Richarlison and Dane Scarlett were both on target as Tottenham eased past Auckland FC in the first match of their pre-season tour of Asia and Oceania.
Their hosts, the newly-crowned A-League champions, posed a curious opposition but Spurs made no mistake at Eden Park, putting on a composed performance.
De Zerbi named a youthful starting lineup featuring eight academy graduates and Archie Gray wearing the captain’s armband before adding more experience later in the match.
It took just 12 minutes for Spurs to open the scoring as a creative Gray pass unlocked the Auckland defence, playing Manor Solomon in behind. His shot was saved but fell for Scarlett to fire home on the rebound, and Tottenham took that advantage into half-time.
One Brandon Austin intervention was required to keep a clean sheet as he was quick off his line to deny Sam Cosgrove one-on-one.
Richarlison was introduced shortly after the hour mark alongside Ben Davies, Mateus Fernandes, Conor Gallagher and Mateus Fernandes, and soon picked up the second, finishing from a Mathys Tel cross.
Disappointingly for those 40,112 Kiwi Tottenham fans who braved the winter rain to attend, there were no debuts for Andy Robertson or Jan Paul van Hecke. Summer signing Sandro Tonali was not involved, either.
James Maddison was not involved in the match. He tore his ACL on Tottenham’s pre-season tour last summer, and De Zerbi confirmed he was simply unwilling to risk the player as he builds back to full fitness: “He's not working the last five days, I think, like Udogie, but they have not a big problem, just to stay focused, don't take any risks and then for the next game, the next friendly game against Sydney.
“Maybe we play with Tonali, with other players, maybe, we've got to see.”
De Zerbi continued, insisting the 20-year-old Gray was fully deserving of the captain’s armband: “Archie is young, but he's an old player, as a mentality, as a performance, as an experience, as a career.
“But the young players have to push, because with me as a coach, they have the chance to play. Logically, they have to show me they are ready, they have qualities, they have a mentality to play in this club.
“But when I decide the players, when I decide the squad, I never see the age of the players.”
