Roberto De Zerbi Defends Spurs Medical Staff Amid Growing Injury List

• Roberto De Zerbi called Tottenham’s medical staff “high level” on Friday as injuries pile up before the trip to Chelsea on Saturday night.
• Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison are doubts after disrupted training, Destiny Udogie is out and Tosin Adarabioyo is a fitness worry.
• De Zerbi also said Chelsea’s long record of signing players from his old club Brighton gives him no extra motivation.

Three Players, Three Explanations, and No Blame for the Medical Team

Roberto De Zerbi has a long list of absentees and a short answer for anyone who wants to blame Tottenham’s medical department. “It’s football,” he said on Friday. “I am convinced our medical staff this season is high level.”

Spurs travel to London rivals Chelsea on Saturday night without several key figures. Kulusevski and Maddison are doubts after a disrupted week of training, which followed their appearances in Monday’s win over Coventry. Udogie remains sidelined, Adarabioyo is a fitness worry, and fitness problems have been a regular theme for Tottenham this season and in recent campaigns.

De Zerbi was not interested in the criticism. “I follow them. I believe in them. I have big confidence,” he said, adding that he knows how they are working. He closed the topic with a short verdict: “I think they are good enough to believe in them. Nothing more. We are suffering a normal situation in football.”

The Cases De Zerbi Chose to Explain

De Zerbi did not leave it at a general defence. He picked out three players and walked through what happened to each.

Pedro Porro was the first. According to De Zerbi, the right-back “suffered in the World Cup the muscular problem of the hamstring”, which explains his absence at the start of the season. Porro returned against Aston Villa but “pushed to come back before the right time and he suffered another injury.” De Zerbi then asked the question himself: “What is the responsibility of the medical team?”

Lucas Bergvall was the second. De Zerbi said the midfielder turned his knee in a tackle early in the Manchester United game, finished the match, and felt pain the following day. “What is the responsibility of the medical staff? Nothing,” De Zerbi said.

Andy Robertson was the third. Robertson played four games in a row with the national team, and De Zerbi called his fatigue against Coventry “normal fatigue for a player who played six games in 20 days.”

He promised a proper review at the end of the campaign. “At the end of this season we make the total report and we analyse the situation,” he said, “but so far we can’t say anything bad about the medical staff or another reason.”

There is good news for the trip. Porro, Robertson and Omar Marmoush are all fit to play at Stamford Bridge, according to ESPN. Bergvall (knee), Udogie (knee) and Sávio (muscular) remain out, and Rodrigo Bentancur is suspended. Maddison scored in his first start for almost 18 months against Coventry, and Kulusevski returned in the same game after 526 days out. Both are being assessed.

The Chelsea Question and the Brighton Raids

Fitness was not the only subject on Friday. De Zerbi was also asked about Chelsea’s habit of buying from Brighton, the club he coached for two years. Chelsea have spent more than £300 million signing 16 players and staff from Brighton after BlueCo completed their takeover in 2022, ESPN reported.

De Zerbi took over at Brighton in September 2022, after Graham Potter left the club to join Chelsea. Under his watch, Chelsea broke the British transfer record to sign Moisés Caicedo for £115 million, paid £63 million for Marc Cucurella and £25 million for goalkeeper Robert Sanchez. Paul Winstanley and Sam Jewell also moved across in recruitment roles.

Asked how he found that experience, De Zerbi replied: “What do you think?” He then listed the players Chelsea bought. “They bought good players,” he said. “Caicedo, João Pedro, [Danny] Welbeck now, [Facundo] Buonanotte, [Valentin] Barco, Robert Sanchez, [Levi] Colwill.” He called selling to bigger clubs “a normal part of football” and insisted he has no extra motivation: “I am always motivated with Chelsea or another team.”

What he does want his players to use is Tottenham’s record at the ground. Spurs have won just one of 33 Premier League visits to Stamford Bridge. “For me, it is one motivation more,” De Zerbi said. “I want the players to take this negative record to give us more motivation more mentality, more energy to win the game.”

He also leaned on his own history. When he coached Foggia in League Three against League Two opposition, the club often failed to win at Bari’s stadium. “It was one motivation more, not one pressure more,” De Zerbi said. “And yes, we won,” he said of 2015. He also won at Stamford Bridge as Brighton manager in 2023.