De Zerbi turns rival fans' relish into motivation as assistant Maldera heads to Ukraine

Tottenham manager Roberto de Zerbi has transformed the hostility of rival fans into a rallying cry for survival, even as his right-hand man departs to manage Ukraine's national team — a decision that creates a staffing headache at the worst possible moment.

By Moemedi Michael Poncanaeurope3-minute read18 May 2026☆ Save ↗ Share ⎙ Print

Tottenham Hotspur manager Roberto de Zerbi has found motivation in an unlikely source: the satisfaction of rival fans who want to see his club relegated. Speaking on 18 May 2026, the Italian coach framed external hostility as fuel, a message now freighted with new urgency after confirmation that his assistant, Andrea Maldera, will leave to take charge of the Ukraine national team.

Maldera's appointment, announced the same day by BBC Sport, marks a significant departure from De Zerbi's inner circle at the precise moment Tottenham face their most demanding run of the season. The north London club enters the final stretch seven points above the relegation zone with seven matches remaining — a position that offers comfort on paper but has narrowed sharply following a run of results that have renewed anxiety among supporters. De Zerbi's framing of rival-fan sentiment as a galvanising force appears designed to arrest that slide.

The appointment carries particular resonance given Maldera's prior association with Ukrainian football. He worked alongside De Zerbi at Shakhtar Donetsk between 2021 and 2024, during a period that saw the club navigate extraordinary disruption as a consequence of the conflict. That experience — managing players and staff in conditions shaped by war, relocation, and institutional uncertainty — is precisely the attribute Ukraine's football association cited in announcing his appointment.

Maldera will take over a national team still contending with the aftereffects of that disruption. Ukraine's squad has been unable to play home games on home soil since 2022, forcing the federation to stage matches abroad. The team also lost several experienced players to military mobilisation. Results since then have been inconsistent: competitive enough to suggest a core of quality, inconsistent enough to underline the need for structural rebuild. Maldera's first fixture is a friendly against Northern Ireland on 19 May, a low-stakes introduction before competitive fixtures resume.

For De Zerbi, the immediate concern is not philosophical but practical. Seven matches remain, and the margin above 18th-placed Southampton stands at seven points — comfortable by most measures, but not if form turns. Tottenham have won two of their last six league matches. The fixtures include encounters with clubs still fighting for European qualification and with those themselves fighting to survive. Every point matters, and De Zerbi must now restructure his technical bench mid-campaign.

The irony of the timing has not gone unremarked in English football coverage. Maldera was not merely De Zerbi's assistant but a trusted collaborator across multiple clubs — a relationship built over years that cannot be replicated quickly. Tottenham's remaining fixtures require tactical preparation that will now fall on a reshuffled group. De Zerbi's public emphasis on rival-fan motivation may serve a dual purpose: rallying his players while implicitly acknowledging that the club cannot afford disruption.

Tottenham's season now sits at an inflection point. The club has been in transition for several years, cycling through managers and sporting directors in pursuit of a coherent identity. De Zerbi was appointed to impose a clear tactical philosophy; losing his most senior assistant complicates that project at a moment when results must do the talking. Whether the squad responds to the adversity of a depleted coaching setup — or to the psychological pressure De Zerbi is now amplifying — will define the next seven weeks.

Maldera's move to Ukraine reflects a broader pattern in international football: national federations appointing coaches with club-track experience rather than former national-team assistants. It also highlights Ukrainian football's pragmatic orientation. The federation has prioritised candidates with proven capacity to work under pressure and to develop players in disrupted environments. Maldera fits that profile, and his Shakhtar background provides a network within Eastern European football that could prove valuable for squad-building.

The stakes for both parties are real but asymmetric. For Tottenham, survival is the threshold outcome — failure would trigger a financial and reputational reset that would complicate any subsequent rebuild. For Ukraine, Maldera's appointment represents a medium-term investment in national-team development under conditions that make long-term planning difficult. The two clubs are operating on different timescales, which explains why the move makes sense for both despite its awkward timing.

What remains uncertain is whether De Zerbi's motivational rhetoric translates to results on the pitch. The message — that external pressure can be converted into internal resolve — has rhetorical coherence. Whether a squad that has shown fragility in decisive moments can absorb that message is a separate question, and one that only the remaining fixtures can answer. The next seven matches will determine whether Tottenham's season ends in recovery or rupture.