Roberto De Zerbe insists Tottenham will not panic after his side slipped to second in a row Premier League Defeat at the start of the season with a 2-0 loss at home to Newcastle United.
Tottenham spent more than £300m in the transfer window in a bid to significantly improve a squad that had finished 17th in each of the previous two seasons, with their marquee signing a £100m deal to bring in Sandro Tonali from Newcastle.
Tottenham will be hoping to bow out of the competition against Newcastle, having bounced back from a dismal 3-0 defeat to Brentford in their opening match with a 5-1 win over leaders Charlton Athletic in the EFL Cup.
But after failing to convert many chances in the first half, Spurs were put down by an excellent second-half performance from Newcastle, who prevailed thanks to goals from Anthony Elanga and Yoani Wessa, with Tonali withdrawing to the delight of the traveling fans shortly after the second goal.
Although he failed to score in the first two matches, De Zerbe called for calm after a match in which he felt it was unfortunate not to win.
He told Sky Sports: “I think we played 65 minutes better than Newcastle. We had a chance to score and we didn’t score, and then after the goal we missed the mark.
“We created other chances but if you analyze the game, we had more chances, more shots, we are not a team yet and we have to improve a lot of things but this is normal for a new team.
“Forget the result. I’m not angry, we’re working well and we were unlucky today with the result.
“We had more control of the ball, we could improve in the defensive phase with the spacing. Sometimes we got the ball back and had chances to score and also with the ball we can improve and keep it much better, but that’s part of this business when you change many players and start a new project with a new team.”
He added, “We will not panic. I know very well where we are heading, what the plan is, and what difficult problems we may find on our way.”
“I’m sorry for the fans and sorry for the players for the result but we have to improve and change two seasons like the last two which is impossible in 10 days and with people in the transfer market.
“We have to work hard on the pitch and find communication with the players because last season and before the end of the season we were in the championship and we stayed together.
“Now we have to keep calm and focus on improving. We have a great team and great players, we can’t use all the players we brought in but if we work like this and believe in ourselves I think we will turn the last two seasons around.
“If the rush is more important than the journey then we won’t be able to find the solutions for the last two seasons.”
