Roberto De Zerbi explains why he started Lucas Bergvall over more experienced Tottenham midfield options against Brentford and has made a bullish claim about what he expects of the 20-year-old in the future.It did not come as a huge surprise to see Bergvall start in the middle of the park with Sandro Tonali, which was the same pairing that played in Tottenham’s 3-0 win over Hoffenheim last week.The Swede had arguably been Spurs’ best player in pre-season, with De Zerbi making it clear that Bergvall will be part of his project in his pre-match press conference.However, the 20-year-old did not grab his opportunity yesterday, with the Tottenham midfielder being overrun in the first half, forcing De Zerbi to take the youngster off at the interval.Credit: @thatfootballphotog / InstagramRoberto De Zerbi explains why he started Lucas Bergvall in Tottenham’s season openerThe Tottenham boss explained that the choice was between the 20-year-old and the experienced Rodrigo Bentancur, pointing out that the Uruguayan had noy worked with the squad as much as Bergvall did during pre-season.De Zerbi confessed that he is hurting at Spurs’ performance but pointed out that some turbulence was to be expected, given the significant changes made to the team.When asked if he was surprised by Tottenham’s performance at the Gtech Community Stadium, the Italian told Football.London: “Yeah, I was surprised. I was suffering for this defeat, but we are working. If you analyse last season, the defensive line, Porro, Danso, Micky Van de Ven and Udogie. And today, Archie Gray, JP Van Hecke, Senesi and Robertson, four new players.“Two midfielders, Rodrigo Bentancur and Palhinha. Today, two midfielders, Bergvall, why not Bentancur? Because he came late in the pre-season. In the pre-season, we worked with Lucas Bergvall. I think at the beginning of the season, at the beginning of the new project, it was good, it was right to play with Lucas Bergvall. But I knew before the game, Lucas Bergvall, in this type of game, maybe he could suffer more than Rodrigo Bentancur, nine years older, and Lucas, 20. I knew before the game, but at the end you have to think.“We go, and we try to build something good for the club. We need also Archie Gray, we need also Lucas Bergvall, or we work for today. And tomorrow, I don’t know. For today, I agree. For the plan, for the project, what the club wants and what we are, in the direction we are working, I think is the normal process. Even (though) we are suffering for the defeat, we are shocked by this defeat, especially for the way we lost the game. Because they deserve to win and we played very, very bad.”De Zerbi confident Bergvall will not repeat mistake he made against BrentfordThe former Djurgarden man gave the ball away in the lead-up to Brentford’s second goal, while Antonin Kinsky will also feel that he could have done a lot better, with the goalkeeper parrying the shot straight into the path of Vitaly Janelt.De Zerbi insisted that the Swede did not have a bad game overall and he is confident that he will not repeat the mistake he made for the Bees’ second goal.The Tottenham boss added: “Lucas Bergvall, the second goal. I think he didn’t play badly today, even if I substituted him at half-time. But Lucas Bergvall in the next two years, he will not lose that ball in that moment of the game. But there are steps to become better.”READ MORE: Tottenham player ratings vs Brentford as 7/10 star leaves the only positive markThe post ‘I knew he would suffer’ – De Zerbi reveals why he started Lucas Bergvall in Tottenham defeat appeared first on Spurs Web.