Brentford 3-0 Tottenham Hotspur: What de Zerbi and Gray said
Brentford 3-0 Tottenham Hotspur: What de Zerbi and Gray said
Sat, August 22, 2026 at 7:20 PM UTC
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Tottenham manager Roberto de Zerbi, speaking to Sky Sports: "We suffered physically but we knew that before the game. We were not ready to fight the duels. We made a lot of mistakes in the timing of the pressure with Mikey Moore. We arrived too many times late and we lost too many duels to compete with Brentford.
"I am sorry for the defeat. I know we have to improve in our physical condition, in the organisation. There were many new players but it was the first game. It's part of our journey. With a lot of new players, we knew we needed soul and style of play to become a team. Today I think there was the soul but we didn't fight in the right way."
On why the team did not fight in duels: "I believe in my players. Especially in the first half, we were not in the right position to make the right pressure. If you analyse the game, you can see how many duels we lost in the first half when the game went in Brentford's direction.
"We didn't play well. We didn't fight in the right way. Not because we didn't remember the last season. Because these players are good people and with value and memory. But we lost too many duels."
On whether the line-up will change in weeks to come: "The first XI should be able to compete normally if the game went in this way. I don't lose confidence in my players and these people. We have to work and improve, analyse the game better and find the improvement.
On which areas to improve: "We have to analyse this game. We cannot destroy everything because we are working well. Physical condition is not the same for all players because many started the season later.
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"I don't want to make excuses but we need to keep improving. We need to find the right spirit to fight but today, it wasn't there. I expected better for sure. I didn't expect this result but I knew the problems we would find today."
Tottenham midfielder Archie Gray, speaking to Sky Sports: "For some reason on days in football, a team can outfight another team, it's on us and the fans have been incredible."
On fitness in the starting line-up: "I don't think there's any excuses to be honest."
On hangover from last season: "We've got work to do, you saw that performance. It's definitely an improvement from last season. It's not the start we wanted, going into the mid-week game on Wednesday."
On looking ahead for the rest of the season: "The work we do in the week is about moving in the right direction but today we got out-fought."
On becoming Tottenham's youngest-ever Premier League starting captain: "It was an amazing moment and I'm grateful for the manager for trusting me but again, today wasn't good enough."
Did you know?
Tottenham Hotspur suffered their joint-heaviest defeat on MD1 of a Premier League season, having also lost 3-0 to Manchester United in 2011-12.
Against Brentford, Archie Gray (20y 163d) became the youngest player to start a Premier League match for Tottenham Hotspur as captain, overtaking Harry Kane v Burnley in April 2015 (21y 251d).
Source: “AOL Sports”
