Tottenham Hotspur Football Club spent more than 330 million pounds this summer in the largest rebuilding process the club has witnessed in years, led by its new coach, Roberto De Zerbi. Sandro Tonali came from Newcastle for about 92.5 million pounds, Matthews Fernandes from West Ham for 85 million, and Savio from Manchester City for a deal that was also close to 85 million, in addition to strengthening the defense with Van Hecke, Senesi and Robertson. The message was clear: Tottenham does not want another season in the middle of the table, but rather wants to return to the Champions League.
But after four rounds of the English Premier League, the result was completely opposite to the amount of spending, as the club suffered a harsh 0-3 loss against Brentford in the first round, then three consecutive goalless draws, the last of which was against Everton, without any opponent conceding even once. In the Nottingham Forest match specifically, Tottenham shot the ball 11 times and did not hit the target once, despite having more than 59% possession of the ball. The team is now in danger of recording the worst offensive start in its history: four complete matches without a single goal, which has never happened to it before in its career in the English Premier League.
The problem is not the attackers
The numbers published by specialized statistics sites reveal a deeper angle than just “bad luck” in front of goal: Tottenham is in the bottom positions in terms of expected goals this season, and its rate of shots from open play is lower than teams that are usually classified as relegation candidates. In other words, the crisis does not begin with the final touch, but rather steps before it. The team takes possession of the ball, rotates it in the middle, but does not reach the real dangerous areas with sufficient speed or intensity to create clean opportunities. Even when the ball reaches the final third, the new players, despite their individual levels, seem as if they have not yet found a common language with their teammates, which is partly expected after the integration of ten new faces at once, but it turns into a real crisis when it continues for four consecutive matches.
In addition, there is a psychological factor that is no less important than tactics. Every missed shot or wrong final pass gradually turns into an additional burden on players who already feel the weight of the number of deals they were brought in for.
An early test of the de Zerbe project
It is not possible to definitively judge an entire project after only four rounds, especially with the length of the list of absences and the recent era of most of the deals in the team atmosphere. But the amount of spending raises the ceiling of patience allowed by the masses and the administration alike. The equation facing De Zerbe now is not the search for a new striker, but rather rebuilding trust and harmony between players who have the potential but have not yet learned how to deliver the ball to each other at the right moment and place. Until that happens, Tottenham will remain a club that spent like the big boys but played with the caution of the kids.
