{
  "id": 8180107,
  "title": "How does De Zerbi fix Spurs' scoring troubles?",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/18/how-does-de-zerbi-fix-spurs-scoring-troubles",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-18T05:16:05.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "BBC Sport",
    "slug": "bbc-sport",
    "url": "https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cmx2zyv3x5rpo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "As Tottenham Hotspur and Coventry City are still yet to score in the Premier League, despite investing heavily in attacking talent, coach Roberto de Zerbi has been trying to implement tactics to address the team's scoring troubles. De Zerbi's approach involves pressuring opponents, causing them to react by speeding up their play, and exploiting the spaces behind the pressing players. This strategy has led to De Zerbi's forwards finding themselves in bigger spaces with fewer defenders, aiming to turn build-up play into goals.\n\nDe Zerbi's current team shape often resembles a 2-3-2-3 formation, with the holding midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur anchoring the midfield, and the wingers, full-backs, and central midfielders rotating to maintain the side's shape. De Zerbi encourages his players to play centrally, which can draw the defending team in-field and create space in the wide areas for direct wingers to attack.\n\nHowever, turning these promising build-up situations into goals has been a significant challenge for Spurs. The main issues include players failing to recognize the best pass available, not recognizing the movement of players ahead of them, and lacking the ability to execute the pass. James Maddison's return from injury could help resolve some of these issues, as he is better suited to the central spaces De Zerbi is looking to exploit.\n\nWhile Pedro Porro's natural tendencies and experience may improve Tottenham's chances of creating goalscoring chances, the team still needs time to internalize De Zerbi's unconventional tactics. As De Zerbi continues to adapt his approach, the hope is that Tottenham will soon start scoring more goals in the Premier League.",
  "summary": "Roberto De Zerbi's Tottenham are yet to score a Premier League goal this season, how do they fix that?",
  "key_points": [
    "Roberto de Zerbi pressures opponents to speed up play and exploit spaces behind them.",
    "Spurs' 2-3-2-3 formation with rotating midfielders creates wide areas for direct wingers.",
    "James Maddison's return could help Spurs execute De Zerbi's unconventional tactics."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 3,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "BBC Sport Football",
        "title": "How does De Zerbi fix Spurs' scoring troubles?",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/18/how-does-de-zerbi-fix-spurs-scoring-troubles-8180164",
        "published": "2026-09-18T05:16:05.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Yahoo Sports",
        "title": "How does De Zerbi fix Spurs' scoring troubles?",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/18/how-does-de-zerbi-fix-spurs-scoring-troubles-8180416",
        "published": "2026-09-18T05:16:11.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}