Tottenham's £320m Reboot Faces Scrutiny After Defeat
Tottenham’s £320m reboot is already under scrutiny. Two games, two defeats, no goals – and this time they were out-thought and out-finished by a Newcastle side reborn under Matthias Jaissle.
At the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Anthony Elanga and Yoane Wissa – two players who drifted on the fringes under Eddie Howe – delivered a ruthless 2-0 win that left Roberto De Zerbi’s new-look Spurs being booed off on their home Premier League bow.
Big spend, blunt edge
This was supposed to be the night Spurs’ summer spree began to make sense. Eight new signings, £320m spent, a debut for forward Omar Marmoush, a first home league outing under De Zerbi. Instead, the old problems roared back.
Spurs dominated the first half. They moved the ball crisply, pinned Newcastle back, and created enough to lead.
On 15 minutes, Mathys Tel cut inside and curled towards the far corner, only for Lucas Hornicek to spring left and claw the ball away. Two minutes later, Pedro Porro looked certain to score from close range until Lewis Hall hurled himself in front of the shot, a desperate block that felt like a turning point.
From a set piece on 38 minutes, Jan Paul van Hecke rose to meet Bruno Fernandes’ in-swinging corner, but again Hornicek reacted sharply, beating the header away. Newcastle were hanging on, Spurs were on the front foot, and the home crowd sensed a shift.
It never came.
Penalty shout, momentum lost
Right after the restart, Spurs thought they had the moment they needed. Marmoush nipped in front of Malick Thiaw in the box and was caught by the centre-back. The appeals were loud, the reaction instant. Referee Peter Bankes waved play on, VAR backed him, and the mood inside the stadium curdled.
De Zerbi insisted later Spurs had “more chances and shot more on goal” and that they were “unlucky… especially with the result.” But as the minutes ticked by, the early fluency drained away. Distances between the lines grew, combinations broke down, and Newcastle sensed vulnerability.
The pressure finally told – at the other end.
Elanga swings it
On 62 minutes, Newcastle stitched together their cleanest move of the match. Nico Gonzalez, making his debut, picked his head up and drilled a long diagonal pass forward. Right-back Amar Dedic met it and smartly nodded down into the area.
Elanga, who laboured through last season but had already sparked into life with a goal against Liverpool last weekend, spun sharply. One touch, one swivel, one shot on the turn. The ball kissed the inside of the left post and bounced in.
Newcastle’s bench erupted. Spurs sagged.
De Zerbi threw on three substitutes in response, chasing energy and ideas. None of them changed the pattern. For all the possession, Newcastle looked the calmer, more coherent side, happy to absorb and then strike.
Wissa seals it, Spurs unravel
If the first goal punctured Spurs’ belief, the second shredded it.
On 72 minutes, a Newcastle corner caused chaos. Substitute Nick Woltemade rose to flick a header into the six-yard box. The ball dropped with bodies everywhere. Wissa, back to goal, reacted first. He hooked his leg over his head, improvised the finish, and sent the ball looping into the net.
As it hit the back of the net, thousands of home fans headed for the exits. Those who stayed made their feelings clear at full-time, the boos raining down as Bankes blew the whistle.
De Zerbi, speaking afterwards, tried to pull the focus away from the scoreline. “Forget the result,” he said. “We are not a team yet. We have to improve a few things… I’m not angry. We are working well.” The words were calm. The atmosphere around him was anything but.
Leaders missing, questions growing
On Sky Sports, Jamie Redknapp cut to the heart of it. This, he argued, is a dressing room still searching for a voice.
“There’s a lot of new players at Spurs and it’s going to take time,” he said. “The manager has got a jigsaw puzzle and he’s got to figure out how to fit the players in… There are going to be teething problems.
“I also look at the senior players and players like Van de Ven didn’t do enough to lead today and certainly with the goals. Players who have been there for a long time can do better.”
The money has been spent. The structure is still missing.
Jaissle’s Newcastle find their spark
On the away bench, the mood was very different. This was Newcastle’s first league win under Jaissle, and it felt like more than just three points.
“It was incredible and I’m really proud,” the head coach told Sky Sports. “We are really proud as a club, as a coaching staff to see a team on the pitch delivering the match plan at a high level already, but also seeing players fully committed to what we’re doing. This is a good start and a moment to enjoy.”
Elanga and Wissa symbolise that shift. Signed for a combined £110m last summer, they never truly caught fire under Howe. Now, as Jamie Carragher put it from the gantry, “it’s like two new players.”
Jaissle has given them clarity and confidence. Gonzalez, trusted from the off, repaid him with the assist for the opener. Wissa, once a frustration, is suddenly a match-winner again. Newcastle’s travelling fans, who had mocked former midfielder Sandro Tonali after his £100m move to Spurs, spent the closing stages singing about Europe.
Their chants might have carried a hint of irony, given the turbulence of their recent transfer windows. But they left London buoyed by something tangible: a side that looks organised, liberated, and united behind a new manager.
Spurs, by contrast, trudged away from their own stadium with more doubts than answers. Two games in, no goals, and a coach insisting “we are not a team yet.”
The spending is done. The patience of this crowd might not be.
