Tottenham head coach Roberto de Zerbi has praised Rodrigo Bentancur after the midfielder was sent off in a 1-1 Premier League draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford, revealing he kissed the player and thanked him for his reaction.
Bentancur was shown a red card by referee Stuart Attwell in the 78th minute for headbutting Luke Shaw during a feisty melee, at a point when Spurs were trailing 1-0. The incident began when Shaw, on the receiving end of a reckless challenge by Bentancur, raced towards the Spurs player and shoved him off the pitch. Bentancur responded by planting his head towards Shaw’s face, and the pair were separated by their team-mates before the substitute was dismissed.
Despite being reduced to 10 men, Tottenham salvaged a point when Dominic Solanke headed home in the second minute of added time. De Zerbi was grateful to Bentancur for providing what he described as a spark against United.
“I kiss Rodrigo and say thanks,” De Zerbi said in his post-match press conference. “In that moment maybe with 10 players we played with more courage, more energy. For a long time Tottenham played without this blood, this character.”
The manager acknowledged the dismissal was a mistake, but argued the reaction was exactly what his side needed to see the game out. “I kissed Bentancur in the dressing room because we need this type of reaction, this character. Football is character,” he told Sky Sports. “I liked the situation with the red card. We need at this moment the situation, not to bring a red card but we need to not accept the defeat.”
Even with Solanke’s 92nd-minute equaliser, Tottenham remain winless in the Premier League this season after six games and sit in the relegation zone with three points. It is only the fourth time the club have failed to win each of their opening six matches of a league season, after 2008-09, 1955-56 and 1912-13. Spurs have often looked lively in attack, but only 19th-placed Coventry have scored fewer goals than Tottenham’s three.
De Zerbi nevertheless took belief from the overall performance, in which his side ran United ragged in the opening half with fluid, high-tempo football. “Today has been the game where for the first time this season we showed we are a team,” he said. “We played for the team-mates, we played together, we stayed inside of the game in every situation and we attacked as a team and defended as a team.” He added to Sky Sports: “I’m very happy because I’ve seen the right spirit, the right character and I want to start from this character, this reaction, this behaviour.”
Tottenham spent more than £250m on new talent over the summer, adding 10 players to their squad, and their poor start has prompted the club to organise a warm-weather training camp in Spain. The team are expected to travel to Marbella on Sunday in the hope it will give the new-look squad a chance to bond.
“Now the target is to build the team,” De Zerbi said. “We are a great group of players but we are not a team yet and to be a team is to play for the team-mates, suffer together, attack together.”
Spurs face newly-promoted Coventry on Monday, 19 October before making the short trip to Chelsea the following Saturday.