Roberto De Zerbi was happy after Tottenham’s 2-0 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday night.
Spurs recorded their second win in 42 games in all competitions at SW6. After a 1-2 with Matys Tel, Andy Robertson found Omar Marmus unmarked in the box, but his first-time shot was too central and the visitors should have taken the lead just before the half-hour when Mike Penders saved.
Tottenham were the better side in the first half, but with just five minutes left in the second half, James Maddison was waved off the bench to come on. He was replaced by former Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher and walked inconsolably down the tunnel.
There was a lot of fighting in the 70th minute. Van de Ven and Fernandes fouled Chelsea players to stop the break after a poor pass from Gallagher. Cole Palmer then came in and knocked Fernandez off the ball as he sat on the floor.
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This led to yellow cards for Fernandes, Palmer, Van de Ven and De Zerbi, as well as a Chelsea employee, and clashes between the two benches.
A few minutes later, “Spurs” took the lead. In the 77th minute, Fernandes took a corner and young Chelsea goalkeeper Penders punched the ball past the injured Amy Martinez and over the goal line.
Things got worse for the hosts three minutes later when Palmer, who had already booked Fernandes in, caught Sandro Tonali late on on the edge of the Chelsea box. Referee Chris Kavanagh showed a second yellow card and then a red card.
“Spurs” concluded the match with a great goal. Mathys Tel raced out of his own half before curling a perfectly low shot inside the left post to cut out two challenges. De Zerbi ran down the touchline towards the traveling fans and celebrated them.
Among those questioning De Zerbi is our Tottenham correspondent Alasdair Gold. Here is the full transcript of the press conference at Stamford Bridge.
Was this exactly what you wanted from your team?
Yes. It’s a normal answer, but we played for 90 minutes, we played very well. Great individual performances, great collective performance because we played very well. And then I think we put something different than Tottenham in the last period. Different attitude, different relationship with the players, different group.
How proud are you of young players like Fernandes, Tel and Gray?
Changing the spirit of the group, changing the performance of the players, especially the more fragile players, maybe the younger players. Mateus Fernandes was perhaps one of the best players on the pitch, as was Mathys Tel. Archie Gray is younger, but older in mentality. I am very, very happy.
How is James Maddison?
In my opinion, this is not a very important problem. We have to undergo a medical examination tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, I don’t know. I hope it is not a big problem because he is a special player for us. We need him.
Do you think that because you have young players and it’s a new team, that makes Tottenham’s poor history in this game less of a concern?
I think what I call the negative record was the last challenge we had before the game.
Normally, we wanted to please our fans, but that is not our responsibility, it is the result of the past. Now we are very happy for them to win the game, we are very proud for the club. But I think that in recent seasons we are trying to change the mentality of our club.
Seven points after Manchester, we talked a lot before Manchester. A big, big meeting, taking off the mask and speaking honestly and clearly in front of ourselves. And from that moment I think we changed something in ourselves.
Do you think Cole Palmer could have been sent off for his first yellow card?
Yes.
Did you say that outside?
Yes, but not a problem.
But are you proud because Fernandes also gets a yellow card, but he reacts well and maturely?
I love watching my players fight on the field. But Mateus Fernandes played 90 minutes with great, great quality. I want to see Mateus Fernandes in character. I want to see Fernandes enjoying the ball. Even if he can make a mistake, it doesn’t matter. It’s a bug, not a problem. But I want to see this personality in my team.
We are a big club. In recent times, the results have not been so good. But we are the top club of the Premier League. We have to show personality. We have to show the mentality. We have to show our qualities to the players. Otherwise we must change.
You didn’t just win, you dominated the ball, didn’t you?
Yes. Maybe we suffered a lot in the first half. At halftime, I told the players that you are playing very well, but we are passing more than the game calls for. Because on the left wing Miki van de Ven and Tonali lost a ball and conceded a goal. [shot]. With Tony Kinski and Palmer’s shots, we lost the ball in vain. We could have created more chances in the first half. I think we dominated the game. But we created very little [chances]if you consider the quality and level of our performance. But we cannot forget, “Chelsea” is still “Chelsea”, they have a clear style of play, a clear organization, excellent players, an excellent coach. So the difficulty level of the game was high.
Will such a victory help to continue to turn things around?
Why not? There is no reason. I don’t understand why we have to ask this question. Because we won two games in a row. We got seven points, okay. But we could not win anything. We can find the first loop again. We want to improve and improve and improve, game to game, week to week. I think we have suffered enough.
Are you satisfied with your new transfers?
JP van Hecke played very well. Mateus Fernandes, I said. Tonal, very good, best game of his time at Tottenham. Marmoush played a good game, it was a tough game for him. But he played, he fights the right way. But Matys Tel played very well. I think we won the game with the two wingers, Kudus and Matys, they made the difference. Also Micky van de Ven because he was incredible with the ball. I think Miki van de Ven played the best game in my time.
How did you change the mentality?
I think I’m lucky because I have great players and great people. When you work with smart people, sensitive people, they already know what we need to do to be better. To improve the situation, to change the situation. We have very, very good guys in the dressing room. I think the credit goes to them. Now we have to continue this way.