Alan Shearer points out brutal Roberto De Zerbi reality as Tottenham blame dished out

Tottenham suffered a 3-2 defeat against Aston Villa as they continue to look for their first league win of the season

Alan Shearer has said that there is a ‘fragility and weakness’ about Tottenham Hotspur that Roberto De Zerbi must fix. Spurs fell to defeat against Aston Villa on Saturday and are still looking for their first league win of the season.

Goals from Johan Manzambi, Nicolas Jackson and Emiliano Buendia saw Spurs 3-0 down at home. Goals from Conor Gallagher and Jan Paul van Hecke saw a late fightback, but it was too little, too late, to turn the game around.

Speaking to Match of the Day after the game, De Zerbi seemed to suggest that there was not enough fight in his team. “We have to be stronger, we have to put on the pitch something more than we are putting,” he said.

“Football is tactical, yes, it’s the qualities of the players is what you want, ok. But it’s blood, it’s fighting, it’s arriving the first one on the ball. If we didn’t it’s tough to win the game.”

De Zerbi was backed in the summer transfer window, as Spurs looked to avoid a repeat of last year’s relegation battle. Shearer has said it’s now down to De Zerbi to turn around Tottenham’s fragility.

Speaking on Match of the Day, he said: “He signed six of those players that started today. There’s definitely a fragility and a weakness about them.

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“In the last 48 games, when they’ve gone behind, they’ve failed to win any of them, so that tells you what and who they are at this moment in time.

"It’s his job to change that and that looks very, very difficult because when you go in front, you know with the state that they are at the moment and have been for such a long time, you’ve got a really good chance of winning that game.”

When it was pointed out that the run has happened under different managers and players, Shearer again highlighted the point: “Yes, but he signed six of them that started today, so he has to change that.”

The extended international break means that De Zerbi now has three weeks to work with the players not joining up with their national teams. Spurs are back in action on Saturday, 10 October, when they travel to take on Manchester United at Old Trafford.

The team could go into the game bottom of the Premier League table if Fulham pick up a point against United at Craven Cottage on Sunday afternoon.