Tottenham played out a goalless draw away at Nottingham Forest. Despite a summer spending spree of over £300 million (about ¥63.5 billion), the club has failed to score in three matches to start the season, and on this occasion didn’t manage a single shot on target — an ignominious first in 52 years. On 5ch, opinions split over manager De Zerbi’s tactics and how he’s using loan signing Mudryk, with plenty of comparisons to the days of Son Heung-min and Kane, and complaints that the new signings don’t match their price tags.
Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur played away at Nottingham Forest on the 5th (local time) and settled for a 0-0 draw. Despite splashing out more than £300 million (about ¥63.5 billion) this summer, the club has now gone scoreless for three straight matches to open the season. While they picked up their first point and clean sheet of the campaign, going without a single shot on target exposed a serious lack of firepower up front.
Winless through three openers
Tottenham opened the season with a 0-3 loss to Brentford, then fell 0-2 to Newcastle in matchday two. Against Forest, forward Omar Marmoush wasted a golden first-half chance by shooting wide, and substitute striker Dominic Solanke headed over the bar late on.
Source: footballchannel.jp / Original article here
Kane and Sonny (Son Heung-min) were truly great.
Mudryk himself is overrated, a product of the Ukraine transfer bubble. He's not worth anywhere near £75 million.
So was it actually a good thing that Takai got loaned out to STVV?
If he'd stayed, even getting playing time, he'd have just ended up as the scapegoat.
Centre-back is the one position where they've got needlessly deep depth, so he was never going to play anyway.
Even if he'd stayed he'd be their 5th-choice CB — with a back four and no European games, he'd never get a look-in.
Everyone's expecting too much.
De Zerbi's system only works with players who can run all day.
They were 17th even when he was still there.
He was originally one of De Zerbi's protégés — early on he used to get compared to Mitoma, and De Zerbi even talked about it.
Only Middle Eastern money can keep up with this.
Aston Villa — summer spending ¥54.0 billion
Spurs — summer spending ¥66.0 billion
Coventry — summer spending ¥29.0 billion
Makes you realize that even without being a powerhouse like City or Arsenal, just being a Premier League club means having a stupid amount of money.
Just get relegated already.
Mudryk, seriously? lol
Why would you take on a guy who was basically junk who couldn't even cut it at Chelsea?
They haven't spent big money on Mudryk at all — he's just on loan, no obligation to buy.
This is the same Mudryk who dominated for De Zerbi's Shakhtar and had every top Premier League club fighting over him.
If he's in good shape he could still deliver, and if not, they just send him back — low risk either way.
The big money was spent on a different position.
Right after the World Cup would be the perfect opportunity.
They were a team you couldn't take lightly when he was around, but the way they've fallen off since he left is genuinely scary.
They were strong when Son Heung-min was still there.
They were 17th even with him there.
It's like in baseball when a manager says of a player who made an error or a wild pitch, 'he's not at first-team level' — but you're the one who decided to use him before the game, so the responsibility is on you, the manager.
Wasn't he loaned out to Sint-Truiden (STVV)?
Background and Discussion Points
In recent years Tottenham has relied on proven goal-scorers like Kane and Son Heung-min, and replacing that firepower after their departures has been an ongoing challenge. This summer the club made aggressive moves, including bringing in Mudryk on loan, but as posters in the thread point out, Mudryk joined on a free loan with no transfer fee, and the fact that the big money was actually spent on a different position isn’t mentioned in the main article itself — worth keeping in mind. There are also posts noting that other clubs like Aston Villa and Coventry have made huge outlays of their own yet remain winless to start the season, reflecting a broader trend of inflated transfer fees across this year’s Premier League. While criticism tends to converge on the manager’s tactics, the thread also raises factors that can’t be explained by a managerial change alone — such as individual players’ fit and past league finishes (one poster notes the club was 17th even when Son was still there).
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geisports Sokuho+) thread “[Football] Tottenham’s Humiliating Record: Zero Shots on Target for First Time in 52 Years — Winless Through Three Openers Despite ¥63.5 Billion Spending Spree Slammed as a ‘Disappointment’ Locally.”
