Roberto De Zerbi has acknowledged Tottenham Hotspur need more from Dominic Solanke after he criticised the physical condition of the forward.
Spurs remain winless in the Premier League after five matches following a dismal second-half display in a 3-2 home loss to Aston Villa on Saturday.
England striker Solanke was hauled off after 66 minutes following another anonymous outing -- after a similar showing in a 0-0 draw at Everton earlier this month.
The 29-year-old endured an injury-hit 2025-26 campaign and missed parts of pre-season this summer, but has featured in all seven fixtures this term and only has one goal against Charlton in the Carabao Cup to show for it.
After De Zerbi put his faith in the ex-Bournemouth attacker, the returns so far have been below-par for a player who cost £65 million ($87m) in 2024.
"We need more from him, for sure, but he's one of my players," De Zerbi said.
"I like Dom as a player and I stay with him until the end. He needs to stay better to feel better. The physical condition is not good enough, for sure, but it's normal for him [after an injury].
"Maybe it's not good enough the confidence [in] himself in this moment because he's much better than this Dom Solanke.
"Maybe many, many things can be better than this moment. I think we can't say everything is bad, but it's not enough."
Solanke's terrible start to the campaign is under the microscope due to the eye-catching decision by De Zerbi and Tottenham to leave Richarlison out of the club's 25-player Premier League squad list.
Richarlison could have been included as one of the 17 non-homegrown options instead of long-term absentee Xavi Simons, but De Zerbi claimed the Brazilian "decided everything alone" due to his failure to secure a move away from Spurs in August.
After Richarlison scored 11 league goals last season to help keep Tottenham in the top flight, he was informed that he was not part of the club's first-team plans and could leave, but a transfer to Everton collapsed before deadline day.
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Even though Tottenham ended their league goal drought against Aston Villa with Conor Gallagher and Jan Paul van Hecke on target, their lack of firepower in attack has ensured Richarlison remains the elephant in the room and Mathys Tel was conspicuous by his absence on Saturday.
Tel has endured a difficult start to the new season but was not named on the bench by De Zerbi and it meant Mohammed Kudus and James Maddison were the only out-and-out attacking options for the Italian when his team needed to chase the game.
"Technical decision. He was in the stands because I think during the game, Maddison and Kudus, they had more chances to change the game," De Zerbi said.
"Then two centre-backs, important, also the two full-backs, have a look for Pedro Porro, with Archie Gray and the two central midfielders, but I explained why to Mathys. It was no problem. He was very nice and he understood."
