Tottenham Hotspur were beaten 3-0 by Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium, with head coach Roberto De Zerbi admitting his young and freshly rebuilt squad had been exposed. Brentford might have scored more and also missed a penalty during a one-sided contest.
De Zerbi said the only positive he could take from the defeat was that people might now understand the scale of the rebuilding job at Spurs. He said time was needed to build bonds between his new players, a point he made both before and after the game.
Asked on Friday to name a target for the season, De Zerbi declined, saying he wanted to wait until his transfer business was finished and his team had settled into a rhythm, or, as he put it, found its soul and organised its style.
Young Tottenham side exposed
Despite a recruitment policy built around experienced Premier League players, De Zerbi started the game with four players aged 21 or under: 19-year-old Mikey Moore, 20-year-old Lucas Bergvall, 21-year-old Mathys Tel and Archie Gray, who at 20 years and 163 days became the youngest captain in the club's history.
De Zerbi admitted the youthfulness of his side had been exposed by Brentford, and said he had feared the worst going into the match.
"At the beginning of the season, at the beginning of the new project, it was right to play with Lucas Bergvall," De Zerbi said. "I knew before the game, Lucas, 20, in this type of game, maybe he could suffer more than Rodrigo Bentancur, nine years older."
Bergvall missed a vital tackle in midfield, trying to roll his studs over the ball, which led to Brentford's second goal in the 33rd minute. He was replaced by Bentancur at half-time.
Pre-season injuries and a disrupted tour
Bentancur returned late for pre-season after being granted a delayed comeback from the World Cup, as was Pape Matar Sarr, who was injured and unavailable for the Brentford game.
"We are not in the right point in physical condition for a lot of reasons," De Zerbi said. "For the players who came late after the World Cup, because in Australia we couldn't work in the right way for the trip and we don't take risk with a lot of things but there are no excuses."
De Zerbi has repeatedly referred to Tottenham's pre-season tour of New Zealand and Australia. He said on Friday that the injury that kept Micky van de Ven out at the start of the season had been picked up during the trip.
"I don't know, the flight," De Zerbi said. "I don't know, something, not a big problem, but not right to work."
James Maddison, Dominic Solanke and Mateus Fernandes also had their pre-season schedules interrupted by injuries, none of them serious, but enough to stall the fitness work De Zerbi regards as essential.
Sandro Tonali's underwhelming debut
Sandro Tonali, the club's £100million record signing, was one of three new signings De Zerbi named as "not in the best physical condition." That came as a surprise since Tonali was not at the World Cup and had played through pre-season.
Tonali struggled to cope with Brentford's tempo, unable to win possession, get on the ball or impose himself on the game. He was bought for a large fee to lead Tottenham's midfield by example.
Bergvall struggled alongside him, as did Conor Gallagher, who played in an advanced No.10 role. The same trio had looked strong in a friendly against Hoffenheim just six days earlier. Both Gallagher and Bergvall were substituted at half-time.
Spurs improved slightly in the final half hour after Bentancur and Fernandes came on, but the match was already lost and they remained second best.
New centre-backs Jan Paul van Hecke and Marcos Senesi were also troubled in the air by Brentford's front three of Igor Thiago, Kevin Schade and Dango Outtara. New goalkeeper Toni Kinsky failed to command his penalty area at set pieces and was partly blamed for the second goal, pushing a shot from Mathias Jensen down to Vitaly Janelt.
Mikey Moore singled out by De Zerbi
Among the mistakes De Zerbi highlighted was the timing of a first-half press by teenage winger Mikey Moore. Moore, an academy graduate, was the only Spurs player who looked likely to score, forcing two good saves late in the game.
None of Tottenham's front three of Moore, Richarlison and Tel were able to hold up the ball in the first half to help their team advance up the pitch.
Mamadou Sangare, a Brentford midfielder signed from Lens for £41million, was the standout summer signing on the pitch on Saturday.
De Zerbi's decision to single out Moore, who like Bergvall is still learning his trade, appeared to be a message to the Tottenham board that he wants experienced signings brought in as soon as possible. Whether Savinho, Omar Marmoush and Cody Gakpo, players linked with the club, fit that description remains open to question.
