Spurs battered by Brentford in Premier League opener

Big-spending Tottenham Hotspur began their Premier League campaign with a dismal 3-0 loss at Brentford, highlighting immediate concerns about their costly squad rebuild. The club has invested over £200 million in an attempt to improve a team that narrowly avoided relegation last season.

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Big-spending Tottenham found money can’t buy instant success as they slumped to a woeful 3-0 defeat at Brentford in their first game of the Premier League season on Saturday.

Brentford, assembled on a significantly smaller budget, delivered a dynamic performance that exposed the weaknesses in Tottenham's expensive strategy. Keane Lewis-Potter opened the scoring for Brentford in the 12th minute, followed by Vitaly Janelt's goal in the 33rd minute. Michael Kayode added a third after the interval. Tottenham's woes were compounded when Igor Thiago missed a penalty that could have extended Brentford's lead.

Manager Roberto De Zerbi handed debuts to four new signings, but the team displayed a "spineless performance lacking heart and leadership." This marked only the second time in the last 11 seasons that Tottenham had lost their opening league game. The club is reportedly still pursuing further signings, with deals for Savinho and Omar Marmoush potentially pushing their spending past £300 million.

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he wants to find “the soul of the team”, urging them to learn the lessons of their embarrassing 17th-place finish last season.

De Zerbi had urged his team to find "the soul of the team" and learn from their 17th-place finish last season. However, the opening match suggested a long road ahead for the new-look Tottenham side.

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Instead, he made the curious decision to make 20-year-old Archie Gray the youngest captain in Tottenham’s history and then watched as his team delivered a spineless performance lacking heart and leadership.