Tottenham's Resurgence Under De Zerbi: Vicario's Insights

Guglielmo Vicario did not look like a man still recovering from hernia surgery as he tore across the pitch on the final day, grabbed Roberto De Zerbi by the head and roared into his manager’s face. That wild embrace told the story. Survival, yes. But also something more: the belief that Tottenham Hotspur have finally found a way forward.

The Italian goalkeeper has spent the last month as an anxious onlooker, unable to help on the pitch, forced instead to live every minute from the sidelines. The relief at Joao Palhinha’s decisive goal against Everton, and the roar that followed it, came from a player who knows how close this club came to the edge.

“It has been a very long season. We suffered a lot as a team,” the 29-year-old admitted. “Also individually I suffered a lot for many reasons, different reasons.” Staying up was not a bonus. It was the basic requirement. “This club deserves at least to stay in the Premier League. This is the minimum you can get at this football club.”

For long stretches of the season, even that minimum looked under threat. Confidence drained, the football flat, hope ebbing away. Vicario does not sugar-coat it: “Sometimes there are situations that happen that are not more in your control. You lose the focus, you lose hope, you lose a lot of stuff.”

Then De Zerbi walked through the door.

The turnaround was not built on some magic tactical blueprint alone, though the 11 points from the final six games tell their own story. It started with people, with conversations, with a manager determined to reconnect a fractured dressing room and a restless fanbase.

“He had a lot of talks with the players. I spoke a lot with him,” Vicario said. Unable to contribute between the posts, he tried to help in the shadows. “I was not able to help him on the pitch but I tried to do it behind the scenes. It was important for everyone to get everyone around the environment, very focused and to play for this badge.”

That was De Zerbi’s first demand: play for the shirt, and pull the supporters with you. The message landed.

“Get behind the people to try to follow us and to stay close to us in these tough moments and they did it brilliantly today. The response from the crowd was unbelievable. We felt it.”

From a team paralysed by fear to one that clawed its way to safety, Tottenham’s late surge under De Zerbi has reset the mood around the club. “We went through this tough period and we got the result, that is the most important thing,” Vicario said. “From next season there will be a different Tottenham Hotspur for sure.”

Kinsky’s Redemption

No player embodies that transformation more than Antonin Kinsky.

The 23-year-old Czech keeper was scarred by that brutal night in Madrid, hooked after just 17 minutes against Atletico by interim boss Igor Tudor. For a young goalkeeper, such a public ordeal can linger. It can define you. Kinsky refused to let it.

Thrown in for the run-in during Vicario’s absence, he produced a series of outstanding displays against Wolves, Leeds and Everton, hauling Spurs through with big saves when the margins were razor-thin.

“He has been incredible, impressive, he did unbelievably well,” Vicario said. “In every game it was not easy. Now it’s easy to say but I was sure of his mental strength and ability.”

When De Zerbi arrived, one of his first questions for Vicario was about Kinsky. Was the young keeper still carrying Madrid with him? The answer was clear.

“When I spoke to Roberto the first day he signed he asked me how Toni was and I said ‘I think he is fully recovered from what happened because in football it can happen’, and he showed it.”

Kinsky did more than just cope. He excelled. “That’s the biggest strength he can put on the pitch. I’m very proud of him, he made some really important saves to keep us in the league and he deserved his moment,” Vicario said. “Sometimes football is downs, I think he had the brilliance to show his ups. Especially in the last two, three games. He did unbelievably for us.”

De Zerbi’s Spurs Take Shape

Vicario is still not “100 per cent fit but in a better place” after surgery, and his name has already been linked with a summer move back to Italy and Inter Milan. For now, his focus is on recovery and what lies ahead in north London.

He is adamant: Tottenham supporters have every reason to be excited.

“Roberto has been massively important for us. He changed everything. He changed all the mood, all the vibes, all the football as well, because we needed also the football on the pitch because we were struggling to play good football,” he said.

De Zerbi’s reputation has long been built on his attacking ideas, his insistence on brave, front-foot football. At Spurs, with the club staring at the trapdoor, he added steel without losing the ball.

“He is probably known very well for the football he wants to play but also the defensive phase since he came in has been unbelievably good,” Vicario pointed out.

The Everton game was a case in point. With so much on the line, Tottenham did not retreat into their shell. They controlled the contest and shut down almost everything Sean Dyche’s side tried to build.

“[Against Everton] we conceded just one shot where Toni did this big save at the end of the match but for 95 minutes we didn't concede any shots. Both on the ball and off the ball I think he did an unbelievable job.”

The players bought in, including those on the fringes.

“Also the boys, everyone who was playing or not playing followed him in a great way. That is of course the credit he deserves,” Vicario said. “I can say without him this result would not have been possible. I want to thank him from the bottom of my heart because we were suffering a lot and he gave us a lot of joy in every aspect.”

From a season that flirted with disaster, Tottenham walk away with their Premier League status intact, a manager who has stamped his authority on the club and a dressing room that finally feels aligned.

The fear has gone. In its place, something far more dangerous for the rest of the league: a wounded heavyweight that believes, with De Zerbi in charge, this escape might just be the start of something.