Tottenham Spent £300m This Summer and Have Not Scored in Four Premier League Games for the First Time in the Club's 144-Year History

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Tottenham drew 0-0 at home to Everton, meaning Roberto De Zerbi’s side have failed to score in any of their opening four Premier League games this season, the first time that has happened in the club’s 144-year history.
Spurs were booed off at full-time and De Zerbi apologised to supporters afterwards, with his side managing only two shots on target and an expected goals total of 0.64 across the ninety minutes.
Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp called the drought “absolutely diabolical” given Tottenham’s summer spending, while analyst Callum Bishop pointed out that record signing Dominic Solanke had just 19 touches and zero shots as the club’s central striker problem.

Booed Off Again, De Zerbi Says Sorry as the Goals Refuse to Come

Tottenham spent close to £300m rebuilding their squad this summer. Four Premier League games into the season, that squad has not scored a single goal. Saturday’s goalless draw at home to Everton extended a run that Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp described as “absolutely diabolical”, and it left Roberto De Zerbi apologising to a crowd that booed his players off the pitch. It is the first time in Tottenham’s 144-year history that the club has failed to score in any of its opening four league matches of a season.

The scoreline told only part of the story. Spurs had four shots inside the opening ten minutes and looked, briefly, like the team their spending suggested they should be. Jan Paul van Hecke put a close-range header over from an Andy Robertson free-kick in the fifth minute, and that remained Tottenham’s best chance of the entire game. By half-time they had failed to register a single shot on target, extending a run stretching back to the start of last season to 26 Premier League games without scoring in the first half.

A Fourth Successive Blank

Following a goalless draw away at Nottingham Forest the previous weekend, the draw with Everton meant Tottenham had gone more than 400 minutes without a Premier League goal. Their first shot on target of the entire afternoon did not arrive until the 47th minute, when Mateus Fernandes’ weak low effort went straight at Jordan Pickford and was met with ironic cheers from the home crowd. Antonin Kinsky saved well from Thierno Barry’s header and got fortunate when a poor pass fell to Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who shot straight at him. Lucas Bergvall forced a fine late save from Pickford in stoppage time, but it was not enough to end the drought.

It was the first goalless draw at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the Premier League in its 140 matches there, and the first time Spurs had drawn 0-0 at home in the competition for nine years. De Zerbi’s side had a paltry expected goals figure of 0.64 across the ninety minutes, with two shots on target and one clear chance created. Everton were happy to leave with a point after weathering Tottenham’s early pressure.

“Absolutely Diabolical”

Redknapp did not hold back in his assessment on Sky Sports. “After spending £300m, I didn’t think there would be a problem scoring goals. But to not score in six hours of football is absolutely diabolical,” he said. “For the first 20 minutes, I thought that this is what I want to see. There was a moment when Fernandes had a shot and the whole crowd celebrated. It’s not great. The connection with the fans and the players is not there. I don’t know when they are going to get their first win.”

He pointed to structural issues rather than a simple lack of effort. “There are things that I don’t like. Robertson was your left-back and your wide left player because Marmoush wanted to come inside. That balance didn’t really work, so you are lopsided with what you’re trying to do. Trying to get the best squad is what De Zerbi has to solve. The midfield balance also isn’t right. You’ve got to find a way of getting a Kudus into the ten, or Maddison if he gets fit.” Redknapp added that De Zerbi “tried everything today. He couldn’t find it. The quality wasn’t there, but they have got quality players.”

The Solanke Problem

Sky Sports analyst Callum Bishop went further, identifying Dominic Solanke as the specific weak link in an otherwise expensively assembled attack. “Dominic Solanke’s fitness for Tottenham feels imperative. As the only out and out number nine available to De Zerbi, the Englishman has to be picked when fit. Purely because it seems Spurs don’t have a choice,” Bishop wrote. “However, whether it be rustiness following his latest setbacks or another reason, Solanke didn’t offer anywhere near enough as the number nine. He managed just 19 touches. That’s less than Kinsky in goal. More worryingly, he had zero shots.”

Bishop set Solanke’s struggles against the shadow of the player Tottenham have never really replaced. “Only De Zerbi can answer if the reason for this is because his team-mates aren’t utilising him enough, or if Solanke can’t be relied upon to be the replacement to Harry Kane. Of course, replacing Kane is practically impossible. But, in the three years since he left for Germany, Solanke is the only one Spurs have splashed the cash on to fill his shoes.” With the transfer window closed until January, Bishop said De Zerbi “has to find a way to get Solanke more involved” using the group he already has.

De Zerbi’s Defence

De Zerbi was involved in an animated exchange with substitute Mathys Tel at the full-time whistle, which he explained afterwards as coaching rather than conflict. “I coached him on the pitch. The body shape: he’s a striker; the striker can’t play with the shoulder on the goal,” De Zerbi said. “If we are playing with Maddison, Kudus and Savio, he has to play as a striker, and the striker has to look at the goal, or for the cross of Robertson. He has to stay inside. He started as a striker; now he’s playing as a winger, but he started his career as a striker. But I love Mathys as a player, as a guy; that is not a problem.”

After the jeers rang around the stadium at full-time, De Zerbi addressed the crowd’s frustration directly. “I’m sorry for the fans. They were fantastic today,” he said. “It is normal, the reaction of the fans.” Everton manager David Moyes, by contrast, was satisfied with a point his side had not necessarily earned on quality. “I wanted much more from the team, but I told them about coming here. We’ve not had a great record here. Tottenham were so good for 20 minutes. They put us under so much pressure. We found it difficult to escape from it. I thought we did a really good job of being resilient.”

What Happens Next

Tottenham are only the sixth team in Premier League history to fail to score in their opening four matches of a season, and the first Spurs side to go four games without a goal in twenty years. The scale of the summer outlay is what makes the run so jarring. Andy Robertson arrived to strengthen the left side, James Maddison and Mohammed Kudus were brought in to create chances, and Mathys Tel and Savio were added to the forward line, yet none of it has translated into goals. The next transfer window does not open until January, meaning De Zerbi cannot solve his finishing problem in the market and must instead find answers from the squad already at his disposal.

For now, De Zerbi’s message to his own players and to the supporters who booed them off is that patience is required while the pieces click into place. Whether that patience holds depends on how much longer a squad assembled at such cost can go without finding the net that justifies the outlay.

WRITTEN BY

Jarrod

Jarrod Partridge is the Founder of Futbol Chronicle and an accredited journalist with over 30 years of experience following international football. A member of the AIPS International Sports Press Association, Jarrod has covered matches at stadiums around the world, bringing first-hand insight to every match report, player profile, and tactical analysis he writes.