Roberto De Zerbi said that Tottenham are "not a team" after they opened their season with a humiliating 3-0 defeat away to Brentford.
Spurs are looking to kick on after almost going down last season and are expected to spend more than £300m this summer but they were handed a rude awakening at the Gtech Community Stadium. Brentford outclassed the north Londoners and left De Zerbi rueing a lack of fight from his players, bemoaning his side's physical condition and suggesting that the pre-season tour of Australia did not function well enough.
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"We are not a team yet for a lot of reasons," the Spurs manager said. "Before you become a team you can't say what you can do. We are not in the right physical condition for a lot of reasons. Some players came back late from the World Cup. In Australia we don't work in the right way but it is not excuses. It is a normal situation when building a new project.
"I don't want time but we have to pass through these problems. I cannot lose confidence in my players. I believe in my players, my club, myself. We are working well. We have to improve quickly. We could fight stronger than we did today. We lost too many duels today. We arrived second in the second balls. We didn't win one second ball, one duel, one tackle."
Spurs handed debuts to Andy Robertson, Jan Paul van Hecke, Marcos Senesi, Mateus Fernandes and Sandro Tonali. They are close to strengthening their attack by signing Omar Marmoush and Savinho from Manchester City but De Zerbi needs to build a collective.
"There are steps to become better," he said. "Now the target is to become a team. You can't become a team from the transfer market on paper. You become a team when the players find a connection, a spirit, a soul. It's a project."
De Zerbi pointed out that he was without Pedro Porro, Kevin Danso and Micky van de Ven. He said that Rodrigo Bentancur, who started on the bench, came back late from pre-season.
It was a fine way for Brentford to start their second year under Keith Andrews. Keane Lewis-Potter, Vitaly Janelt and Michael Kayode scored and there was an outstanding debut in midfield from Mamadou Sangaré, the £39m signing from Lens.
"The club deserve a lot of credit for getting that deal done," Andrews said of Sangaré. "You've seen today what he's capable of, the attributes he has. It adds to a talented midfield. I really enjoyed his performance today. He's slotted in really well. He's a humble young man who's very, very hungry."
