Tottenham’s predicted XI under Roberto De Zerbi: Will this team survive relegation?

Roberto De Zerbi appears set to be appointed Tottenham ‘s manager, but is he the right man for the job?

The Italian’s possession-oriented attacking approach earned plenty of plaudits during his time at Brighton and Marseille, but what about his volatile personality? Will his exacting tactical demands gel well with the players? What will a De Zerbi Tottenham team look like?

Here’s our best guess at how Tottenham will line up in De Zerbi’s favoured 4-2-3-1 formation for the remainder of their relegation dogfight:

The last guy made the blunder of bowing to pressure and dropping the Italian for a big match.

*Mick McCarthy voice* That went well.

De Zerbi will likely have to call upon a hopefully-not-too-bruised Antonin Kinsky in his first couple of games after Vicario underwent surgery on a hernia.

But it was scheduled “to have as minimal an impact on our season as possible” and it’s expected that Vicario will be back for most of the run-in.

Still, if Kinsky can put his Atletico nightmare behind him and showcase his ability to play out from the back, then De Zerbi might just keep the faith.

Using Porro further forward actually worked quite well in Tudor’s only win, albeit an ultimately meaningless one over Atletico Madrid.

That remains an option amid an ongoing injury crisis in the attacking areas, but we expect him to return to his natural role going forward.

Djed Spence might have something to say about that, though. The England hopeful is arguably a bit more suited to the modern inverted style favoured by the Italian. A solid alternative, at least.

The club captain went well over a month without playing a Premier League game following a suspension and concussion absence.

But Spurs’ 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest shows that the club’s issues go beyond personnel and availability. His long-awaited return brought no quick fix.

Still, he’s undoubtedly among the first names on the teamsheet. A quality defender in the right system. Whether he remains available for De Zerbi in the long term remains an open question, though.

Tottenham actually looked okay with Van de Ven at left-back in the first half against Nottingham Forest.

Tudor overcorrected after going to a set-piece goal by hooking the Netherlands international at the break, at which point Spurs capitulated in his absence.

De Zerbi is famously idiosyncratic and might surprise us with one or two selections, but building his team around the bedrock that delivered last season’s Europa League trophy seems like an absolute no-brainer for the task at hand.

Udogie has been eased back into action with minutes here and there.

He’s only made eight league starts this season, while three bookings in his last three appearances have demonstrated he’s a bit rusty.

Being left out of Italy’s World Cup play-off qualifiers might be for the best. If Udogie can stay injury-free and regain his sharpness, his pace and energy will be a major asset in De Zerbi’s high defensive line.

After slotting in admirably at right-back at boyhood club Leeds, he’s spent his first couple of seasons with Tottenham doing a jack-of-all-trades job as a utility man all over the pitch.

Tottenham’s best player in their recent rut, Gray has finally had a chance what he can do in his favoured midfield role, where his long-term future undoubtedly lies.

De Zerbi has older, more experienced heads to call upon but few of them offer as much in possession as the 20-year-old.

De Zerbi is the kind of brave, uncompromising coach who’d put Lucas Bergvall in alongside Gray.

We’d love to see it, and it’d certainly make a refreshing change from the stodgy Bentancur-Palhinha partnership that struggled badly to progress the ball and defined Thomas Frank’s uninspiring early months.

But that midfield engine room would be collectively younger than Luka Modric. It might well be Spurs’ midfield of the future, but leaning so heavily on youth and potential would be a bold (stupid) approach in the midst of an almighty relegation scrap.

At least until the end of the season, we can see De Zerbi utilising the experience of a seasoned Uruguay international. The balance might just work.

Another player reportedly on the cusp of a timely return from injury, Kudus looks set to offer De Zerbi something that Tudor, and Frank in his final months, were crying out for: dynamism.

All too often of late, Tottenham’s attack has looked static, one-dimensional and predictable.

Kudus’ exceptional dribbling and explosive pace adds another string to De Zerbi’s bow. Kaoru Mitoma was often the difference-maker for De Zerbi’s Brighton and we could see the Ghanaian fulfilling a similarly important role here. With their fixtures, they’ll need it .

The highly-rated Netherlands international was superb, by far Tottenham’s best player, in their Champions League victory over Atletico Madrid.

So it was baffling, to say the least, to see him back on the bench for the crunch match against Nottingham Forest. That call, like most of Tudor’s calls, backfired.

Admittedly, Simons doesn’t strike us as the ideal candidate for a relegation dogfight, be it his physicality or his temperament, but his creativity and quality are sorely missed when he’s absent.

The entire De Zerbi project might hinge on building a system that works with Simons in it. At least while Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison are (presumably) sidelined for the run-in.

Positives have been hard to come by in recent weeks. Gray’s form is top of the list.

Then it’s Tel just starting to show why Spurs bought him, with decent performances against Liverpool and Atletico Madrid. We’re not sure we can think of a third bullet point.

It looked like just Spurs’ luck, then, when the 20-year-old forward hobbled off against Nottingham Forest.

But it’s not thought to be a bad injury, and the suggestions are that he’ll be available for their next outing away to Sunderland.

Tel might be severely lacking when it comes to numbers, but his bright performances of late ought to have earned him a sustained run of starts. Particularly when the competition is so lacking.

Tudor went with a Dominic Solanke-Richarlison strike partnership in his final two league matches, an approach that bore mixed results.

There’s two decent options there, but we expect De Zerbi to choose one or the other as the spearhead of his 4-2-3-1. Solanke might well be Tottenham’s medium-term No.9. We could see Richarlison leaving this summer.

But for now the Brazilian seems to be one of the few players in the Spurs squad built for a relegation scrap. He’s been there before with Everton and his goal against Liverpool is evidence that he won’t shirk the fight.