MATCHIQ | Club Audit | 9 October 2026
Tottenham have spent more than £300 million this summer. They have brought in new attackers, strengthened midfield and added defenders.
Five Premier League games later, they are still waiting for a win.
Two points from 15. Two goals scored. Eight conceded.
The squad looks different. The football has not improved enough.
And that raises a question Tottenham cannot solve by signing another player.
Why does a team with so much new talent still struggle to turn good spells into results?
Five Games, No Wins
Tottenham’s first five Premier League results tell the story.
| Opponent | Result |
|---|---|
| Brentford (A) | 0–3 |
| Newcastle United (H) | 0–2 |
| Nottingham Forest (A) | 0–0 |
| Everton (H) | 0–0 |
| Aston Villa (H) | 2–3 |
There has been some improvement between matches.
Spurs defended well enough to keep clean sheets against Forest and Everton. Against Aston Villa, they created several good opportunities and finally scored their first league goals of the season.
But those improvements have not come together in one complete performance.
Against Everton, Tottenham started strongly but could not make their early pressure count.
Against Villa, they again played well early, missed opportunities, then found themselves 3–0 down before scoring twice late on.
That is the pattern worth examining.
Tottenham can produce good moments. They cannot yet sustain them.
£300m Bought Players. It Did Not Buy Understanding.
The summer recruitment was significant.
Sávio arrived from Manchester City for a reported £75 million. Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes strengthened the midfield. Jan Paul van Hecke added another defensive option.
Omar Marmoush also arrived from City on a loan deal involving a reported £50 million future fee.
These players bring different strengths.
Sávio can take on defenders. Tonali can help move the ball through midfield. Marmoush offers movement and another attacking option.
But putting talented players into the same team does not mean they immediately understand one another.
A winger needs to know when the striker will attack the space behind a defender.
A midfielder needs to recognise when to release the ball rather than take another touch.
When the ball is lost, the players behind the attack must already be in positions to stop the opposition breaking forward.
Those details decide whether a team works.
Tottenham spent heavily to improve their options.
Five league games have not yet shown that those options are working together consistently.
The First Problem: Getting Forward Is Not the Same as Creating Chances
This is the clearest issue in Tottenham’s attack.
They often reach promising positions. What happens next is less convincing.
Against Nottingham Forest, Spurs had 12 attempts but failed to test goalkeeper Matz Sels.
Against Everton, they finished with 14 attempts, yet Jordan Pickford was rarely seriously troubled.
That is not simply bad finishing.
Sometimes the final pass comes too late. Sometimes a player shoots when a teammate has a better opening. Other times, Tottenham work the ball into a useful position but fail to find an attacker in front of goal.
Roberto De Zerbi has identified these decisions as a problem himself.
After the Forest draw, he pointed to situations in which his players could have passed to a teammate in a stronger position.
That distinction matters.
Tottenham do not need to take more shots simply to improve a statistic.
They need to create shots from positions where scoring is more realistic.
Against Villa, the signs were better. Tottenham forced Zion Suzuki into several important saves.
But one more threatening performance does not establish that the attacking problem is solved.
The question is whether Spurs can produce those opportunities every week.
The Second Problem: Tottenham Cannot Sustain Their Best Football
Against Everton, De Zerbi wanted his players to maintain the quality of their opening 30 minutes.
They couldn’t.
Tottenham began with energy, pushed Everton back and created early openings.
As the game continued, that control became less dangerous.
The manager pointed to fitness, confidence and poor decisions as possible reasons.
The Villa defeat offered another example.
Spurs began well, but the match changed after Villa scored. Tottenham then conceded twice more before their late response.
This is not proof that Spurs lack effort or character.
It is evidence that their performances are still uneven.
The challenge is to keep making good decisions after the opening pressure fades, after an opponent adjusts, or after the first goal goes against them.
A team cannot rely on its best 30 minutes to carry it through 90.
The Third Problem: Defensive Mistakes Undo Attacking Progress
Tottenham kept consecutive clean sheets against Forest and Everton.
That matters. Their defence has not been poor in every match.
But the Villa game exposed how quickly an encouraging performance can collapse.
De Zerbi criticised the way his team conceded while temporarily down to ten players. He also questioned their handling of a Villa attack that began with a goal kick.
These were specific situations in which he believed his players should have reacted better.
It would be too simple to blame every conceded goal on the team’s attacking style.
Tottenham have shown they can defend with discipline.
They have also shown that their organisation can break down at important moments.
The next step is not merely to defend deeper or attack less.
It is to stop individual defensive mistakes from turning a competitive match into a defeat.
Is De Zerbi Being Judged Too Early?
There is a strong argument for patience.
De Zerbi has not enjoyed a normal preparation period.
Several players returned late from the World Cup. Others suffered injuries. Important signings arrived after the season had already started.
Against Everton, the manager explained that he had only recently begun working with much of the group together.
That matters.
New signings need time. Attacking partnerships need repetition. Players returning from injury need match fitness.
Five games cannot establish whether the rebuild will succeed or fail.
There is also evidence of progress. Spurs have shown better defensive organisation in some matches and created more dangerous chances against Villa.
But patience cannot replace scrutiny.
Tottenham have spent heavily, and the team’s opening results remain poor.
Both statements can be true.
De Zerbi deserves time to develop the squad.
He also needs to demonstrate that the squad is developing.
What Would Real Improvement Look Like?
Tottenham face Manchester United at Old Trafford on 10 October.
The result will matter, but MATCHIQ will be watching the performance behind it.
Can Spurs create good chances throughout the match rather than only during their strongest spell?
Are players passing to teammates in better positions instead of forcing difficult shots?
Can they defend calmly when possession is lost or an opponent changes the game?
And, most importantly, can they put their attacking and defensive improvements together in the same match?
Those are better tests of progress than counting how many new signings start the game.
MATCHIQ Verdict: The Rebuild Is Real. The Improvement Is Not Yet Proven.
Tottenham have changed their squad.
They have not yet changed their results.
The evidence from five league games points to three connected problems: poor decisions in the final part of attacks, an inability to maintain strong performances, and defensive errors at costly moments.
There are reasonable explanations for those problems. The disrupted preparation and late arrivals should not be ignored.
But those explanations are not evidence that improvement is guaranteed.
Tottenham’s next challenge is to turn promising spells into consistent performances.
That will tell us more about the summer recruitment than the transfer fees ever could.
£300 million can change the players on the pitch. It cannot guarantee that they play like a team.