Archie Gray believes Tottenham are winning because they now play like a group of brothers, and he has pointed straight back to Roberto De Zerbi’s training camp in Marbella as the moment it started.
The 20-year-old opened the scoring in the 2-0 win over Crystal Palace, a game Spurs controlled from the moment Palace went down to 10 men after 13 minutes. Jan Paul van Hecke got the second, and Tottenham finished with 34 efforts at goal.
That result made it three Premier League wins on the trot, after Coventry City and Chelsea. Speaking after the game, Gray made it clear the dressing room feels the change as much as the fans do.
“It’s a really important time for us. I think we’ve improved so much over the last couple of weeks. I think we’re more of a team, more together. We’re just performing better because we work for each other on the pitch,” he said.
Why does Archie Gray credit the Marbella trip?
De Zerbi took the squad to Spain after the draw at Old Trafford on 10 October, a game Spurs finished with 10 men. The idea was not only to train but, in the manager’s words, to become a stronger group. “I believe in football you need a group, you need the relationships, the connection,” De Zerbi explained afterwards.
Gray is now the second player to say the trip worked. Mateus Fernandes called Marbella the change point after his midfield masterclass at Stamford Bridge, and Gray backed him up.
“The Marbella trip would have obviously helped, just getting to know each other better and being like almost brothers on the pitch. That’s the thing the gaffer speaks about all the time and that’s what we’ve been trying to do. The last few games, we’ve been doing that,” he said.
Three wins on the bounce, and why it matters
Gray did not pretend that beating 10 men was simple. If anything, he felt it made the job harder, because Palace dropped even deeper once they lost a player.
“It was a really good feeling, especially with them having a man sent off. It’s even more difficult to break them down because they want to defend more. It’s just really important to get three wins on the bounce. It hasn’t happened for quite a long time,” he said.
That last line is the one Spurs fans will hold on to. A run like this has been rare, and Gray’s goal came in a game where De Zerbi felt his side played as if they had two players more.
The Alan Shearer celebration that wasn’t planned
There was a lighter moment too. Gray admitted he had nothing ready when the ball went in, and had even asked James Maddison what he should do.
“No, I just peeled off like Alan Shearer! I’m a bit old-fashioned. I don’t really think of celebrations or anything like that, nothing comes into my head! I actually asked Madders, ‘what do I do for my celebration?’ and he was like, ‘I don’t even know’. I didn’t do anything. I just put my finger up and ran off!”
He also said the confidence in the group shows in the small things, like the substitutes sprinting over to join the celebrations. “We’re all like brothers. We all get on really well and you can see that out there on the pitch,” he added. “It’s those little things that mean so much to us as players and I think that’s the most important thing.”
Is the Tottenham togetherness real?
Players talk about team spirit all the time, so a little caution makes sense. But this time there is evidence behind the words. Two different players have now picked out the same week in Spain, and the results since then back them up.
For Gray, it has been a busy few days. He scored, picked up a booking and was taken off at half-time, which left a right-back decision for De Zerbi. Whatever the manager chooses, the 20-year-old sounds like someone who has bought into the group completely. That is exactly what De Zerbi went to Marbella to build, and three wins later it looks like time well spent.
