Roberto De Zerbi stops Spurs players from using a common item in a bold move to turn around their tough start to the season.
Tottenham manager Roberto De Zerbi recently told his players not to use a common everyday item during their warm weather training camp, hoping to stop a rough start to the season. Spurs are back in Premier League action tonight, hosting newly promoted Coventry City at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Surprisingly, Coventry are currently sitting higher in the league than Spurs and could move into the top half with a win by two clear goals tonight. Tottenham, on the other hand, are at the bottom of the table after six games, just three points from safety, still searching for their first league win this season.
Their last match was on October 10th against Manchester United at Old Trafford. Spurs looked set to lose after Rodrigo Bentancur was sent off for headbutting Luke Shaw and Bryan Mbeumo put United ahead. But Dominic Solanke scored an injury-time equalizer to earn a valuable point.
After that game and a nine-day break before their next match, De Zerbi took the team to Marbella, Spain for a warm weather training camp. Besides training, it gave the squad a chance to bond after a busy summer of new signings. Players like Jan Paul van Hecke, Mateus Fernandes, Sandro Tonali, Savio, Andy Robertson, Marcos Senesi, Omar Marmoush, and Mykhailo Mudryk all joined the club recently.
To boost team spirit, De Zerbi banned phones at meal times so players would spend more quality time talking and connecting instead of looking at screens. He said at a press conference, “We worked on the pitch, we stayed together. We removed phones from breakfast, lunch, and dinner to talk more. We had important meetings about football and everyone’s responsibility. Some dinners were just for players, others included staff.”
De Zerbi made it clear that outside of meals, players were free to relax and there were no strict rules—just the phone ban during meals to encourage bonding.
He also explained why they chose to go to Spain for the camp, a strategy he used before at Marseille. “As a coach, you need to find ways to improve and change the situation. I spoke with the club and together we decided this was a good idea. It’s just about spending time together, especially since we couldn’t do that in pre-season with so many new players and World Cup absences. Spending a few days focused on the club, away from family, is normal and helpful.”