Tottenham's Premier League Survival: De Zerbi's Impact
Guglielmo Vicario stood on the touchline at the final whistle, not in gloves but in tracksuit, and sprinted. Straight for Roberto De Zerbi. The hug turned into something closer to a headlock, a goalkeeper almost strangling his head coach in sheer relief as Joao Palhinha’s goal against Everton sealed Tottenham’s Premier League safety.
For Vicario, recovering from hernia surgery and powerless on the pitch in the run-in, the emotion was raw. For De Zerbi, it was vindication. A club drifting towards the trapdoor had been yanked back by a manager who, in the words of his goalkeeper, “changed everything”.
From freefall to survival
Tottenham had been stripped of confidence, rhythm and belief. The season had turned into a slog, the badge feeling heavier with every week. Vicario admits he suffered “a lot” on a personal level as well as collectively. The fear of relegation was no longer a theoretical threat; it was the table staring them in the face.
Then De Zerbi walked through the door.
“This club deserves at least to stay in the Premier League. This is the minimum you can get at this football club,” Vicario said. The problem was that Spurs were no longer playing like a club that believed that. Focus had gone. Hope had drained away. Players were losing “a lot of stuff”, as the Italian put it.
De Zerbi’s response was not simply to throw tactics at the crisis. He did bring structure and patterns, and 11 points from the final six matches told their own story. But the transformation started in conversation, not on a tactics board.
“He had a lot of talks with the players,” Vicario explained. “I was not able to help him on the pitch but I tried to do it behind the scenes.” The message was clear: reconnect with the badge, reconnect with the people. Play for something bigger than yourself.
That theme ran through De Zerbi’s first steps. Get everyone aligned. Drag the dressing room and the stands into the same fight. On the final day, Vicario felt the response.
“The response from the crowd was unbelievable. We felt it,” he said. “We went through this tough period and we got the result, that is the most important thing. From next season there will be a different Tottenham Hotspur for sure.”
Kinsky’s redemption
If De Zerbi has been the architect of Tottenham’s escape, Antonin Kinsky has been the unlikely hero on the line.
The 23-year-old Czech goalkeeper was still carrying the scars of that brutal night in Madrid, hooked after just 17 minutes against Atletico by interim boss Igor Tudor. For a young keeper, that kind of humiliation can linger. It can define you.
De Zerbi wanted to know if it had.
“When I spoke to Roberto the first day he signed he asked me how Toni was,” Vicario revealed. “I said ‘I think he is fully recovered from what happened because in football it can happen’, and he showed it.”
Thrust into the spotlight during Vicario’s absence, Kinsky answered with a series of performances that kept Tottenham alive. Big saves against Wolves. More against Leeds. And again against Everton, where he denied the hosts with a crucial stop late on in a game Spurs largely controlled.
“He has been incredible, impressive, he did unbelievably well,” Vicario said. “In every game it was not easy. Now it’s easy to say but I was sure of his mental strength and ability.”
That mental strength became his calling card. Where others might have shrunk, Kinsky grew. The horror of Madrid became the fuel for a run-in defined by resilience.
“That’s the biggest strength he can put on the pitch,” Vicario added. “I’m very proud of him, he made some really important saves to keep us in the league and he deserved his moment. Sometimes football is downs, I think he had the brilliance to show his ups. Especially in the last two, three games. He did unbelievably for us.”
De Zerbi’s imprint
De Zerbi’s reputation has long been built on his attacking ideas, his insistence on brave football and intricate build-up. Tottenham needed that. They had been struggling to play anything resembling “good football”, as Vicario put it.
But survival demanded more than style.
“Roberto has been massively important for us. He changed everything. He changed all the mood, all the vibes, all the football as well,” Vicario said. The shift was not just on the ball. It was in the way Spurs defended, the way they controlled games without it turning into chaos.
Against Everton, that new steel was obvious. Tottenham conceded just one shot of note in 95 minutes, the late effort Kinsky clawed away. For a side that had spent much of the season looking fragile, it was a stark contrast.
“He is probably known very well for the football he wants to play but also the defensive phase since he came in has been unbelievably good,” Vicario said. Both sides of the game, sharpened. Both sides of the squad, engaged.
“Also the boys, everyone who was playing or not playing followed him in a great way,” Vicario added. “That is of course the credit he deserves, and I can say without him this result would not have been possible. I want to thank him from the bottom of my heart because we were suffering a lot and he gave us a lot of joy in every aspect.”
A different Tottenham on the horizon
Vicario himself has been linked with a return to Italy and Inter Milan, but his focus, for now, is recovery and what comes next. “Not 100 per cent fit but in a better place,” as he put it, he now has a crucial break to get fully ready for the new campaign.
He is certain the supporters have reasons to look forward rather than over their shoulders.
“Yeah of course we are [excited],” he said. “From next season there will be a different Tottenham Hotspur for sure.”
The escape is complete. The scars of this season will not disappear overnight, and neither will the memory of how close Spurs came to disaster. Yet in De Zerbi they have found a coach who has already shown he can drag a wounded side back to its feet.
The question now is no longer whether Tottenham can stay up. It is what this version of Tottenham, rebuilt in De Zerbi’s image and hardened by survival, might dare to chase next.
