James Maddison and Conor Gallagher have united in their praise for Roberto De Zerbi after his remarkable rescue mission at Tottenham Hotspur. The Spurs and England internationals admitted they felt the club was destined for relegation until the Italian arrived as head coach with just seven games of the Premier League season remaining.
De Zerbi's Tireless Work Ethic
They observed De Zerbi working late into the night to devise solutions, repairing shattered confidence and transforming the atmosphere within the dressing room. 'He's been living at the training ground with his team of coaches,' said Maddison after the relief of Sunday's 1-0 victory over Everton, which secured survival and condemned West Ham to the EFL next season. 'I stay at the training ground the night before every home game to get a good night's sleep and he's there at nine pm with all his staff, six of them and the tactics board. It's nine pm and we've already had four or five meetings on each game. He's just obsessed with football. He's passionate, he believes. And I can feel the authenticity of someone who's passionate for Tottenham because I am.'
Maddison added, 'I love this club and I want this club to be successful so bad. And when you see the man who's steering the ship, when he's genuine and not just saying it for the sake of a motivational meetings, you can tell he means it. That's why he always says, "I have blood inside me not water". Without that appointment, disaster could've maybe struck. It didn't, and he takes a lot of credit for that because of the work he's done behind the scenes, on the training pitch.'
Turning Point for Spurs
Spurs were on a run of 14 league games without a win when De Zerbi arrived during an international break. The first nine of those came under Thomas Frank and five under Igor Tudor. It was clear De Zerbi was reluctant to take the job mid-season and would have preferred to start in the calm of pre-season, but Spurs convinced him to accept the challenge. He lost his first game at Sunderland but won three and drew two of the last six to finish on 41 points, two clear of West Ham.
'He's really turned it around,' said Gallagher. 'From the first day or two he had everyone under his wing. Everyone trusted him instantly. Everything he was doing, it was like, "thank God he's come in". Straight away. I can't speak highly enough of him or what he's done for the club, for the team and for me individually. I'm looking forward to working with him even more.'
Rebuilding Confidence
De Zerbi worked hard with individuals to lift morale and self-esteem, calling one-on-one meetings with players to discuss highlight clips from YouTube. 'One of them was titled "Bossing the midfield – Conor Gallagher" or something like that,' said Gallagher. 'It's funny because I'd seen that before and he's just there showing me. He did that with a few of the lads. I found it funny, but it was one of his many ways to get players' confidence back and it helped me. He's been so good for me. I was low on confidence. The last manager wasn't having me. The fans didn't think I was any good.'
Gallagher was signed for £30 million from Atletico Madrid in January and made his debut in a home defeat against West Ham, the fourth game of that dire run of 15 without a win. Frank was sacked in February and replaced by Tudor, who moved Gallagher from central midfield to the wing before dropping him to the bench. 'It was such bad times,' said Gallagher. 'We were losing most of our games. I wasn't playing. When I did play, I didn't do very well. I was playing out of position. I had just moved back to England from Madrid and wanted to hit the ground running back in the Premier League and none of it was happening. It just shows you the importance of confidence and rhythm.'
He continued, 'I had to stay mentally strong and focused, and have belief in myself, which I did. I knew I could come back and show the fans what I can really do. Thank God the new gaffer came in because he was the reason it turned around for the team and for me. Hopefully it's only the start.'
Maddison's Perspective
Maddison spent most of the season recovering from a cruciate knee injury and only returned for three substitute appearances at the end of the campaign. 'Sometimes you get a clearer picture from being on the outside,' said Maddison. 'We need to be responsible for holding the highest standards and demanding more from each other individually, like looking in the mirror. We need to be asking, "have I been good enough?" and saying, "I should be better" and most weeks of the season that would've been the case for lads. But also, momentum is such a big thing. When you're down there having one manager change after another with Frank out, Tudor in, Tudor out. Can we get this over? And then it was all up in the air and we're going to bring someone else in, it's not easy. That's not an excuse because that was happening because the results weren't good enough, but I've been really, really, really, really impressed with the manager and that appointment saved the disaster from happening. He steered the ship clear and without him it could've been doom and gloom.'
