It already feels like Roberto De Zerbi is under an immense amount of pressure at Tottenham Hotspur, even though we are only three games into the 2026/27 Premier League season. But so much of the media narrative around the Italian manager is negative, as pundits are having a go at De Zerbi for only getting one point in three and for his Spurs side failing to even score a single goal thus far.
But while De Zerbi is getting absolutely grilled by a lot with a real memory problem since they are conveniently leaving out the fact that De Zerbi literally saved Tottenham from relegation just a few months earlier, the other managers in the Premier League are getting a pass and calls for more time.
Now, that is rightfully so. After Chelsea lost 2-1 to rivals and reigning Premier League champions Arsenal in the best game of the English top flight campaign thus far, captain and star right back Reece James gave a shrewd defense of new Blues boss Xabi Alonso, bringing up that Alonso's old Real Sociedad teammate Mikel Arteta got eight years of backing before winning the title in North London.
It takes time to build a Premier League winner
James said of Alonso, via ESPN UK, "It's been two or three months working with the new manager and his staff. They [Arsenal] have maybe eight years together."
It is a passage worth Tottenham Hotspur keeping in mind about Roberto De Zerbi, because while RDZ has been around a bit longer than Xabi Alonso has at Stamford Bridge, it still has not been even six months on the job for the Italian manager. And like Alonso, this is his first full offseason with the Lilywhites, and it is, as Arsenal have shown, a process years in the making that it takes to get from the throes of mediocre - and Spurs are coming off two seasons where they were much, much worse than mediocre - to built a title winner.
If James is defending Alonso like this for one tough loss to Arsenal, then a slow start from a manager who already did an awful lot for Tottenham deserves some grace. De Zerbi isn't getting the same treatment, likely because the media hates him for his past antics at clubs like Marseille, but from an objective stand point, the knee jerk reactions of the manager have been, well, more than just a bit embarrassing to see.
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