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The former England striker has been speaking about Tottenham's decision to appoint Roberto De Zerbi as their new head coach
Alan Shearer believes Tottenham's appointment of Roberto De Zerbi as their new head coach is a gamble that should keep them in the Premier League.
Spurs have handed the Italian a mega money five-year deal to come in and save them from the drop but also look to the future. The 46-year-old made it clear in his first club interview that he will be in charge of the north London club next season regardless of what happens in the final seven matches of this campaign.
De Zerbi is Tottenham's fourth head coach of the past nine months after a string of decisions gone wrong at the club and former England star and now pundit Shearer believes that put the new man in a very strong position in his negotiations for the job.
"Look, Roberto De Zerbi could have written his own contract, really. I mean, he probably has done. He's probably written his own deal. I wouldn't look into the five-year thing, because you don't know what clauses are in there. If you get sacked, then you might only get 12-months pay, if you're lucky.
"But I guess it's a gamble from his point of view because he doesn't want to manage in the Championship, and there's every chance that he could be. He's backed himself for the last seven games of the season to make a difference. But I would say he knows the league, he's got a certain style of play, whether he can implement that in between now and the end of the season, we'll have to wait and see," Shearer told Betfair.
"We've all been saying that Spurs are too good to go down. Well, let's see if he can get a turn around with the players, because I don't think it matters how good you are in terms of ability, I think mentally is the most important thing. And up to now, they haven't been able to handle that.
"Can he get a little bit of belief into the players in that squad in between now and the end of the season? That's the biggest thing, because confidence-wise, it is the most important thing, and trying to make them believe that, that he can get something out of them.
"Tottenham have got an incredibly tough game next weekend, Sunderland away in their first game for under De Zerbi, so everyone's going to be looking at that."
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Spurs could be in the drop zone by the time they next play at Sunderland on April 12 if West Ham beat Wolves at home two days before. Shearer believes that De Zerbi will "just about" keep Tottenham up and has compared the task he is facing to his own at Newcastle, although that ended in relegation.
"Whoever they were going to appoint, they were going be taking a risk, but they've put their cards on the table and said, you're our man, five-year deal, good or bad, you're with us," said the former striker. "It's definitely a big gamble, but it would have been whoever they appointed because of the precarious position they're in.
"Roberto De Zerbi has a history of doing it his own way. You have to do that as a manager, and he hasn't been at clubs for that long. That's why I wouldn't read too much into the five-year contract. All that matters for Spurs now is just to stay in the Premier League, and then they can go again next season. I think he will just about keep them up.
"When I was manager of Newcastle and in a similar situation to De Zerbi, we were bottom of the league, so it was slightly different. But it's a really tough situation. I was Newcastle's fourth manager of the season and Roberto De Zerbi is now their third.
"You're given the job for a reason. You're not given the job because everything's great at the club, and you have to walk into this situation. You're basically given the job because the club are in s**t."
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