De Zerbi’s reputation has been forged as a visionary coach at Brighton and Marseille, but he now needs to act as a psychologist as much as training ground strategist to coax something from this subsiding Spurs team.
“My job now is not to coach a style, with or without the ball, but try to give the players what they need in terms of mentality,” he said.
“My style is to trust the confidence of the players. During the week, they play better because they are clean in their heads, but in the game it is different. My work must be to get them to show what they are doing during the week in a game.”
De Zerbi agreed the stress and fear of relegation could be the factor consuming the Spurs squad – but he has no time to lose getting his message across. In football terms, this is now a critical emergency for Spurs.
He must also wait to see how long he is without Romero, whose downcast departure wiping away tears was yet another twist in this harrowing season.
Romero appeared to have a knee injury, although De Zerbi said “we have to see in the next few days”, adding: “I hope that it is not too important a problem. He’s a crucial player for us. He’s a good guy and a good player with a big personality. We need him to finish the season.”
Whatever the prognosis, former England goalkeeper Ben Foster questioned whether Romero’s downcast manner as he left the pitch sent the right message to a Spurs team already a goal down after Nordi Mukiele’s shot deflected past keeper Antonin Kinsky off Micky van de Ven on the hour.
It was a moment of misfortune, the sort that is often the fate of a team, and indeed a club, in crisis.
“Romero’s probably the one player who has got a bit of character in that team, a bit of grit and determination,” said Foster, a pundit on Sunday’s Match of the Day. “If I was one of his team-mates there, I want him to be walking off the pitch grabbing everybody, getting everybody firing.
“They’ve still got 25 minutes there until full-time. But the tears, I feel, send the wrong message. As a captain you shouldn’t be doing that.”