Tottenham Hotspur coach Roberto De Zerbi wants his squad to show the same fighting spirit they did against Man Utd for their next match.
Spurs rescued a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford on Saturday, with Dominic Solanke scoring a late equaliser after Rodrigo Bentancur had been sent off.
Tottenham impressed for long periods in the first half but fell behind when Bryan Mbeumo scored in the 73rd minute. Bentancur’s red card five minutes later made their task even harder, but De Zerbi’s players refused to give up.
Solanke, wearing the captain’s armband for the first time, secured a point with a glancing header in the 92nd minute. It was also his first goal of the season.
De Zerbi believes the result demonstrated the togetherness he wants to see more consistently from his squad. The Italian sees Tottenham’s nine-day break before their next fixture as an important opportunity to build on that performance during a training camp in Marbella, Spain.
“We have to build the team,” De Zerbi said.
“Now the target is to build the team, not the group of the players. We are a great group of players, but we are not a team yet.”
The head coach was encouraged by the way his players responded to adversity against United, particularly after going down to 10 men.
“This game (Manchester United), we show to be a team. To be a team is to play for the team-mates, suffer together, attack together, defend together,” he said.
De Zerbi also stressed that players introduced late in matches must be ready to make an immediate contribution, rather than seeing themselves as substitutes with a lesser role.
“The players who come inside five minutes, three minutes, like Mateus Fernandes, they have to play like they are in the first 11, without problems, without other faults,” he added.
The Italian wants his squad to combine confidence with the hunger to improve, both on the training ground and during matches.
“We have to find the balance between the confidence in ourselves and to be hungry in the training and in the games.”
Tottenham will hope the work in Spain helps them develop greater consistency and a stronger collective identity before returning to action against Coventry City on Monday at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
