Tottenham’s summer signings won’t change their fortunes overnight – and why their medical department needs overhauling: Things We Learned from Spurs 0-2 Newcastle

Tottenham’s first home game of the 2026-27 season saw Newcastle United visit and leave as 2-0 winners. A lot has been made of Newcastle’s chances this season, with how tumultuous this summer has been after the exits of Eddie Howe, Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali, in addition to missing out on several transfer targets.

However, the Magpies managed to come out on top in the Saturday evening clash, thanks to goals from Anthony Elanga and Yoane Wissa, and some questionable defending at that.

Here’s five things we learned from Newcastle’s trip to N17

Matthias Jaissle could be the real deal

After the aforementioned summer exodus, Newcastle United’s appointment of a 38-year-old manager from the Saudi Pro League certainly raised eyebrows in the wake of a period of unbelievable success under his predecessor Howe.

Hosting Liverpool in an emotionally charged game following the passing of Kevin Keegan, and a trip to the capital to face an expensively assembled Spurs team with a point to prove represented a tough start to the German’s first Premier League job too.

Despite all this, Newcastle have made an undefeated start to the season and are arguably unlucky to not to have two wins from two to open the season, after a dubious late penalty call last week against Liverpool.

With the form Jaissle is producing from his squad to start this season, including goalscoring starts for Elanga and Wissa and a promising full debut for Nico Gonzalez, Newcastle fans will surely feel a sense of hope they’ve likely not felt for a long time.

Tottenham’s massive spending won’t change their fortunes overnight

After spending huge sums on Tonali, Jan Paul van Hecke, Matheus Fernandes and Savio – plus the additions of Marcos Senesi, Andy Robertson, and Omar Marmoush – expectations are certainly high for Spurs this season. The excuses from last season such as injuries, managerial issues and uncertainty at the top of the club have all disappeared over the summer as the club embarks on a massive new project.

Spurs, however, have started the season with two defeats from two games, failing to score a goal in the process. The major issues that haunted them last term are rearing their ugly heads again. A lack of goals is the main issue. Tottenham have a variety of options at the top end of the pitch now but still look incapable of regularly finding the net against any sides of real substance. Almost as big of a problem as their lack of goals, is their lack of ability to keep them out at the other end. Spurs have brought in experienced Premier League centre-halves in Van Hecke and Senesi, and new captain Micky van de Ven has returned from injury, but the team still looks as shaky as they did last season.

There is definitely a visible project happening at Spurs, and Roberto De Zerbi has unquestionably improved the side from the doldrums of last season, but there’s still a long, long way to go, and surely a lot more pain and days like Saturday the horizon.

Tottenham might have the worst medical department in world football

Tottenham’s injury woes over the last two seasons have been unprecedented in the Premier League era. Spurs have lost more days and games to injury than any other team in that period. They also had the highest number of individual players suffer injuries among Premier League sides last season.

Injuries happen in football, every team in every league in the world suffers them, but the stats behind Tottenham’s injuries are astounding. Spurs have a remarkably high percentage of hamstring injuries – a staggering 39 per cent. This is almost double the Premier League average of around 23.5 per cent. When you add this to a re-injury rate of 57 per cent last season, there are clear signs that this isn’t just poor luck. There’s a systemic issue with Tottenham’s handling of injuries.

Mohammed Kudus and more so Dejan Kulusevski have had exceptionally long lay-offs from injuries that initially seemed relatively innocuous, fortunately for Spurs they are now about to return to action, with Kudus having come off the bench in this game. Savio played just 19 minutes against Charlton in midweek: scoring and assisting off the bench, but then missed this game against Newcastle due to injury.

Tottenham Hotspur reportedly opened an enquiry into their injury crises following the end of last season, but no conclusions have been reported publicly at the time of writing.

Lewis Miley is benefitting from Newcastle’s summer exodus

The departures of Guimaraes and Tonali left a gaping hole in the heart of Newcastle’s midfield over the summer. As a result, some fans and pundits were understandably worried about the control Jaissle’s side would be able to exert over games after losing two such crucial players from their engine room.

But up has stepped Lewis Miley. The young Englishman featured regularly last season making 23 appearances, 15 of them starts, but all the signs from pre-season and the opening games of this Premier League season suggest Miley will become an essential part of this Newcastle side at an important transitional period in their project.

At times last season, Howe utilised Miley as an emergency right back due to injuries in that area of the field. There was even a game against Leeds in January in which Miley played in centre midfield, right back, and even centre back in the same game!

His versatility has afforded him opportunities in the first team which other youngsters who are more rigid positionally might not have had, but this season seems like his chance to put a real stamp on this Newcastle team in his favoured position.

Antonin Kinsky is not the long-term answer in between the sticks for Spurs

When De Zerbi was hired in March, he very quickly appointed Antonin Kinsky as his No 1 goalkeeper. Guglielmo Vicario never recovered his position, and has subsequently left the club. Kinsky went on to produce some fantastic performances as Spurs narrowly avoided relegation – with a fantastic save against Wolves having stayed in the memory.

At the beginning of this season though, Kinsky has shown some of the frailties which have plagued him at times during his time at Tottenham, especially during that infamous cameo in the Champions League against Atletico Madrid last season.

After a shaky performance last week against Brentford, Kinsky followed up this week with another display which won’t leave the Spurs fans feeling confident in his ability to help the club move forward this season. An early Elanga cross set the tone for his performance, as he barely got off the ground to attack the cross and flapped at it unconvincingly. In the second half, the Czech goalkeeper almost got done by the Elanga and Nick Woltemade in one-on-ones situations and didn’t look for a second like he would keep either of the Newcastle goals out of the net.

Spurs haven’t even been linked with a goalkeeper in this window, much less signed one, but they may want to consider changing that if they want to improve on their league finishes in the last two seasons.