De Zerbi 'made a rod for his own back' with signings

The Observer's Rory Smith says Roberto de Zerbi has "almost made a rod for his own back" this season by signing so many players in the transfer window. Following a relegation battle last season, there was a vast summer of recruitment in north London, with 13 players joining. However results haven't improved - with Tottenham bottom of the Premier League table after five games, with just two points gained from a possible 15. "I don't think Tottenham should be bottom [of the table], but I don't think it's a shock that a team with eight or nine new signings on the pitch doesn't know what it's doing," said Smith on BBC Radio 5 Live's Monday Night Club. "But De Zerbi wanted the changes, so he's almost made a rod for his own back." BBC Sport pundit Chris Sutton added: "You would expect De Zerbi to be getting more out of a group of players that he has brought in. "Every week he consistently criticises the performance of the players and it's reasonable to think they should be doing better than they have done." Former Premier League defender Nedum Onuoha also believes Spurs can't use new signings needing time to gel as an excuse for their poor start. "I think it's fair for them to get grief," said Onuoha. "I'm on board with it. "They should have won more games by now and they should have scored more goals based on the profile of players they have. "Most of them have had a pre-season for De Zerbi to get his ideas across. When a player isn't performing, it's the managers job to make a session on who to keep in the team. "I don't think just because they've signed loads of new players that they can't be successful because they absolutely can when the quality is there." Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds [BBC]