Tottenham's £320m Reboot Faces Early Setbacks

Tottenham’s £320m reboot is already under scrutiny. Two games, two defeats, no goals – and this time they were turned over at home by a Newcastle side reborn under Matthias Jaissle.

Anthony Elanga and Yoane Wissa, written off by many after flat first seasons, did the damage in a sharp, ruthless 2-0 win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium that left Roberto De Zerbi’s new-look Spurs being booed off again.

Big spend, blunt edge

This was supposed to be the start of something. Eight new signings, £320m spent, a new era under De Zerbi. Instead, a week after being dismantled 3-0 at Brentford, Spurs again looked like a collection of expensive parts rather than a functioning team.

Omar Marmoush, handed his league debut up front, ran willingly and offered movement, but Spurs’ lack of cutting edge was stark. Their other marquee attacking arrival, £75m winger Savio, did not even make the squad, ruled out with what the club described as “muscle fatigue”. The attacking threat De Zerbi had imagined simply never materialised.

Sandro Tonali, the £100m midfielder poached from Newcastle, endured a difficult afternoon too. Every touch was greeted with jeers from the away end, his former supporters relishing their first league win since his departure.

Spurs start strong, Newcastle stand firm

For all that, Tottenham actually controlled the first hour.

They moved the ball crisply, found spaces between Newcastle’s lines and, for a while, Jaissle’s side were hanging on. Lucas Hornicek had to be sharp. On 15 minutes he flung himself high to his left to claw away Mathys Tel’s curling effort. Two minutes later, Lewis Hall bailed him out, hurling his body in front of Pedro Porro’s close-range strike to block what looked a certain goal.

Set-pieces brought more danger. From an in-swinging Fernandes corner on 38 minutes, Jan Paul van Hecke climbed highest and powered a header towards the bottom corner, only for Hornicek to react superbly again and turn it away.

The flashpoint came just after half-time. Marmoush nipped in front of Malick Thiaw in the box and went down under contact. The home crowd roared for a penalty, but referee Peter Bankes waved play on and VAR backed the on-field call. The noise inside the stadium turned from anticipation to irritation.

De Zerbi insisted later: “For 60-65 minutes we played better than Newcastle. We had a chance to score but we didn't. After they scored, we lost distances.” That was exactly how it felt. Spurs were on top, but without a goal to show for it, the tension grew.

Elanga strikes, the mood turns

The pressure finally told – just not in the way Spurs expected.

On 62 minutes, Nico Gonzalez, making his own debut in midfield, picked up the ball and spotted space behind Tottenham’s back line. His long diagonal pass was measured perfectly. Right-back Amar Dedic rose to nod it down into the area, and Elanga did the rest.

The winger, who struggled badly last season but had already found the net against Liverpool last weekend, took the ball on the spin and, with one smooth motion, drilled a shot that kissed the inside of the left post and went in. One chance, one moment of quality. 1-0 Newcastle. The away end exploded.

De Zerbi threw on three substitutes in response, chasing a spark. It never came. The fluency of the first half vanished, the passing became rushed, and Newcastle suddenly looked comfortable.

Wissa seals it, boos rain down

If Elanga’s goal punctured Spurs, Wissa’s finished them.

On 72 minutes, a Newcastle corner caused chaos. Substitute Nick Woltemade rose at the near post and nodded the ball into the six-yard box. It dropped to Wissa with his back to goal. In one instinctive movement, he hooked it over his head and into the net.

Two shots, two goals of real quality from two players who had previously underwhelmed under Eddie Howe. Under Jaissle, they look transformed.

From there, Tottenham never looked like recovering. The stands began to thin out long before Bankes blew the final whistle. Those who stayed made their feelings plain, booing the team off for the second week running.

De Zerbi tried to stay calm. “Forget the result, but I'm not angry,” he said. “We are working well. We were unlucky today, especially with the result. We are not a team yet. We have to improve a few things.” The message is clear: this is a work in progress. The table, and the mood, say something harsher.

Leaders missing, questions growing

Jamie Redknapp, watching on Saturday Night Football, did not spare the senior figures.

“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, what system to use, who the best three players are in midfield. 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.”

It was a damning assessment of a side that, for all its talent, looks short of personality when the game turns against them.

Jaissle’s Newcastle find their voice

On the other side, Jaissle could barely hide his pride. This was his first league win in charge and it felt significant.

“It was incredible and I'm really proud,” he 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.”

Sky Sports’ David Richardson summed up the shift. “In Elanga and Wissa, it's like two new players!” he quoted Jamie Carragher as saying. The pair, bought for £110m last summer, are finally showing their worth.

Jaissle also trusted Gonzalez from the start, and it was his pass that unlocked Spurs for the opener. After a summer of doubts and a difficult transfer window, Newcastle fans spent the closing stages singing about Europe. The chants were half-joke, half-dream, but the optimism is real.

Spurs, by contrast, leave their first home league game of the season with no goals, no points and plenty of questions. With a £320m rebuild already under pressure, how long will patience hold if this “not a team yet” doesn’t start looking like one very soon?