de Zerbi, USMNT, And Kevin Rathbun: TalkSport's Ben Jacobs on SDH AM 3.31.26

Okay, no dilly, no dally. We got to bring the man in because he's got like 19 different

things to do today.

I'm not kidding, brother. You're the one that's like, yeah, I got to be on. I got to be

out. I know you're one of the busiest men in show business, especially after what happened

this morning, where the verbiage is now what? Close to an agreement. What's the phrase

that pays with Roberto Deserbie right now?

Yeah, I think Roberto Deserbie has an agreement in principle with Spurs. There's a break

maybe like an hour ago. So this is going to happen, barring in these prizes or complications.

And in fact, the final formality is not even related to Roberto Deserbie. It's about

the makeup of his backroom staff. So this is a real risk reward appointment for Spurs

on paper, long term deal, their top candidate to be the permanent head coach, all of that's

positive. But he's got to do something in seven games because if Spurs go out, we need

to understand what will happen. And you could definitely make an argument if Roberto Deserbie

comes in as the new permanent long term coach takes Tottenham down and then wants to leave.

That's even more embarrassing and damning as far as Tottenham are concerned. So this is

the dictionary definition, as I just said, in an interview with Sirius about 10 minutes

ago, of a risk reward appointment.

Yes, the phrase that pays today. I mean, why initially there was talk of it being Sean

Dish, but he's getting more money sitting on the beach from his time at Nottingham Forest

and taking a pay cut to go. What was it just basically writing a big honking check and

saying five years and so come in and save us for these seven games for Deserbie? Was that

the bottom line, you think?

I don't think money is necessarily a huge motivating factor, although we should point out that

he's the third best paid manager in the Premier League, assuming, as I say, that he stays

and does at least one full season. He'll go down in the history books as third behind

Micha Latetta and Pep Guardiola. Deserbie, for me, has made two considerations. One is

short term and they throw in the kitchen sink at him. So money is the factor there because

there is a huge stay up bonus. But then the second aspect, if he can keep Tottenham up,

is actually more about control. And that's the big difference. So Roberto Deserbie was approached

by Fabio Paratici, former coastboarding director and consultant and Daniel Levy before Thomas

Frank was hired. And they said to Deserbie, we want to give you the job. And Deserbie said,

no, because he didn't think he was necessarily a fit within that sporting model where obviously

both Paratici and Levy carried a lot of control. Now we'll be heading into a summer if Tottenham

stay up where they will rebuild their sporting department. And remember, this was supposed

to be about Paratici going and a new coastboarding director coming in before the permanent head

coach to be part of the process, but now it's happened the other way around. So managers

very rarely, Micha Latetta, after Edu left, is maybe the most recent example Eddie Howe to

an extent at Newcastle as well. But rarely does a manager get to pick the sporting director

and be part of that chemistry building process. And Deserbie has basically been told,

unlike previous Spurs managers under Daniel Levy, you're going to have a lot of autonomy in the

market. You're going to have a lot of say about who comes in. And I think control is why Roberto

Deserbie views this as a project fit. But the project will change so dramatically if Tottenham end

up in the championship that it's almost two jobs. It's seven games, keep Tottenham up, earn a lot

of money, then build your project. But if Tottenham go down, we still have to understand how Roberto

Deserbie will view that. And whether actually he'll want out of this five year contract after only

seven weeks or so. All right. And I know that the time that we do get to grab on to you, like I

said, it's like grabbing a comet by the tail. Or water through an open hand is when you, you're

over here on this coast and you get to come and hang out with us for a few tonight. US Portugal

takeaways from game number one with the US when we saw each other passing ships in the night

in the press box. And you spend and you were Portugal practice caught up with Roberto Martinez

yesterday. What are some of your overarching thoughts heading into tonight about the US M&T?

Yeah, I think there's sort of two narratives. There's inside the US men's national team come

where the calm about a resounding defeat five two to Belgium. And maybe the fan feeling heading

into this Portugal game that something is needed to show that this US men's national team

are capable of going head to head with the best. And what I find surprising about poch

Tino but in a quite refreshing way is he's been speaking about this team as contenders to go far

in the tournament. And virtually every national team manager, even Thomas Tuchler England,

is saying game by game, win the group, get out the group. But I think poch Tino's mentality is

that's not actually a massive achievement. Maybe in previous World Cups, yes. But this

is an expanded World Cup where 48 go to 32. And you can get out the group by finishing third.

