'Rocket' Ronny Rosenthal may not have played in the Premier League for 29 years, but he is still remembered fondly by supporters of both clubs.
Flashscore's Stanimir Todorov and Jason Pettigrove tapped into Rosenthal's knowledge of the North London outfit and got his thoughts on what they need to do in order to improve upon their 2025/26 showing.
Read part one of our interview with Rosenthal here.
Tottenham's issues started before Son left
Ange Postecoglou recently admitted on a podcast that the ‘Spursy’ tag around the club is justified and that so many people there don’t have the big club mentality. That’s clearly a massive problem, but how do you overcome that as players and staff?
"First of all, I don't think that I agree with that assessment from him, not totally, because I watch them regularly. To start with, Tottenham don't have enough speed in the side. Under Postecoglou, they played fantastic, amazing football with good combinations, but don't forget, Son was there, and he's not there anymore. So you have something a little bit similar to the upcoming Salah situation at Liverpool.
"Tottenham's biggest problem started when Son was still there, because they were leading games one-nil, two-nil, but couldn't kill the opposition off. They would still be pressing the opposition in their half, which, for me, there is no need to do.
"They should've been forming a defensive block, but they didn't. They're not Real Madrid or Barcelona, and if you can't kill the game, you at least have to maintain your lead. Nothing else matters. Defensively, they weren't good enough, and things got even worse when selling, for example, Brennan Johnson, because you don't sell a striker and bring in a midfield player to replace him.
"Injuries to key players haven't helped either, and one of Spurs' most important players, and the only player for me at Tottenham who can make a real impact, Mo Kudus, has been injured for so long.
"Tottenham don't have wingers or players with electrifying pace, and that's precisely what they do need. Even Manor Solomon would be better than what they have now. Xavi Simons is doing some amazing things, and yes, he scored a crazy goal two weeks ago, but look at his numbers. He can't do it throughout the whole season.
"They're the reasons why Tottenham are struggling. In the Premier League, you have the biggest combination of explosive players. When I retired from football, I already understood that speed would be the name of the game.
"It's why I discovered players like Samuel Eto'o, Cristiano Ronaldo, Vincent Kompany, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and many more, because I was looking for the top sprinters in football. I saw Cristiano in his second or third game for Sporting's first team, and I immediately alerted Tottenham, but they didn't follow it up."
Villa game turning point in Spurs' season
As of today, how do you assess the chances of Tottenham surviving in the Premier League? It's between them and West Ham right now, so how much of a disaster would it be for them to get relegated?
"Of course, it's a crazy situation for Tottenham, but after the last win against Villa, I think they have maybe a 40% chance of going down, and 60% to stay up. They obviously have to beat Leeds to stand a chance, and hope that West Ham don't win. There's still a chance for them to forget this horrible season."
So, the Villa game was a possible turning point?
"I think so, yes. It seems to me that tactically, the new manager understands the defensive side of the game because he knows he doesn't have a top team, and he cannot kill off games."
Van de Ven is the best in the world
Regarding the De Zerbi appointment... only one loss and back-to-back wins in the last two games. Assuming Spurs do stay up, how does he get the best of the squad in the next 12 to 18 months? What did he manage to change in your opinion, and shouldn't they have made the managerial change sooner?
"It's still early days. I want to see what he does during the games. Two of the previous managers (Postecoglou, Thomas Frank) played good football, but that's not the way, in the end, to win games. There's a lot of expectation that Tottenham need to always be in the top six, so he (De Zerbi) will need to bring in four new players, but really top, top stars.
"He has the main players there already; Van de Ven... Spence is important, Maddison is important, and Kudus, but there are too many mediocre players. I don't know the club's financial situation, so you hope that the big names in the squad can make an impact on the rest of the players.
"As for Igor Tudor, there was one game in which I didn't quite understand what he was doing when he took off Van de Ven. I said to myself that maybe he was injured, but after the game, I understood that Tudor just wanted to replace him with another player for no reason.
"For me, this is the best defender in the world. He's the quickest central defender in the world, and at the end of the season I'm sure that whether Tottenham stay up or go down, the two or three biggest clubs will be looking to try and sign him."
Tottenham just need to add quality
Richarlison has done well for Tottenham this season and has continued to score goals. How can he get even better, and do you think he'll be in the Brazil squad for the World Cup?
"He will play for Brazil, yes, and he's certainly got quality, but I wouldn't say he's a player with top quality. If you're a club that wants to be in the top six, then he needs to do more. Tottenham don't have too many strikers though, so he's an important player for them, it's obvious."
Aside from the Europa League, Spurs haven't won a major trophy in almost 20 years. So what specifically needs to change at the club, aside from bringing in top players, in order for their aspirations to become a reality?
"It's just about adding quality, as simple and obvious as that. It's going to be very difficult, and it's very expensive, and they also need the manager to have an understanding of how to hold onto a lead. That's what Tottenham have lacked in the last three years."
