Sunderland moved into the top half of the Premier League table with a win over Spurs
Roberto De Zerbi said he felt his Spurs players didn't deserve to be on the losing side against Sunderland on Sunday afternoon.
Sunderland moved into the top ten with their 1-0 win at the Stadium of Light, thanks to Nordi Mukiele's deflected long-range shot in the second half. Spurs did create some decent chances in the first half with Robin Roefs saving well from Dominic Solanke just before the interval, but the Sunderland goalkeeper had little to do after Mukiele's goal.
De Zerbi said his side can improve and admitted that Sunderland had taken control of the second half, but felt there were positives to take.
"I think we played a good game, especially in the first half, with order, with the ball, without the ball. We had three clear chances to score, one with Solanke, one with Richarlison, another with Bergvall," De Zerbi said.
"We played well, but we didn't play well enough to win the game, because in the second half we suffered too much. To Sunderland we lost 20-30 metres of the pitch.
"We had another important chance with Richarlison, just two minutes before conceding a goal. We can play better, we can do something more, as energy, as passion on the pitch, with more enthusiasm. Yes, but now we are in a difficult moment and I would like to help the players to show what they can do on the pitch.
"My job is not now to change the style of play. I did two or three things with the ball, two or three things without the ball but the crucial part is not with the ball or without the ball. It's in our mentality to be positive, but to be positive just because we have the quality enough to win a game and when we go to win a game, we can change everything."
Spurs are now two points from safety but De Zerbi insists they can stay up.
"I am positive," he said.
"Not because we are Tottenham or because I have to do positive. No. They have the quality enough to win one game and the target now, the closer target is to win one game because if we win a game we can see everything in a different way."
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