Roberto De Zerbi suspension rules him out of leading Tottenham against Ipswich
Roberto De Zerbi will be absent from Tottenham’s technical area for their upcoming match against Ipswich Town after receiving his third Premier League booking in his side’s defeat to Leeds United, resulting in a one-match suspension.
The booking came after the break at Elland Road, following De Zerbi’s protest at referee John Brooks’s decision to book Pedro Porro. The manager had previously been booked against Everton and Chelsea.
According to the report, De Zerbi will be allowed into the stadium, but must watch the match from the directors’ box or the stands opposite the technical areas. He will not be able to give instructions from the technical area or communicate directly with the players during the match. He will be allowed to give a pre-match team talk and enter the dressing room at half-time and after the final whistle, and can communicate with the coaching staff by phone or written notes.
His assistants Andreas Georgson, Bruno Saltor and Andrew Crofts are expected to take charge during the match. After the defeat to Leeds, De Zerbi admitted that his team had played a good first half and created clear chances, but struggled in the second half and lost the individual duels, adding that Tottenham deserved to lose.
De Zerbi said that honestly confronting what had happened was part of the team’s journey, and that analysing their second-half performance could help him improve. The Ipswich match will be played at Tottenham’s stadium after the international break, while the report noted that failure to win could see Tottenham back in the relegation battle.