

Since taking the job De Zerbi has been asked in an interview with club media about the comments he made about the winger.

De Zerbi chose to respond to the question in Italian to reduce any risk of his comments being misinterperted.

This, therefore, is our faithful translation into English of what the new Tottenham manager stated.

“I have never wanted to downplay the issue of violence against women or violence against anyone more broadly. In my life, I have always stood up for those who are more vulnerable, more fragile, I’ve consistently fought and taken a stand to be on the side of those who are most at risk.

“Those of you who know me well, will know that I am not the kind of person who makes compromises to win more games or to win an extra title. I am sorry if I offended anyone’s feeling with this subject matter – I have a daughter and I’m very sensitive to these things, and I always have been. I hope that over time people will get to know me better and will understand that at that moment I didn’t mean to take a stance at that time.”

Tottenham have seven games to play and are currently one point above 18th-placed West Ham, but De Zerbi has committed his future to Spurs even if they go down.

“In football, the style of play and the tactical disposition are important,” he explained, switching to English.

“There is a mentality and I would like to help the player to reach the best mentality we can show. I signed five years of contract because it’s a big challenge for me.

“I will be the coach of Tottenham next season, no matter what. I love keeping the ball. I love possession. I love creating chances to score. But at the same time, I love having 11 defenders when we don’t have the ball. Because in this time of football, we have to attack with 11 players, with the goalkeeper as well, and we have to defend with 11 players when the ball is not for us.

“I think in this moment, we don’t have time to work too much on more principles, but we have to know what we have to do on the pitch. We have to have a good organisation on the pitch, with the ball and without the ball. We have to consider the qualities of the players.”