De Zerbi calls for calm after Spurs lose 3-0 at Brentford

Tottenham Hotspur suffered a 3-0 defeat at Brentford in their Premier League opener on Saturday, with manager Roberto De Zerbi urging the squad to "stay calm" and focus on improvement.

Keane Lewis-Potter gave Brentford an early lead, Vitaly Janelt doubled it on 33 minutes, and Michael Kayode added a third four minutes into the second half to seal the result. Igor Thiago also missed a penalty for the hosts.

Four summer signings — Jan Paul van Hecke, Andy Robertson, Marcos Senesi and Sandro Tonali — all started for Spurs, with Mateus Fernandes introduced from the bench in the second half. Mikey Moore had Tottenham's best chance of the afternoon but was denied by Caoimhin Kelleher.

"I'm sorry for the result, I'm sorry for the performance, for the players, for our fans," De Zerbi said pitchside after the match. "But I knew before the game, I knew from last Saturday when we played against Hoffenheim, we are not at the right point in terms of physical condition for a lot of reasons."

De Zerbi pointed to several mitigating factors, including players returning late from the World Cup and limited preparation time during pre-season in Australia, though he stopped short of using those as excuses. Captain Archie Gray — Tottenham's youngest ever captain for a competitive fixture — also cited losing "too many duels" as a key problem.

"We lost too many duels. We didn't find the right timing to go in the high pressure," De Zerbi added. "We can't lose the confidence. We can't lose what we created last season. We have to improve, yes, but anyway, be calm, because the project has just started and I think we are working well."

De Zerbi insisted the long-term outlook remained positive despite the chastening opening-day result. "I think we are all in the right situation to build something special, maybe not immediately, we need time, but I think we are in a good way," he said.