Tottenham's remarkable $400 million summer spending spree isn’t translating to any on-field success so far in the Premier League.
Two games. Zero points.
Indeed, big-spending Spurs are still searching for their first goal of the campaign after being beaten 2-0 at home by Newcastle on Saturday, a week on from being ripped apart in a 3-0 loss at Brentford.
Five of Tottenham's slew of new signings started the game — including Sandro Tonali, whose every
touch was booed by the visiting fans after his $133 million departure from Newcastle, and Omar Marmoush, whose loan move from Manchester City was only finalized on Thursday.
They made little impact as Tottenham was picked off in the second half, with Anthony Elanga swiveling in the penalty area and bending in a shot off the post in the 62nd minute and Yoane Wissa hooking home a clever finish from close range in the 72nd.
Spurs — coming off back-to-back 17th-place finishes in the Premier League — are one of three teams to have lost both of their games so far and it looks like it will take time for so many new players to gel. One of them, Savio, wasn't in the squad for Saturday because of a muscle injury.
Not since the 1974-75 season has Tottenham lost its two opening matches of a league campaign without scoring.
The Andoni Iraola era is yet to catch fire at Liverpool.
For the second straight weekend, Liverpool needed a late equalizer to rescue a point in the Premier League as summer signing Víctor Muñoz 's 82nd-minute strike earned a 2-2 draw against Nottingham Forest at Anfield.
The Reds also drew 2-2 last week in Iraola’s first league match in charge — and on that occasion a stoppage-time penalty by Dominik Szoboszlai denied Newcastle.
There might be teething problems early in Iraola's tenure — notably in defense, where Liverpool continue to look shaky — but at least there has been some fighting spirit.
Liverpool twice came from behind against Forest, with Alexander Isak scoring Liverpool’s first equalizer in the 60th to cancel out Dan Ndoye's first-half goal.
Then, after Morgan Gibbs-White converted a penalty to regain the lead for the visitors, Muñoz smashed in a shot off the crossbar after running onto a through-ball from Florian Wirtz.
The Liverpool match was attended by Amit Bhatia, the leader of an investor group — also containing Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin — that has reached an agreement to buy a minority stake in the club for a reported estimated figure of $2.2 billion.
Bhatia posed for photos with Liverpool owner John Henry on the field ahead of the game against Forest, which was also preceded by news that the Reds have agreed to a $166 million deal to buy Bradley Barcola from Paris Saint-Germain.
The CBS Arena became the Premier League's latest new stadium as Coventry hosted a top-flight game for the first time since 2001 — when the club was playing at Highfield Road.
A big occasion for Frank Lampard's team was spoiled by losing 1-0 to fellow promoted team Hull, which is on a maximum six points after stunning Manchester United last weekend with a 2-0 home win.
Liam Miller scored the 82nd-minute winner for Hull, which started the season as the big favorite for relegation.
Another weekend, another painful stoppage-time concession by Bournemouth.
James Tarkowski's goal in the first minute of added-on time secured Everton a 1-1 draw and came a week after Bournemouth lost 2-1 at Manchester City thanks to Josko Gvardiol's goal in the same minute.
Everton, which is unbeaten after opening with a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace, started Iliman Ndiaye — a winger who is reportedly of interest to Man City.
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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80
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