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Tottenham spent part of the summer in Asia, while several players returned late after the World Cup.

Roberto De Zerbi has said he already knew Tottenham would not be ready for the start of the Premier League season, with a fragmented pre-season leaving his squad short of full fitness.

Spurs were beaten 3-0 by Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday, as the Bees’ intensity proved too much for De Zerbi’s side throughout the match.

Without key players Micky van de Ven and Pedro Porro, who came back late from the World Cup, Tottenham fielded an unfamiliar defence that had never previously played together in a competitive match.

There were alterations in midfield as well, with Mateus Fernandes and James Maddison considered not fit enough to start, and De Zerbi admitted his side have begun the new season without being in the proper physical shape.

“For many reasons,” he said when asked why his team were unable to control the game. “I think we are not a team yet, for a lot of reasons. Yesterday in the press conference, when you asked me what is the target, we can fix the target when you become a team. Before becoming a team, we can't say what we can do.

“For sure, we are not in the right point in physical condition for a lot of reasons. For the players, they came late after the World Cup, because in Australia we couldn't work in the right way for the trip, don't take risk for a lot of things, but are not excuses.

“They are the normal situation when you are building a new project, a new process. I don't want time, but we have to pass through these problems. I couldn't lose confidence in my players. I believe in my players, I believe in my club, I believe in myself. I think we are working well, but in this moment.”

Spurs completed pre-season unbeaten and signed off their preparations last weekend with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Hoffenheim at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

In spite of that emphatic win, De Zerbi said he was aware after the match that Tottenham were still behind where they needed to be in terms of fitness.

Bergvall in the next two years, he will not lose that ball in that moment of the game ... there are steps to become better.

Roberto De Zerbi

“I knew after the Hoffenheim game, I said we are not in the right point, we are late for the start of the Premier League. But it's a step, we have to improve quickly,” De Zerbi continued.

“Anyway, we could fight stronger than we did today. We lost too many duels, we made too many mistakes in the timing when we wanted to push the pressure higher. We arrived second for the second ball, we didn't win one second ball, one duel, one tackle, and it's tough.

“But if you analyse everything, you can find that we played with one [born in] 2007, one 2006.

“Lucas Bergvall, the second goal. I think he didn't play bad today, even if I substituted in the 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.

“Now the focus and the target is to become a team. Because a team, you can't become a team for the transfer market window, for the players, the new players, the paper, the player of the paper, no. You become teams with the players, they find the connection between them, they find the spirit, they find the soul, like I said yesterday, and it's a process.”