It’s a rare two-match-week for Tottenham Hotspur. Three days after notching a scoreless draw against Everton in the Premier League, Spurs will take on Liverpool in the third round of the EFL Cup at Anfield tomorrow afternoon. Liverpool manager Adoni Iraola had already suggested that Liverpool will rotate for this round of the competition, and according to Roberto De Zerbi in his press conference this morning, that seems to be the path Spurs are planning to follow as well.
Speaking to the press, De
Zerbi gave a quick update on Spurs’ player health, noting that while Destiny Udogie is expected to be available for Tuesday’s match, Sandro Tonali will miss out after picking up a knock vs. Everton.
Kulusevski not available, Pedro still not available, Udogie yes. No Sandro Tonali, he felt a knock. Richarlison, you already know everything, so nothing changes with the Carabao Cup or Premier League.
De Zerbi also clarified the situation with want-away striker Richarlison; although he is technically available to play in domestic cups despite not being on Tottenham’s Premier League registration list, De Zerbi confirmed that he will not be featuring in tomorrow’s match.
“I said last press conference. I know what happened in the last 45 days. It’s not right if I explained. It’s not my behaviour, the relationship. The problem is between the player and the club. I stay within the club. It’s coach and club together. At the start of this season I spoke to [Richarlison] many times to convince him to stay and he didn’t want to. I can’t go every day to pray for him to stay.”
As for the team selection, while he didn’t not give the plan away, De Zerbi did strongly hint at at least a moderately rotated side at Anfield tomorrow, and suggested Spurs fans might see the first team club debut of promising academy graduate and attacking midfielder Luca Williams-Barnett
“The team selection is not difficult because I am lucky to have these players. I am convinced of the qualities of the players. It is difficult because there are many good players but not for the other (suggested) problems.
“I think Lucas Bergvall is not other players. Mathys Tel also. And then we have to analyse the other players. Maybe the players that didn’t play enough. I am lucky because in central defence I have JP van Hecke and Micky van de Ven, top centre backs, but also Ben Davies, Marcos Senesi, Tosin are not less than van Hecke and Van de Ven.”
“I would like to play with the same attitude as in the Premier League. The attitude and spirit the same.
“I don’t know (on) Luca (Williams-Barnett). Many players need to play. Maybe not 90 minutes but 30 minutes. It is a real game. It is important.”
While Spurs were prolific in the EFL Cup round 2 win over Charlton Athletic, they notably have yet to score a goal in its first four Premier League matches, something which is causing consternation among supporters. De Zerbi again preached patience with his retooled squad, and said he still has confidence that his team will put things together.
“With a complete the squad, we started working 10 days before the Everton game. I think we are working well. In the first 25 minutes, we had the chance to score two goals. At the end, maybe we lost a bit of confidence because we didn’t score.
“For sure, we have to improve. For sure I have big confidence in my players. They are very good players. We have to improve, yes. We can say the coach has the responsibility if we don’t score. Yes, I accept. No problem. We didn’t win any game so far. Yes we have to improve. We are sorry. We are disappointed for that. But I think also we have other positive things. Like I said, we didn’t score goals (but) we didn’t suffer nothing in both game, in the last two games. And from the things we have to improve. But nothing change in my project, in my idea. I’m sorry for the result, yes. For the goal we didn’t score, yes.“
Tottenham kick off against Liverpool in the third round of the EFL Cup on Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. BST.
