De Zerbi the Saviour: How He Transformed Tottenham's Season
Guglielmo Vicario stood on the touchline on the final day, a spectator with stitches, not gloves, and lost himself in the moment. Joao Palhinha’s goal hit the net against Everton, the stadium erupted, and the Italian sprinted straight for Roberto De Zerbi, wrapping his arms around his head coach in a wild, almost strangling embrace.
That was the release. Months of fear, frustration and physical pain poured into one celebration. Tottenham were safe.
De Zerbi the saviour
Vicario has no doubts who dragged Spurs back from the brink.
"This club deserves at least to stay in the Premier League," the 29-year-old said, still recovering from hernia surgery. "This is the minimum you can get at this football club."
For long stretches of the season, even that looked ambitious. Confidence drained, hope thin, Tottenham staggered through a campaign that threatened to collapse completely. Focus went, belief went, results followed.
Then De Zerbi walked through the door.
The Italian did not just install patterns of play and neat rotations. He rebuilt a broken dressing room.
"He gave us a lot of confidence, good vibes, good feelings and we got the result," Vicario explained. "Sometimes there are situations that happen that are not more in your control. You lose the focus, you lose hope, you lose a lot of stuff but fortunately Roberto came in."
The numbers tell part of the story: 11 points from the final six matches, enough to claw Spurs away from the trapdoor. The mood shift tells the rest.
Talks, trust and a changing club
De Zerbi’s work started in conversation, not on the tactics board.
"He had a lot of talks with the players. I spoke a lot with him," Vicario said. Unable to help on the pitch after his operation, he threw himself into the dressing-room battle instead. "I was not able to help him on the pitch but I tried to do it behind the scenes."
The message from the new head coach was blunt and simple: play for the badge, pull the club together, drag the fans with you.
"That was his first message. Get behind the people to try to follow us and to stay close to us in these tough moments and they did it brilliantly today. The response from the crowd was unbelievable. We felt it."
The bond held when it mattered most. The tension of the run-in never fractured the unity De Zerbi demanded. It hardened it.
"We went through this tough period and we got the result, that is the most important thing," Vicario said. "From next season there will be a different Tottenham Hotspur for sure."
Kinsky’s redemption arc
No player embodied that shift more than Antonin Kinsky.
The 23-year-old Czech goalkeeper had lived every keeper’s nightmare in Madrid, hooked after just 17 minutes against Atletico by interim boss Igor Tudor. A Champions League humiliation, in front of the world, at the start of a career.
It could have buried him. Instead, it became his turning point.
When Vicario went under the knife, De Zerbi turned to Kinsky. Wolves. Leeds. Everton. High-pressure games, thin margins, and a young goalkeeper who suddenly looked like he had been waiting his whole life for this run.
"He has been incredible, impressive, he did unbelievably well," Vicario said. "In every game it was not easy. Now it’s easy to say but I was sure of his mental strength and ability."
The faith was there from day one. De Zerbi wanted to know if he could trust Kinsky. Vicario did not hesitate.
"When I spoke to Roberto the first day he signed he asked me how Toni was and I said 'I think he is fully recovered from what happened because in football it can happen', and he showed it."
The saves backed up the words. Kinsky produced big moments in every one of those crucial fixtures, none bigger than his late stop against Everton when Spurs allowed just a single shot all game.
"That’s the biggest strength he can put on the pitch," Vicario added. "I’m very proud of him, he made some really important saves to keep us in the league and he deserved his moment. Sometimes football is downs, I think he had the brilliance to show his ups. Especially in the last two, three games. He did unbelievably for us."
A new edge, on and off the ball
De Zerbi’s reputation has always been built on his attacking ideas. At Tottenham, he has added steel to the style.
"Roberto has been massively important for us. He changed everything," Vicario said. "He changed all the mood, all the vibes, all the football as well, because we needed also the football on the pitch because we were struggling to play good football."
The attacking patterns came, but the defensive transformation may prove even more significant.
"He is probably known very well for the football he wants to play but also the defensive phase since he came in has been unbelievably good," Vicario pointed out. Against Everton, Spurs allowed one shot in 95 minutes – the late effort Kinsky clawed away. "Both on the ball and off the ball I think he did an unbelievable job."
Crucially, every player bought in.
"Also the boys, everyone who was playing or not playing followed him in a great way. That is of course the credit he deserves, and I can say without him this result would not have been possible."
Vicario’s future and Spurs’ next step
Vicario himself has been linked with a summer move back to Italy and Inter Milan, but his focus, for now, is recovery and the reset ahead.
He admits he is still "not 100 per cent fit but in a better place", and says he is "confident and I have a break now to be ready for next season".
The mood around Tottenham, once suffocated by anxiety, has shifted to something else entirely.
"Yeah of course we are [excited]," he said of the players and supporters. "We were suffering a lot and he gave us a lot of joy in every aspect."
Then came the line that underpins everything Spurs now believe about their head coach.
"I want to thank him from the bottom of my heart because we were suffering a lot and he gave us a lot of joy in every aspect."
Survival is secure. The scars of this season will not vanish overnight, but they might yet become the foundation of something stronger. De Zerbi has dragged Tottenham back from the edge; the real question now is how far he can take them.
