Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.
Roberto De Zerbi is confident Tottenham’s first Premier League win of the season is around the corner after seeing “the right spirit and character” against Manchester United.
De Zerbi watched on as Spurs played out a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford on Saturday, despite going behind to Bryan Mbeumo’s goal and seeing Rodrigo Bentancur sent off.
The visitors had dominated for much of the encounter without reward, and they were hit with a sucker punch in the 73rd minute when Mbeumo finished past Antonin Kinsky.
It went from bad to worse for Spurs five minutes later when Bentancur was sent for an early bath, after he headbutted Luke Shaw following a coming together between the pair.
However, in the second of eight additional minutes, Dominic Solanke got the better of Lisandro Martinez and glanced Sandro Tonali’s teasing cross into the bottom-right corner.
Spurs have now failed to win each of their opening six games of a league season for just the fourth time in their history, after 2008-09, 1955-56 and 1912-13, but De Zerbi said there were plenty of positives for his team to take from their performance.
“I think we played very well against a great team. We had many chances to score in the first half. Three or four,” De Zerbi told Sky Sports.
“The second half, it is normal to suffer against this quality. I am very happy because I have seen the right spirit and character.
“We suffered in the game but in every situation of the game. I like the situation we were in with the red card. We need this situation. We have not accepted the defeat.
“We have to react in all the ways we can. It is a bad way, it is not the right way. I kissed Bentancur in the dressing room. Football is character.
“We win the game if we play as a team. We didn’t win this game playing as a team. Every game like today, we will win many games.”
Fighting ’til the end https://t.co/a6HGOeLZhM
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) October 10, 2026
The quality of Spurs’ chances were backed up by the metrics, with De Zerbi’s side finishing with an expected goals (xG) total of 1.56 from their 12 shots, compared to United’s 0.77 from the same number of attempts.
And it looked as though they would come away with nothing until Solanke, who was captaining Spurs for the first time, popped up with a confidence-boosting leveller.
Solanke has netted four Premier League goals against the Red Devils, his joint-most against an opponent (also four vs Aston Villa, Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest).
Meanwhile, the City Ground (four) is the only away venue he has scored more often at than Old Trafford (three) in the competition, and De Zerbi is hoping this latest goal will be the foundation Solanke needs to build on for the rest of the season.
“He is a good player for Tottenham,” De Zerbi said of Solanke. “There are not too many strikers better than Solanke.
“Today he was captain because he deserved it, especially at that moment because he suffered because Tottenham didn’t score or win any games.
“He is a great guy, a great player and we are behind him. We have to believe in ourselves and this football way.
“If we believe, improve and play as a team, we will score many goals and win many games. If we don’t play as a team, it is impossible.”
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