Tottenham Hotspur prop up the Premier League table heading into the bumper-edition international break, taking a measly two points from their opening five fixtures and scoring only twice. This is a rather unbelievable situation, and yet totally believable when you really examine it.
Spurs’ lavish summer transfer window, which cost over £320m, was designed to propel them back up the standings as quickly as possible. Internally, the message coming from Roberto De Zerbi and co, be that behind closed doors or when talking to media, was the aim should always be to finish in first. At this rate, Tottenham would do well to rank above the drop zone again.
There were various factors behind them finishing 17th in back-to-back seasons, though the common thread linking the two campaigns was a crippling injury list that left four different managers – Ange Postecoglou, Thomas Frank, Igor Tudor and De Zerbi – all hamstrung in some way. Part of the rationale behind their summer spend was that they needed to rebuild a team that wasn’t physically capable of dealing with the modern Premier League. Now, there’s nowhere to hide.
The Tottenham hierarchy seemed more than happy to hand over the keys to transfer activity to De Zerbi, who had only overseen the final seven games of 2025-26. The Italian squeezed what he could out of a freefalling team to survive, but that wasn’t a just-enough excuse to give total autonomy to a combustible character with almost zero experience in long-term management .
De Zerbi has assembled a football team that is borderline useless in both boxes, and has even had the nerve to say financial restrictions held him back in his recruitment drive. Every other team in the top flight has looked more threatening than them so far this term. Perhaps the great irony is that Tottenham winning their first trophy in 17 years came at the cost of becoming way, way too passive about losing games domestically, and they are yet to kick that bad habit. Now that is “Spursy”.
To boot, there is a mentality hurdle that is proving impossible to overcome: Tottenham are now winless in their last 49 games when going behind, a run which stretches back to November 2024.
“It’s difficult to explain because, in my career, 14 years as a coach, I’ve never seen one team like us. So fragile, so inconsistent,” De Zerbi told the press after Saturday’s 3-2 defeat at home to Aston Villa.
He has to be held accountable given he signed most of these players and is the one who picks the team, but the rot ultimately goes beyond him.
When the final whistle sounded on the last day of 2025-26, that should have kicked off the inquest in the boardroom. How both CEO Vinai Venkatesham and sporting director Johan Lange lasted the summer, let alone remain in post today, spoke of a club that was not serious about righting the wrongs of the recent past.
Instead, they tried to spend their way out of trouble, though without putting too much thought into where these funds should be allocated. Hey, paying big money directly correlates with success, right guys?
It borders on arrogance that Spurs thought this was their golden ticket back to the top table. It was merely another instance of faux-ambition, acting on impulse first and thinking later (if ever at all). For all the talk of culture and the need for character, they are still severely lacking in those departments.
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Tottenham didn’t truly believe they were in a relegation scrap last season until February, when they finally sacked Frank and brought in Tudor as interim. To then fire the brooding Croat was the final panic-station move they could make. The alarm bells should already be ringing again with De Zerbi, even if he is not the sole party to blame.
How long will it take the club to accept they could be dragged into another serious situation this time around? That the Premier League’s middle class is more predatorial than ever and will eat up this Spurs like the vulnerable prey they are? Why would the team who just came 17th (twice) be safe from relegation conversations when they look worse than ever?
To paraphrase Captain Barbossa from Pirates of the Caribbean, you best start believing in relegation battles, Tottenham Hotspur – you’re in one.