Tottenham's Struggles: Tackling Finishing Issues Under De Zerbi
Tottenham are four games into the new Premier League season and still waiting for a goal. Only Coventry City share that unwanted statistic.
This is not a budget side feeling its way into the campaign. Spurs have spent roughly £320m, much of it on attacking talent. Yet the scoreboard stays stubbornly blank. So the question hangs over north London: is this a finishing problem, or a tactical one still under construction?
De Zerbi’s risk, De Zerbi’s reward
Roberto De Zerbi has not arrived in England as an unknown. His football has a clear identity, and he has not abandoned it just because the Premier League has shifted since he left Brighton in 2024.
His teams invite pressure. They slow the game, play backwards, almost daring opponents to step up. Once that press comes, they spring. The tempo spikes, the passes become vertical, and the aim is simple: attack the space left behind the first wave of pressure.
De Zerbi once summed it up in a 2020 coaching seminar: the stronger the opponent’s pressure, the more vertical his team’s actions become; the fewer defenders behind the ball, the easier it is to score. That idea still drives him.
We have already seen Spurs’ forwards isolated against fewer defenders, running into big open spaces. The structure is doing its job. The final product is not.
A 2-3-2-3 that’s always moving
Spurs’ shape with the ball can look fluid, even messy at first glance. Strip it back and it often resembles a 2-3-2-3.
Rodrigo Bentancur usually sits as the pivot, locking himself in front of the two centre-backs. That trio is largely fixed, providing the platform. Around them, the wingers, full-backs and central midfielders rotate, trading zones so the overall structure stays intact even as individuals roam.
The rule is simple: if a team-mate vacates a space, someone fills it. The picture must always look like a 2-3-2-3, even if the faces in each zone change.
On top of that positional framework come De Zerbi’s principles: attract pressure, play in tight central areas, then explode forward. It worked to devastating effect at Marseille between 2024 and 2026, where his side averaged 2.3 goals per game.
At Tottenham, the skeleton of that system is visible. The flesh is not quite there yet.
The brave zone: playing through the middle
To make those central passes work, several things have to line up. The receiver must be comfortable taking the ball under pressure. Some players thrive in that chaos, others do not.
Sandro Tonali, for example, is more dangerous when he can face forward in bigger spaces. De Zerbi has responded by rotating him with Archie Gray, who nominally starts at right-back. It is a sensible adjustment. Gray, only 20, has handled tight central zones reasonably well and appears to grasp what his manager wants in those moments.
The looming return of James Maddison could be pivotal. Back from a shoulder injury for the Carabao Cup tie at Liverpool, Maddison offers exactly what this system craves: a midfielder who can receive under pressure, turn, and link Spurs into attacking zones more often.
Yet this is not just about individual quality. It is about rewiring habits.
Under Thomas Frank at the start of last season, Spurs largely built down the flanks, often bypassing the centre of the pitch. The idea then was to avoid risky turnovers in the middle. De Zerbi is pushing them in the opposite direction, asking them to be brave in the most congested area of the pitch. That kind of shift does not happen overnight.
The irony is that Spurs are already reaching promising positions behind opposition midfields, especially when they break quickly after being pressed. The problem starts once they get there.
The bottleneck: the final pass
From those advanced platforms, three things must happen. The ball-carrier must see the best pass. The movement ahead must give him a target. Then the execution has to match the idea.
So far, the biggest blockage has been in that first step. Spurs players are either not spotting, or not choosing, the through ball in behind often enough.
The runs are there. Omar Marmoush, in particular, has made sharp, well-timed darts beyond the back line. Too often, he has been ignored. Gray has looked to slide passes down the line, but centrally Spurs have been reluctant to pull the trigger.
Pedro Porro could change that rhythm. For Spain this summer, as they went on to win the World Cup, he operated in more central areas in possession and showed how naturally he can create from those pockets. Back at Spurs, his instincts align neatly with what De Zerbi wants: a full-back comfortable stepping inside, threading passes and opening doors.
If Porro leans into that role, Tottenham should start to see more of the kind of chances De Zerbi’s forwards feasted on at Marseille.
Width, crosses and the second wave
There is another pattern emerging. When Spurs accelerate play, opponents tend to panic and retreat towards their own box. That rush to protect the goal leaves space in front of the defence for late runners or strikers dropping off the line.
Marmoush has tried to exploit that zone repeatedly, pulling away from the last defender into the pocket. Again, the pass has not always come.
Out wide, the left flank has offered some of Spurs’ clearest looks. Destiny Udogie, in particular, found strong positions against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup, using his power and timing to attack space as the game stretched. Andy Robertson has performed well for Tottenham this season, but Udogie’s physicality gave Liverpool a different problem.
Those runs allowed Spurs to hit early or cut-back crosses against a disorganised back line. The quality of those deliveries, though, has varied.
Savio, a left-footed right-winger, prefers to hit the byline and cross from his stronger side. Pulling the ball back on his weaker foot is harder, and it shows. On the left, Udogie and Robertson, both left-footed, have produced clearer chances with their crosses.
At Marseille, De Zerbi enjoyed the luxury of a right winger and right full-back both comfortable cutting the ball back on their right foot. Their service was then finished ruthlessly by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, whose movement in the box at 37 remained outstanding.
Spurs are not yet at that level of synchronisation in the final third.
Close, but not close enough… yet
Look closely at Tottenham’s attacking moves and a pattern emerges: they are often one decision, one touch, one pass away from a clear chance. The framework is there. The automatisms are not.
No tactical plan, however well designed, survives without the right execution. Marseille’s forwards were lethal in space and punished even half-chances. Spurs’ new-look attack is still learning how to do the same within De Zerbi’s demanding structure.
The margins are small, but they are everywhere: a braver pass through the middle, an earlier ball in behind for Marmoush, a cleaner cut-back from the right, a better-timed arrival from midfield.
Refine those details and the goals should follow. The question is not whether De Zerbi’s ideas can create chances. It is how quickly this Tottenham squad can turn “almost there” into the ruthless edge the Premier League demands.
