When Tottenham Hotspur were getting totally blown out by opponents at the very start of the 2026/27 Premier League season, defensive midfielder Mateus Fernandes was one of the few bright spots and looked like he would be worth every penny of the 85 million pounds Spurs spent to steal him away from rivals West Ham United.
Lately, though, Fernandes has been a real disappointment, and after a sour game against Everton last weekend in which he was forced to be the starting No. 10 with James Maddison still unable to start, many thought that Madders's grand performance off the bench against Liverpool in the League Cup would mean that he could start again and finally allow Fernandes to be a defensive midfielder.
Instead, Mateus Fernandes had to start out of position again, and the young Portuguese international turned in his worst performance yet. The midfielder was so poor all around that Roberto De Zerbi had no choice but to hook off Fernandes at the half - and Spurs did significantly better without him and a few other underperformers.
Mateus Fernandes was not good enough
After the game, De Zerbi did not mince words on a player he genuinely loves, criticizing the performance from Fernandes. He told reporters, via Hotspur Lane, “I have big confidence in Mateus but I didn't like his performance today. It's not an attack on him because I love him. I just want more from him, even in that position.”
Now that's the way you criticize somebody. Roberto De Zerbi made sure to say that he loves Fernandes, but the Tottenham Hotspur did not lie or mince words here: Fernandes played poorly, and he needs to do more. De Zerbi was also quick to point out that even though Fernandes was playing out of his normal position as a 10, he still had to do much better than he did.
Fernandes was so bad that he, yes, played a role in costing Tottenham the game against Aston Villa. He could not create, he did not help out enough defensively, and it just wasn't a good performance from him.
At the same time, the bigger criticism has to go to De Zerbi if he is going to keep Fernandes as a No. 10. Hopefully, for Spurs, this is the latest time the young Portuguese star has to play in a spot that is not his own, because it is clearly harming his development.
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