Tottenham Hotspur fans were immensely disappointed with 100 million pound signing Sandro Tonali, who had a disastrous afternoon against Brentford to start the 2026/27 Premier League season and then had an arguably even more dreadful outing on Matchday 2 against his recent employers, Newcastle United, fueling the convictions of Magpies fans that their club absolutely fleeced Spurs in the transfer window.
Roberto De Zerbi is a massive backer of Tonali and pounded the table for his fellow Brescia native to join the club this summer, no matter the cost, but Tonali was so bad in those matches against Brentford and Newcastle that many Spurs fans even started to have real doubts about the Italian international at N17.
But Tonali, perhaps finally fit as De Zerbi implied, had a much better game in the 0-0 draw with Nottingham Forest. The former Serie A champion at AC Milan was elite defensively in winning possession, and he and Rodrigo Bentancur totally dominated the game from a possession stand point.
Tottenham could not score even with a better Sandro Tonali
Spurs were able to get the best out of Tonali and get a point against Forest, but they were unable to get the win because they could not score. Even with more possession and a better grip on the game, especially defensively with the center backs and center midfielders shining, Spurs could not make that count.
The front line of Mathys Tel, Omar Marmoush, and Mohammed Kudus were obviously poor, but you could see how much Tottenham Hotspur missed having an actual No. 10 out there. James Maddison has been out since Matchday 1 against Brentford with a dislocated shoulder, and so Conor Gallagher went back into the No. 10 position, just as he did in that fateful 3-0 blowout loss at the Gtech Stadium.
And whlie Gallagher did not play as shockingly poor against Nottingham Forest as he did against Brentford, you could see how much Sandro Tonali missed having a real 10 who could get open for him, take his passes, and then turn them into goal scoring opportunities for someone like Mathys Tel or Omar Marmoush to convert.
So many players on Tottenham miss a real 10, but Tonali is the one who misses having that kind of intelligent, technical player with proven Premier League experience like James Maddison. Tonali has nobody to funnel it to, because Conor Gallagher as a 10 just does not have the quality or the mind set to be in the right place and create those chances. Tonali has to be sitting there begging for Madders to be back next week vs. Everton.
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