Tottenham performing head coach Cristian Stellini has backed Brighton supervisor Roberto De Zerbi to finally take over at a top-six membership in England.
The Italians go head-to-head on Saturday with Stellini struggling to elevate Spurs of their bid to qualify for the Champions League whereas De Zerbi’s Seagulls are driving on a excessive after a superb season.
Brighton are sixth within the Premier League and 4 factors behind fifth-placed Tottenham, however with two video games in hand and the ex-Sassuolo boss continues to realize plaudits for his work this time period.
It has earned admirers at Spurs and this weekend could possibly be billed as an ideal probability for the 43-year-old to audition for the function in N17.
Asked if he anticipated De Zerbi to go to a top-six membership, Stellini said: “I hope for him, however I don’t know.
“He improved so much. He has an incredible character like a supervisor and arrives right here in a brand new nation and shortly he put his signal on his staff.
“That will not be straightforward for everybody and De Zerbi exhibits additionally in England, within the Premier League, he is a good supervisor.
“De Zerbi is more a manager consistent in the way he wants to hurt the opponent. He is more focused with the ball and what they can do with the ball and being aggressive when they lose the ball.”
Stellini recalled a few of his battles with the “aggressive” De Zerbi as a participant throughout Thursday’s press convention and remembered an encounter within the 2008-09 season after they have been at Bari and Avellino, respectively, in Serie B.
It is a trait De Zerbi has taken into administration together with his Brighton aspect extraordinarily aggressive each with and with out possession, which is in distinction to Tottenham’s behavior of sitting again in 2023.
Spurs underneath Antonio Conte have been at their greatest when capable of produce slick transitions and counter-attacks however that has been few and much between this season.
It contributed in direction of the malaise that set in amongst the fanbase however Stellini’s first official recreation in cost at Everton confirmed little signal a lot would change with the 3-4-3 system deployed and Tottenham largely pragmatic.
“You have to accept that I was an assistant manager for a long time with Antonio so we have to accept that my mind came from this history,” Stellini admitted.
“I don’t think that as a manager, if you change something different, you have a different result (at Everton). It is in the mind of the player and in the way you want to play a match that changes this.
“It is not because you play with six strikers that you can attack better.
“It is like when you play with one player more, you have to understand the game you have to play. This is much more important.
“This is about experience, this is about a moment you have to live and all the players have to think the same thing in the right moment, in the same moment. This is very important.”
This time final yr Conte said it will take a “miracle” for Spurs to make the highest 4 however his former quantity two refused to make the identical assertion.
He joked his pal was “jealous” of the sleep he’s getting regardless of the strain state of affairs the one-time Alessandria head coach has discovered himself in, however did present a damning evaluation of the progress Tottenham have made through the previous 12 months.
“There are different pressures but I can say that working for Antonio, you live under pressure,” Stellini mentioned.
“I’ve the sort of behavior to reside underneath strain, additionally I like generally to do it.
“We have gamers with nice expertise and in the event that they reside the fact and realise what the fact is in the meanwhile, they’ll react in the precise manner.
“This is what I expect from our team and I am confident on this aspect.
“We were in a position (last season) where we had to recover points and now we are in the same position.
“Nothing changed in the past and what has to change is our mind. We arrive with a wave to ride and now we have to create that wave to ride.”