So if you don't set the mentality and the bar higher, then you build a culture of it'll be right

if we win one draw one lose one in the group. It'll be right if we say we got the knockout stage

and then go media poch Tino demands more. And naturally by a logical conclusion, more equals

caught a final being a very solid result for the US men's national team. And anything else

potentially being deemed as quite underwhelming, there's caveats of course they could win every

game in the group stage and they could just get a ridiculously tough draw because somebody else

underperforms. But I think if everything went according to plan, the US are looking at caught a

final or better. And to be a caught a final or better team, you can't get thrashed even in a

friendly to both Belgium and Portugal because it shows a goalfin talents. And this is why I think

even though it is a friendly, there's slightly more pressure tonight on the US man's national team

to at least put in a performance even though my personal viewers I agree with poch Tino that

friendly results don't mean a great deal. More important for me if we get into the nitty-gritty

is who is this number one goalkeeper, Matt Fries or Matt Turner? Is he going to play a back four

or a back three? Chris Richards is going to be important. Does Tim Reem start? If it's Reem and

Richards, I think one more and then you get the best out of the full backs. And then of course

there's some selection headaches, Ricardo Pepe has been reintegrated into the squad. Is he going

to play enough and perform at the level required to make the final selection? And where are the

goals going to come from? There's still a lot of pressure on Balagun, Western McKenney is taking

a lot of chances and I think he'll shoulder a lot of the burden on alleviating the pressure on

Balagun. And then in the Belgium game, Christian Pulisic had one chance where he sort of cut inside

brilliantly and then lent back and tried to bend one in and ended up skying it over the bar.

And then if you look at Belgium's best goal from the right hand side, similar kind of player,

cuts inside from the right and buries it in the corner. So I think Pulisic as captain is very

dismissive of pressure. And that's a good thing. But Pulisic, the player still has to raise that

standard to actually have goals output for the US national team, which he has predominantly 32 goals

in 83 games is outstanding on paper. But this isn't just about massaging those numbers now. This

is almost about saying my numbers are wiped, blank slate, first game of the World Cup,

can Christian Pulisic get as many goal contributions by the end of the tournament as games he plays in.

And if he can, then I believe the US national team can go far.

All right, I know you've got to get out of here because you've got another appointment

at the top of the hour. Most important question you will have here. How much food have you been

able to contain outside of that hotel room? Because I know that you've been locked in there.

It's like, either been practice hotel or game. Have you had the chance to sample anything?

Yeah, we went to an incredible statehouse. And that was near the belt line. I'm not going to name

names, by the way, in case there's any commercial conflicts. But I can't explain it, man. Hit me.

I think it was called Keith Ruffin's statehouse. Oh, Keith Ruffin. Maybe I get that name wrong.

Okay. Yeah. So that was fantastic. There you go. It was like a wagyu,

sirloin, unbelievable. And luckily, we were hosted by some people affiliated to the Mercedes-Benz

Stadium. And they were very kind to show us the central town. But to be honest, the best snacks,

at least that I've had, come from within the stadium itself. And it's an absolute joy covering

a game at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, because everyone's so hospitable. It, for me, visually,

and in terms of its infrastructure, is up there as a contender for not just the best stadium in

America, but one of the best stadiums in the world, great atmosphere, no issue with climate,

because the roof, but the best thing above all else is the soft serve ice cream and the popcorn

that we can get as media in the media center. And I have found myself genuinely, particularly during

the club World Cup, looking down at my soft serve ice cream, taking a massive bite, looking up

and realizing I've missed a goal. Carville ice cream and Ben Jacobs, we have finally made the

impact we're supposed to get out of here, sir. I'll see you at the stadium tonight. You've

got one at 10 o'clock. Great to see you, my friend. Don't be a stranger. Let's go to keep up the

go with my friend and see what the game looks like. There we go. Ben Jacobs from talk sport amongst

all the other places, and he has learned the value of Carville.