Roberto De Zerbi took aim at his £165million strike force after Tottenham left Nottingham Forest still searching for their first goal of the season.
Spurs at least claimed a point at the City Ground yet for the first time since 1974, they have failed to score in each of their opening three games.
De Zerbi’s team did not register a shot on target against Oliver Glasner’s team and the Italian bemoaned his attackers’ poor work in front of goal.
‘In the last third we have to improve,’ De Zerbi said. ‘We have to improve and take better decisions, make keep calmer when we are close to doing something important in the final third.
‘When Omar Marmoush had a shot and it went over, we had Andy Robertson overlapping. If we had taken the right decision, Mohammed Kudus was at the far post waiting to score.
‘How many crosses did we send beyond the far post? Mathys Tel, twice. Savio, once. Tel has big potential but he takes too many wrong decisions.’
Tottenham’s new-look £165million attack has yet to score a single goal so far this campaign
Savinho was hooked off on the hour mark as Tottenham drew 0-0 with Nottingham Forest
De Zerbi also revealed he had taken off Savio, making his Premier League debut following his £75million move from Manchester City, and Destiny Udogie on the advice of the club’s medical staff. ‘There was a plan not to take risks,’ he said. ‘I’m not happy. But football is like this. Savio has not the best physical condition to play 90 minutes. He’s an important player for us, a crucial player. Destiny is another crucial player for us.
‘I think Kudus and Robertson, they played well. But it’s not so easy to come in from the bench and adapt immediately.
‘I’m not happy when we have the plan, but it’s for my advantage, for my business, the management of the players after injuries.’
Oliver Glasner became the latest Premier League manager to let rip at VAR after the technology intervened to deny him a first win as Nottingham Forest boss.
Neco Williams thought he had given Forest the lead midway through the second half when he bundled the ball home from close range. The goal was originally given by referee Craig Pawson but chalked off after VAR ruled Sandro Tonali’s attempted clearance had struck Williams on the arm before rebounding into the net.
Glasner did not believe Pawson had made a clear mistake and argued the goal should have stood.
He said: ‘I have watched it back to see all the angles, five or six different ones. From one angle, you can guess that the ball touched the arm as the shirt sleeve moves, but it’s not clear why.
‘So if we are guessing, VAR cannot intervene. It’s not clear and obvious and we were told before the season the threshold (for intervention) should be very high. We accept the point but it feels like we lost two.
Roberto De Zerbi took aim at his strike force and demanded improvements in the final third
Oliver Glasner was furious that VAR had chalked off Neco Williams’ goal for a handball
‘Refereeing a Premier League game is really difficult. The right way to support the referee is to keep the threshold high. With these kinds of situations, you weaken your referees and everyone wants to support the referee as the job is not easy.
‘I told the referee I felt the goal should have stood but if he is called, he has to trust VAR. I’m sure all the Forest fans have the same opinion.’
Williams added: ‘It’s a goal. VAR is there when there is a clear and obvious error and for me that is not clear and obvious. I’ve seen the images and the replays and at not one moment did I think I handballed it. I headed it in between my arms. If you’re going to pause the replay, it’s going to look like it hit my arm but it didn’t hit my arm.’
