Tottenham Hotspur were supposed to be back in cruise control after winning 5-1 in the Second Round of the League Cup against Charlton Athletic at mid week, following their 3-0 blowout loss to Brentford on Matchday 1 of the 2026/27 Premier League season.
While Spurs were not as embarrassing as they were against Brentford, this performance against Newcastle United was still nowhere near good enough, as evidenced by the 2-0 score line and yet another shut out defeat despite a solid performance from a debuting Omar Marmoush at the striker position.
Tottenham had a number of terrible individual performances on Saturday afternoon in their home defeat to Newcastle, including Sandro Tonali flopping against his former team after an atrocious debut against Brentford, but no single player was a bigger albatross or a more disappointing performer than left winger Mathys Tel.
Mathys Tel is not stepping up when Tottenham need him
Although Tel was beyond brilliant in the preseason and actually Spurs best player during those weeks, he was a disaster every time he touched the ball against Newcastle. Though he worked hard and was decent enough in the 3-0 loss to Brentford despite the play of his teammates, Tel was one of the core reasons why Spurs did nothing as an attack vs. Newcastle.
Tel wasted what Omar Marmoush was doing at striker. Every time he touched the ball, he lost it. The Frenchman had six unforced errors on the ball, zero chances created, zero dribbles completed, no fouls drawn, and not a single quality shot at the Newcastle goal for his team.
It was a self centered, humiliating performance from a player who is starting to show his true level to Tottenham - and not in a good way. Because while Tel can do well in meaningless games or as a sub, when it comes time to playing the biggest clubs in England and being consistent at the highest level, he has always found a way to let Spurs down, especially just when the club was starting to think about believing in him.
It's a good thing Tottenham are going after Cody Gakpo after signing Savio and Marmoush, because fans are really starting to have second thoughts about Tel. Many believe in him, and he has clear talent. But just like Bayern Munich gave up on him because he could not put it together and be a team player every week without trying to go Hero Ball and lose it every time, Tel is showing those same habits against the real beasts of England.
Add us as a preferred source on Google