It has been more than half a century since Tottenham have gone this long without a league goal to start the season. A City Ground stalemate at Nottingham Forest at least gets Roberto de Zerbi's side their first point of the season but not to the extent they would want. It followed defeats to Brentford and Newcastle which means Spurs have failed to score in their opening three league games for the first time since 1974-75.
Spurs did not play badly - they were the better side - but after their huge summer transfer outlay more is needed and expected. De Zerbi preached patience and he is right - 10 senior arrivals means his team is still to find an identity. And they did leave Forest with a point, something they have failed to do for almost three years.
Indeed, the video assistant referee's call to rule out Neco Williams' bundled second-half effort ensured it was not a third-straight Premier League defeat for Spurs. Yet they have now failed to score in three successive Premier League games for the first time since November 2021, and improvement is needed at misfiring Spurs. Last March's 3-0 win for Forest at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium provided the platform for the visitors' survival bid while leaving Spurs floundering until the final day.
Since then Spurs have spent over £300m on new players - contributing to the record £3.49bn Premier League outlay this summer. Sandro Tonali, Jon Paul Van Hecke, Savio and Omar Marmoush were the new signings who started on Saturday, with De Zerbi remaining calm after another blank. "We bought very, very good players but you can't just build the team with the names like in Football Manager," he told Sky Sports.
"We are disappointed for the result but for the performance very happy. Considering we started to work together last Thursday for the first time, for the first day. "We have to improve in every part of football, organisation with and without the ball.
Even today I thought we defended very well. "We have to work because I think we played very well with the ball, we found the solution. I think we can be much better in the final third." De Zerbi bemoaned Tottenham's decision-making with Marmoush a culprit, blazing over in the second half with Andy Robertson on an overlap and Mohammed Kudus waiting for a far-post tap in.
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