Tottenham were beaten 2-0 by Newcastle United in their first Premier League home game of the season.
Tottenham Hotspur’s dismal start to the 2026/27 season continued on Saturday as they were beaten 2-0 by Newcastle United at home.
Spurs had been the team in the ascendancy, but were stunned just past the hour mark when Anthony Elanga found the back of the net. The Swedish international created space away from Tottenham’s club-record signing and his former teammate Sandro Tonali, spun and shot at goal, with the ball going in off the post.
Roberto De Zerbi’s side tried their best to get the equaliser but were stung again by the visitors. Newcastle United doubled their lead 10 minutes later when Yoane Wissa acrobatically hooked the ball into the net after substitute Nick Woltemade headed a corner towards the DR Congo international. Spurs tested the visitors’ goalkeeper a couple of times, but they again lacked the cutting edge in front of goal.
Rob Green says Tottenham “need characters” to turn their fortunes around
The result against Newcastle United means the Lilywhites have lost their opening two matches of a league campaign without scoring for the third time in their history. Despite having signed eight senior players during the transfer window and spent £300m-plus, back-to-back defeats has left Roberto De Zerbi under early pressure.
It is not the start De Zerbi, the fans and the officials at White Hart Lane would have envisaged, especially after an expensive summer rebuild. The Tottenham fans were visibly upset, and many were pictured leaving the stadium around the 85th minute.
After the game, former England goalkeeper Rob Green said Spurs need “characters” to turn around their underwhelming start to the campaign. He feels performances like today show vast improvements are needed for this side to make a meaningful term.
“For Tottenham, the same questions that were last season are still here this season,” Rob Green told BBC Radio 5 Live (h/t BBC Sport).
“Performances like this will indicate that they need a vast improvement from this set of players that have come into this club.
“They will need the characters as much as anything to turn this around. It doesn’t take much for these Spurs fans to turn, and the belief start to drain from the players and from the fans.”
Pressure on De Zerbi already
Coming off a midweek 5-1 Carabao Cup victory over Charlton Athletic, Tottenham hoped to erase the memory of their opening-weekend 3-0 loss to Brentford. Instead, second-half goals from Elanga and Wissa condemned De Zerbi’s side to back-to-back league defeats without scoring a goal.
The results have already mounted pressure on De Zerbi. After such heavy spending, the same problems still exist for the North London side. Our gaffer better start finding solutions to the issues and turning things around, or the mood around the stadium might just get sour.
