Many Tottenham Hotspur fans and even neutral Premier League observes were taken aback by the scenes in the second half of Spurs latest 0-0 draw, with Everton, as manager Roberto De Zerbi could be seen animated and lighting into substitute Mathys Tel, who ruined a counterattacking opportunity by being too negative with his body positioning and not turning up the pitch quickly enough.
Throughout his afternoon, Tel played too timid, on the heels of two horrendous performances against Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest that led to his benching in favor of striker Dominic Solanke, with Omar Marmoush then shifting in to take Tel's vacated left wing position from his usual recent post as a Spurs center forward.
Tel made several errors like this in just the span of less than a half hour for Spurs in their 0-0 draw with Everton. He was not incisive enough and took him out of central areas of the pitch where he could potentially create goals or assists for himself.
Roberto De Zerbi has always been a fan of Mathys Tel
Tottenham Hotspur supporters were either not happy or absolutely loved Roberto De Zerbi lighting into Mathys Tel, but there are many more people who missed the larger point that De Zerbi having a go at Tel, so to speak, was actually a positive.
De Zerbi has been high on Tel since he came to N17, and while he was not happy wtih what Tel was doing, he was right to point out what Tel should be doing differently. And it's not the first time De Zerbi has animatetly given his young left winger some constructive criticism and spirited feedback.
If anything, Roberto De Zerbi doing this for the former Bayern Munich man is another sign of how much he values him. If De Zerbi did not care about Tel or see him as key to his future plans at Tottenham, then he would not bother being so in his face and so animated with giving him feedback and directions.
De Zerbi really cares about Tel. He cares about the young French forward's development and potential, and the Italian head coach legitimately wants to see Tel succeed at N17. That's why he gets so caught up in making sure Tel is doing the right things and why he wanted to aggressively course correct him during this game - and also in previous matches. De Zerbi believes in Tel a lot, and his feedback for the forward is 100 percent from a place of love.
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