Tottenham Spent £100m on Tonali and De Zerbi Still Teaches Them That Money Can't Buy Guts

At 2am, my phone buzzed. A tactical analyst working in the Premier League didn't even say hello. He just asked: “Have you watched Tottenham?” They had just lost 0-2 to Newcastle at home. Not because of the goals, but because Sandro Tonali – the £100m midfielder – was dragged off in front of jeering away fans. People call me a heretic, but I only see what they refuse to see: Tottenham are bottom of the league, and no one dares to say their glamorous project is collapsing. Last season, Tottenham escaped relegation not through a miracle but through a kind fixture list. Thomas Frank was sacked, Igor Tudor arrived as the fiery saviour and lost his first two matches. Then Roberto De Zerbi replaced him and won against already-relegated Wolves, a Villa side dreaming of a bigger cup, and an Everton team that hadn't done anything interesting for 31 years. So Spurs stayed up. The board responded by pouring cash everywhere. Now, after two league games, Tottenham are rock bottom, six points behind relegation rivals Hull City. Before the Newcastle game, Spurs fans hoped for some humility after the Brentford embarrassment. Instead, a club hype man screamed on the pitch: “We've spent and we've spent and we've spent! We're back! We're huge!” About 90 minutes later, that hype died under the roar of Newcastle fans. Tonali looked lost, was hooked early, and De Zerbi was left muttering about bad luck and a plan. But everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. Tottenham have lost three consecutive home league games. Beyoncé has played twice as many concerts at their stadium as Spurs won home league games last season. That is not bad luck. That is a culture problem. I might be wrong. Maybe this is just a slow start. But I have watched enough teams to know that money cannot buy courage. Meanwhile, Lionel Messi announced his retirement from international football because he knew it was time to stop. Tottenham never know when to stop. They just keep spending, and the machine is creaking. I don't believe they will go down, but if they keep believing that spending is a strategy, we may soon see Tottenham vs Lincoln City in League One. You can turn your stadium into a concert venue, but you cannot build a football empire with concrete and cash alone.