Two games, two defeats, five goals conceded, none scored. Roberto De Zerbi’s Tottenham sit bottom of the Premier League after Saturday’s 2-0 home loss to Newcastle United, a week on from a 3-0 dismantling at Brentford — and they have done it having spent a summer figure ESPN puts at £380m, the largest outlay in the club’s history.
Anthony Elanga finished off Nico González’s pass in the 62nd minute at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Yoane Wissa added a second from a set piece, and Spurs did not manage a single shot on target between the 37th and 87th minutes. At the Gtech Community Stadium seven days earlier, Keane Lewis-Potter (12), Vitaly Janelt (33) and Michael Kayode (49) had already handed De Zerbi the heaviest opening-day defeat of his managerial career.
Yet the Italian left the post-match media room insisting the mood inside his squad is not the one the table implies. “There is no panic,” he said. “I know where we are going and what the plan is. I’m sorry for the fans for the result.” Asked about his players, he went further: “I love my players more today than the next win we will make.”
The most expensive bottom side in Premier League history
Eight players arrived this summer and five of them started against Newcastle. Sandro Tonali came from the club he faced on Saturday for £100m, Omar Marmoush cost £60m from Manchester City, Savinho arrived from the same club in a deal that could reach £85m, and Mateus Fernandes and Jan Paul van Hecke were added to a rebuilt spine. Cristian Romero, Djed Spence, Luka Vuskovic and Will Lankshear went the other way.
De Zerbi has been unapologetic about the scale of it. “For me, no pressure and it’s not a problem,” he said before the season began. “I don’t know why the people don’t love if Tottenham becomes better.” He framed the spending as being “for the club, for the fans, for the history of the club, for the pride of the club”.
The problem, by his own diagnosis, is not the squad list. “The biggest challenge is to find the right mentality,” he said after the Newcastle defeat. “Unfortunately, you can’t buy it.” That is a pointed admission from a manager whose recruitment budget was supposed to solve most things, and it lands on a dressing room already unsettled: De Zerbi confirmed Richarlison, Kevin Danso and Pape Matar Sarr have all asked to leave, and that Savinho missed the Newcastle game with a muscular problem.
A 52-year record, and two seasons of rot
The statistical marker is brutal. Tottenham have lost their opening two league fixtures without scoring for the first time since 1974-75 — a season that ended with Spurs surviving relegation on the final day. That is not an isolated wobble but the continuation of a pattern: the club finished 17th in each of the last two campaigns, won three home league matches in 2025-26 and needed a final-day win over Everton to stay up. Across three seasons they have lost 21 home league games, a total matched only by Wolves.
De Zerbi, appointed with Alessandro Nesta as his assistant, was hired precisely to break that cycle. Instead the first fortnight has reproduced it. Jamie Carragher’s verdict on Sky Sports was blunt: “Tottenham’s start to the season couldn’t have gone any worse,” adding that he expects the club “to go into the market again, there’s no doubt about it”. Jamie Redknapp argued for patience given how many new players are being integrated, while questioning the leadership shown by captain Micky van de Ven.
What happens next
De Zerbi’s counter-argument is that the performances have been better than the scorelines. “Until the first goal we conceded I think we played better than Newcastle,” he said. “We can improve in the defensive phases but today was an unfair result.” His stated targets remain broader than the next three points — “to find the soul and the style of play” — and he has pointed to the club’s need to be in European competition every season as the real measure.
The immediate measure is simpler. Spurs travel to Nottingham Forest next, and a third defeat would leave them pointless and goalless after three games with the fixture list offering Aston Villa and Manchester United inside the first six. De Zerbi is right that mentality cannot be bought. He now has to demonstrate it can be coached — and quickly, because at Tottenham the gap between patience and panic has been measured in weeks, not seasons.
**Sources:** [ESPN – Spurs spent £380m](https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/49765222/tottenham-hotspur-spent-380-million-transfers-summer-roberto-de-zerbi-cant-buy-mentality) · [ESPN – De Zerbi defends spending](https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/49685260/roberto-de-zerbi-tottenham-hotspur-transfers) · [Sky Sports – De Zerbi highlights biggest problem](https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/13578837/tottenham-hotspur-roberto-de-zerbi-highlights-biggest-problem-at-spurs-after-newcastle-defeat-as-jamie-carragher-slams-start) · [Goal – “There is no panic”](https://www.goal.com/en-ca/lists/roberto-de-zerbi-no-panic-tottenham-defeat-newcastle-premier-league/bltf3873ceb6bbc0691) · [Opta Analyst – Brentford 3-0 Tottenham](https://theanalyst.com/articles/brentford-vs-tottenham-stats-premier-league-08-2026) · [AOL – Every word De Zerbi said](https://www.aol.co.uk/articles/every-word-roberto-zerbi-said-200240000.html)
Two notes on the brief: sources put the summer spend at £380m rather than “more than £300m” (the £300m figure predates the Marmoush deal), and De Zerbi is not on record saying the words “not angry” — he said he was “disappointed” and that “there is no panic”, so I framed it that way rather than inventing a quote. Article body is 742 words.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
707 articles published
