De Zerbi: Tonali out injured for Carabao Cup at Liverpool

Tottenham manager Roberto De Zerbi confirmed that Sandro Tonali will miss Tuesday's Carabao Cup third-round tie at Anfield after picking up a knock, as Spurs prepare to face Liverpool without several key players.

De Zerbi also ruled out Dejan Kulusevski and Pedro Porro, while Destiny Udogie was declared available. Richarlison remains excluded from the squad, with the situation described as unchanged from previous weeks.

On his side's failure to score in the Premier League so far, De Zerbi was candid but composed. "No, I'm sorry, but we have the qualities enough to score goals and we had on Saturday the chance, the situation good enough to score," he said. "Solanke is a good player. He has to improve his physical condition and to stay positive because he's able to score many goals with us."

De Zerbi pointed to specific tactical shortcomings, singling out the movement of midfielders into attacking areas. "Robertson crossed many times in the first half and the opposite midfielder, Mateus Fernandes, didn't come in the goal area. This part we have to improve."

The Italian coach also addressed the situation surrounding Richarlison, who scored 11 Premier League goals last season but has been unavailable. "At the start of this season, I spoke with him many times to convince him to stay and he didn't want to. I can't go every day to pray for him to stay," De Zerbi said.

On the Carabao Cup competition itself, De Zerbi stated he wants Spurs to progress. "I would like to go far in the Carabao and FA Cup. I would like to play with the same attitude of Premier League and maybe score some goals more," he said. Tottenham are not in European competition this season.

De Zerbi drew a comparison to his early days at Brighton, noting that rebuilding at Spurs is a different challenge. "Brighton was totally different because there was already a group, there was the soul of the team. This season we have to restart and rebuild everything."