By OkayGoal
Tottenham’s opening day defeat to Brentford ended 3-0 and it could easily have been worse.
This is a genuinely shocking result given h ow much the Lilywhites spent in the summer but a closer look reveals a few things well worth flagging that are beyond the scoreline itself.
Brentford looked like they had been powering through pre-season after they got better of Frankfurt 7-0 before this. And while pre-season form only tells you so much, they looked like a team that has been playing under the same manager for years, with their methods clearly established.
Archie Gray made history despite a tough afternoon
With no Van de Ven, Porro or Maddison and Davies available in the captaincy order, Archie Gray captained the side. He became the youngest ever Tottenham captain in a competitive match at 20 years and 163 days, beating Steve Perryman’s previous record by 97 days. That is a genuine achievement regardless of the result.
That being said, Gray himself did not have a great game individually, and it is fair to say he was in good company given how the rest of the side performed.
Defensively there was no cohesion at the back, and there was little explanation for why Gray was not tighter on Nathan Collins for Brentford’s third goal, allowing Collins to head the ball back for Sangaré to shoot and Michael Kayode to finish. It is also worth noting Tottenham are not the biggest defensive side in the Premier League, which becomes a real problem against physical opposition like Brentford, or later in the season, Arsenal.
Mamadou Sangaré announced himself immediately
Brentford’s record signing was a class apart. He was a key player in Lens’s season last year, finishing second in Ligue 1 and winning the cup, with three goals and four assists, and those underlying numbers already suggested he would be good before he even arrived.
Tottenham could not live with him in midfield. He looked like he had already slotted seamlessly into what Brentford do and simply improved it. He set up the opening goal with a lovely one-two involving Wissa, cutting the ball back for Keane Lewis-Potter to finish comfortably from around the penalty spot, and later forced a good save from Antoni Kinský before Kayode finished the rebound for the third.
Tottenham simply were not ready
De Zerbi admitted after the game that he already knew, following the Hoffenheim friendly, that his team would not be fully ready. There are several reasons for this.
The World Cup affected several key players directly. Pedro Porro only just returned from the tournament and was not fresh enough to feature, a big miss at right-back, while Yves Bissouma picked up an injury in Australia and returned late having played for the Netherlands. Rodrigo Bentancur also came back late, and De Zerbi said he had known this particular fixture would be difficult for Lucas Bergvall, and would ideally have started Bentancur for his experience, but he simply was not ready.
Injuries compounded matters. Mohammed Kudus, present at the game in civilian clothes high-fiving teammates, has been badly missed since picking up his injury in January given his creativity and positional versatility, with De Zerbi saying he will be back soon. James Maddison and Dominic Solanke both came off the bench but are clearly nowhere near up to speed. Some fans have also pointed to Tottenham’s pre-season trip to Australia and New Zealand as a contributing factor, adding significant travel distance during preparation, a familiar issue for big clubs undertaking largely money-making pre-season tours.
Tottenham looked like a team of strangers
Beyond fitness, Tottenham simply did not look like a settled team, and De Zerbi made no attempt to disguise that afterwards, speaking about needing time to become a team without wanting to use it as an excuse. It makes sense given the volume of signings and changes made, it rarely clicks straight away. Compare that to Brentford, who effectively started only one new player, Sangaré, and still looked completely settled, with the rest of the machinery already in place.
Senesi and Van Hecke, who also conceded a lot of chances against Hoffenheim, clearly have a way to go before finding a defensive relationship, Archie Gray was playing out of position, and Andy Robertson, though vastly experienced, is new to the side. De Zerbi drew a direct contrast with Tottenham’s final game of last season against Everton, which featured Porro, Van de Ven, Udogie, Palhinha and Bentancur, a completely different look defensively.
Lucas Bergvall’s night to forget
Bergvall was picked ahead of Matías Fernández from the start, a big opportunity given his summer request to leave amid concerns over game time. De Zerbi said yesterday that he wanted Bergvall to stay and that Bergvall wants to stay too, with bids from Newcastle and Nottingham Forest both rejected. In this game, though, he struggled, losing the ball early to gift Collins a header chance, failing to deal with Sangaré in the build-up to the first goal, and then giving the ball away directly for the second, allowing Mathias Jensen a shot that Kinský spilled straight to Vitaly Janelt for an easy finish.
De Zerbi took him off at half-time, saying afterwards he did not feel Bergvall played that badly but effectively wanting to make a point that it will not happen again. Given the outlay on Tonali and Fernández this summer, Bergvall’s long-term position feels far from settled, even if an exit before the window closes still looks unlikely.
Tottenham’s attack badly needs reinforcement
Issues ran throughout the pitch defensively, but the attack was arguably the most concerning area. Richarlison, despite a good pre-season, was largely anonymous, struggling with his touch and offering little of note. Mikey Moore had a hat-trick of good chances, including a lovely delivery from Robertson, but lacked conviction and failed to convert any of them. De Zerbi singled out Moore’s pressing specifically, saying he was not quite getting the timing right and that it had a knock-on effect on the whole team, a reminder of just how choreographed pressing systems are at this level.
The statistics reflect the gulf: Brentford’s expected goals total of 3.96 was their highest in over a year, against Tottenham’s 0.47. Tottenham had 58.9% possession but that counted for little against a team happy to surrender the ball and hit teams on the counter, with Brentford registering 26 shots to Tottenham’s eight. Omar Marmoush and further attacking reinforcements now look essential if Tottenham are to fix the chance creation and final third retention issues exposed here.
Brentford vs Tottenham performance ratings
Matt Ryan showed some nice touches off the bench. Van Hecke had a difficult afternoon defensively alongside Senesi, with the pair clearly needing significant time together to build cohesion. Richarlison struggled throughout without a single shot of note. The toughest afternoon of all belonged to Lucas Bergvall, given the scale of his opportunity and the crucial mistakes that directly led to Brentford’s goals, though De Zerbi’s message afterwards was clear: this is a match for the whole squad, and Bergvall in particular, to learn from.