Well THIS is grimly hilarious. While watching Tottenham Hotspur lose at Leeds United on Saturday, something that completely slipped past me is that at some point Roberto De Zerbi picked up his third yellow card of the season as manager. Managers getting yellow cards are usually for dissent (though if you’re Mikel Arteta your yellow cards are for either leaving your technical area or for being an absolute weirdo), and apparently if you’re a manager once you pick up a third yellow you get a touchline
suspension of one match.
Well, that’s what’s happened to RDZ.
A touchline ban isn’t really the punishment fans think it is. While De Zerbi will have to spend the match in the stands, it doesn’t prevent him from communicating with his team or his coaching staff electronically via phone, text, or written message during the match. He’ll also still have direct contact with the team before, after, and at halftime. So all this really does is prevent him from standing on the sidelines gesticulating wildly and giving instructions to his players. Presumably an assistant coach will assume that role.
So all in all, this isn’t that big of a deal. I seem to recall this happening to Jose Mourinho at one point when he was Spurs manager, and I think Tottenham won that match. The players are all professionals and know their roles. If Spurs fail to beat Ipswich in two weeks, it’s very likely that reason won’t be because Roberto De Zerbi couldn’t scream at them and make Extremely Italian Hand Gestures™ from the box in front of the dugout.
