Clearly, it is going to take new manager Roberto De Zerbi time in order to get Tottenham Hotspur to play respectable football again, because the swashbuckling style De Zerbi hinted at going back to from the Ange Postecoglou days was nowhere near on display this Sunday.
Instead, Tottenham looked like they could not have scored even if they were given a full 12 hours on the pitch, falling 1-0 to Sunderland just days after West Ham United's win over Wolves put them in the bottom three of the Premier League.
There were a number of terrible individual performances, naturally, but it is truly jarring to see how awful Conor Gallagher continues to be. De Zerbi appears to be a big fan of the former Chelsea and Crystal Palace man, handing him a start in his first game as manager despite having the clearly superior Xavi Simons on the table as an option.
Conor Gallagher was horrible again
Gallagher got completely overrun again in the midfield. It is appalling how little threat he offers on the ball, and, somehow, his lack of creativity is an even bigger problem than Spurs supporters expected. As the only experienced signing Tottenham Hotspur made in the winter transfer window, Gallagher's signing looks worse and worse by the week, a classic case of subtraction by addition. His wages have broken the wage structure, and Spurs paid 10 million euros more than Aston Villa would have to sign him from Atletico Madrid.
That all gives Gallagher a compelling case for being an all time bad signing, but he has some pretty stiff competition within his own squad. Because summer 2024 signing Dominic Solanke is actually the most expensive signing in Tottenham history at 65 million pounds
Although Solanke won the Europa League last season and had some key contributions, nobody can look at his overall body of work and lack of goals as the starting No. 9 after Harry Kane and think that he was anywhere near 65 million pounds. This season, he spent more than half the campaign injured, came back and was great for three games, and now he has literally been the worst player for Tottenham this last month or two in the thick of the relegation fight.
Richarlison may be a contender, but at least he tries. And at least he has been scoring goals this season. Dominic Solanke was more expensive and is neither scoring goals nor putting in the intensity required in a relegation fight.
That Tottenham have invested so much in two players who are so consistently failing them when they need the most is an indictment of their recruitment and the sorts of players they are going for. They are spending big on the wrong players, and it is holding back the actual decent young players with upside in the process.