On August 31, TA published an article discussing the current predicament facing Tottenham.

Tottenham have invested over £300 million this summer to bring in 8 new players, yet the team have suffered two consecutive Premier League defeats to start the season. Head coach Roberto De Zerbi believes the team's biggest problem is not tactics, but the mental aspect.

"You can't buy a mentality in the transfer market."

De Zerbi said this when discussing Tottenham's 0-2 loss to Newcastle, and his statement actually points to the team's most pressing issue right now.

This summer, Tottenham spent over £300 million in the transfer market, bringing in 8 new signings. However, the psychological scars left by a series of setbacks the team has experienced in recent years will not disappear quickly, even with large-scale transfers.

Tottenham have finished 17th in the Premier League for two consecutive seasons. In their last 78 top-flight matches, they have lost 41. Since the start of last season, Tottenham have lost 11 Premier League home games, a tally tied for the worst in the league with Wolverhampton Wanderers, who were eventually relegated.

Since January 2025, Tottenham have only accumulated 55 points in 59 league matches.

In recent weeks, De Zerbi has emphasized that he wants to change some of the "bad habits" this Tottenham team has developed. In the match against Newcastle, those issues were once again clearly exposed.

Gordon? – No, after Anthony Elanga opened the scoring for Newcastle, the Tottenham players clearly "lost confidence". De Zerbi's first full season as Tottenham coach has not started well, with the team suffering two consecutive Premier League defeats, conceding 5 goals in 2 matches and failing to score any.

"Our reaction wasn't good enough," De Zerbi said in a post-match interview. "It wasn't the reaction I wanted to see on the pitch. I told the players that immediately after the game."

"When you start building something new, the process is inherently difficult, and you will definitely encounter problems. The real difference is in how you try to find solutions to these problems. The way to solve problems is never to hang your head and lose confidence, but to react. Because after that, we still had 20 minutes, and it was entirely possible to score one, two, or even three goals."

Tottenham played well at times, but the goal they conceded changed everything.

Newcastle's first goal was almost a replica of the chance they created in the very first minute of the game.

In both attacks, Nico Gonzalez played the ball to the right flank, and wing-back Amar Dedic headed it towards Elanga. The first time, Elanga chipped the ball over Antonín Kinský, but Archie Gray tracked back in time to clear it off the line.

However, the second time, Elanga evaded his former teammate Sandro Tonali and fired with his left foot, with the ball hitting the post before going into the net.

This attacking pattern should already have been identified by Tottenham's players and coaching staff.

Before Elanga's goal in the 62nd minute, Tottenham's performance was actually much better than in their previous 0-3 loss to Brentford.

Omar Marmoush, making his debut, constantly dropped deep to receive the ball and actively drove at Newcastle's center-backs Jaffe and Sven Botman. He also delivered a very clever cut-back to find Andy Robertson.

In the second half, Marmoush received the ball on the wing, nutmegged his former Man City teammate Gonzalez, and then shot, but the ball went just wide of the post.

However, after Newcastle took the lead, these positive performances quickly faded.

Newcastle's goal ended some of the positive signs Tottenham had just established in the early stages.

Substitute Mohammed Kudus, in his first appearance since returning from injury, added unpredictability to Tottenham's attack. This was his first appearance for the team since suffering a quadriceps injury in January this year, although his crossing quality was not ideal.

Tonali won a free-kick, which Matisse Tel blasted straight over the crossbar. Marmoush shot from an unmarked position at the far post but hit it straight at Lukas Horyniewicz. In stoppage time, Dominic Solanke’s shot beat the goalkeeper but was cleared off the line by Lewis Hall.

However, Tottenham were also involved in some unnecessary confrontations during the game, which became an additional distraction for the team.

Solanke was unhappy with a tackle from Botman, and Pedro Porro needed his teammates to pull him away from Bazoumana Touré. After the final whistle, Porro and Matheus Fernandes argued with Jacob Ramsey.

De Zerbi's comment about the players' "poor reaction" not only implied a lack of fighting spirit after conceding a goal, but also their emotional outbursts.

Last season, Tottenham frequently lost their composure in adverse situations. But facing difficulties does not mean the team must descend into crisis.

“This is the biggest problem, the biggest challenge and also our most important goal—to find the right mentality,” De Zerbi added.

Tottenham need time to establish a new order.

Tottenham has undergone huge changes this summer, and establishing a new team order clearly takes time.

Micky Van de Ven, Rodrygo Bentancur, and Porro are still searching for their best form because of limited pre-season involvement. Tonali and Fernandes started together for the first time in an official match.

Savinho was expected to feature but missed the match because of muscle fatigue in training. He had just made an impressive debut in the midweek match against Charlton.

With so many new faces in Tottenham's defense, the players need time to build chemistry.

The extent of the squad changes is also reflected in De Zerbi's lineup. Compared with the previous 0-3 loss to Brentford, he made 5 changes to the starting XI. Bergvall, Marcos Senesi, and Conor Gallagher didn't even get a chance to play.

Meanwhile, some of the team’s positional arrangements were also intriguing.

Porro started at right-back for the ultimately victorious Spanish team during the World Cup, with attacking players like Yamal behind him, but in this match, he was clearly positioned further forward, operating in the wide area ahead of Gray.

During his time at West Ham United, Fernandes often performed best when dropping deep into midfield to receive the ball from the center-backs. However, at Tottenham, he was deployed in the number 10 role.

During his time at Newcastle, Tonali played both as a right-sided No. 8 and as a defensive midfielder. In the first half of this match, however, he continually moved to the left flank, receiving chipped passes from Kinsky.

Tonali showed good ability when pushing forward in midfield, but on several occasions he ended up getting caught in the opponent's defensive encirclement.

Uncertainty also remains within the dressing room.

With the transfer window closing on Tuesday evening, the futures of some players in the Tottenham squad remain uncertain.

De Zerbi revealed that Richarlison, Kevin Danso, and Pape Matar Sarr have all expressed a desire to depart.

Richarlison had previously played for the team against Brentford, and Danso has been an important rotation player for the past 18 months.

This uncertainty will undoubtedly affect the other teammates as well.

Arsenal could be a model for Tottenham.

There is a rather interesting similarity between the current Tottenham side and Arsenal at the start of the 2021-22 season, which might offer some hope to Tottenham fans.

At that time, both teams had been defeated by Brentford in their season opener.

Arsenal then suffered three consecutive league defeats to start the season, failing to score a single goal. Like De Zerbi now, Arteta at the time also faced the challenge of quickly integrating a large number of new signings into the team, and Arsenal had also made significant investments previously.

However, as the season progressed, Arsenal eventually found their form and finished fifth in the Premier League, just 2 points behind Tottenham, who were then coached by Antonio Conte.

Even more notably, in Arsenal's 5-1 final victory over Everton, only Granit Xhaka and Gabriel Martinelli from the starting lineup had also started in that 0-2 loss to Brentford.

Tottenham fans certainly wouldn't want to use Arsenal as their reference.

But from another perspective, Arsenal is a particularly relevant example in recent years—a team that, after significant investment, went through a period of growing pains before eventually developing into a truly cohesive unit.

For the current Tottenham, the most important thing in the short term is not to continue to invest frantically in the transfer market, but to make the team more resilient in the face of upcoming difficulties.

De Zerbi has clearly pointed out that Tottenham's biggest problem right now is "mentality."

And that is precisely an issue that cannot simply be solved through the transfer market.

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