Tottenham Hotspur, as was fully expected, announced the hiring of Roberto De Zerbi to replace Igor Tudor, whom he also succeeded at Marseille in his previous coaching stop. De Zerbi enters the job with a lot of skepticism about his attitude and fit at the club, but there is also respect for what he can bring to the table as a tactician.
As Tudor repeatedly would go out of his way to point out at press conferences, De Zerbi steps into a rather unprecedented situation at Tottenham with so many key injuries and with Spurs at real threat of relegation, sitting just one points above London rivals West Ham United.
Although one key player will be coming back from injury in Mohammed Kudus and James Maddison may still be on his way back, too, Spurs could be down yet another important player when the Premier League returns in a couple of weeks with a key battle against Sunderland.
Pape Matar Sarr is injured
Center midfielder Pape Matar Sarr was held out of the match between Senegal and Gambia, with the outlet Press Afrik reporting that he had to miss the game with a shoulder injury. There is no word yet on the nature or severity of the injury, nor is there information on any expected time missed.
Now, there is sufficient time in this international break before Tottenham Hotspur face Sunderland for Sarr to recover, and he isn't a guaranteed starter for Spurs anyway. But he is strongly in the rotation for starts, as only Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall are ahead of him in the pecking order of midfield players. Though with Joao Palhinha recovered from his concussion, the blow of losing Sarr does not hurt as much, and Rodrigo Bentancur may be back relatively soon, too.
Still, Tottenham do not exactly have one of the best midfields in the Premier League, nor are they in a position where they can afford to lose any important players. Sarr works hard for the team and is a decent box to box midfielder who defends well, so a shoulder injury to the Senegal international is another tough blow to a Spurs side that already started the international break with French star left winger Mathys Tel nursing an injury.
Sarr's injury is a reminder that Tottenham have the worst luck in world football right now, and Roberto De Zerbi is going to be fighting against the odds here.