De Zerbi: Spurs not in a position to take EFL Cup lightly

Roberto De Zerbi believes Tottenham must treat the EFL Cup like the Premier League to "change the mentality" at the club.

Spurs fell to a humbling 3-0 defeat at Brentford in their opening game of the Premier League season, despite a positive pre-season campaign.

They suffered their joint-heaviest defeat on MD1 of a Premier League season, having also lost 3-0 to Manchester United in 2011-12.

Since taking over at Spurs in March, De Zerbi has only won three of his eight games across all competitions (D2 L3), though he did help them avoid relegation from the English top flight last term.

Spurs face Charlton Athletic in the second round of the EFL Cup, and De Zerbi is determined to build a winning culture at the club.

"For me it's like the Premier League. We are not in the position to make differences," De Zerbi said when asked about the importance of the EFL Cup.

"We need to get used to winning the matches. We have to change the mood. We can because we already did last season.

"I heard last season we can't win the game because the last game we won was in December. I think the environment has to change, the players inside and the people inside have to change this mentality.

"It's a challenge. When I said we have to become a team it's about this. The quality of the players we had enough of against Brentford to do much better."

Spurs have been eliminated from just one of their last 19 EFL Cup ties against sides from a lower division than themselves, going out on penalties to Colchester United in the 2019-20 third round.

Spurs have also won six of their last seven EFL Cup home matches, with the only defeat during this period coming against Chelsea in the semi-final of the 2021-22 edition.