Brentford 3-0 Spurs
by Layth Yousif
at the Brentford Community Stadium

ON A BALMY, late August afternoon, pre-match sales of Brentford-branded flip flops in the club shop were steady if not spectacular. Unlike Keith Andrews’s vibrant side, which completely outclassed and humiliated Spurs, whose lazy performance suggested it was the side from N17 who were still on holiday.

Andrews’s outstanding Bees handed the big spenders from Tottenham a searing lesson in cohesive teamwork, as Roberto De Zerbi, the latest incumbent to attempt to steer this moribund giant back to life, failed spectacularly in his first assignment of the new term for the team that narrowly avoided relegation on the final day of last season.

Quite simply, Brentford were superb. First to every ball, majestically sweeping aside sclerotic and indecisive Spurs, whose play was as incoherent as it was ineffective, as first-half goals from Keane Lewis-Potter and Vitaly Janelt put the home side in firm command, prior to Michael Kayode — on his 50th league game — adding a third moments after the break.

The scoreline could have been worse as Brazil forward Igor Thiago thudded his 55th minute penalty against Antonin Kinsky’s right-hand post. 

Speaking after the match, a stunned De Zerbi admitted: “Today we didn’t show the soul and we didn’t show the style. When we find these two conditions, we can become dangerous. Until then, we have to suffer. Maybe today is important for us, maybe it will wake us up.”

Prompting the thought that if a team that has finished 17th for the last two seasons still needs a jarring shock as motivation to perform, perhaps a lack of soul and style are the least of its worries, for a club that lBrentford’s Michael Kayode (right) celebrates scoring their side’s third goal of the game with team-mates during the Premier League match at the Gtech Community Stadium, London. Picture date: Saturday August 22, 2026ast won the league title long before Donald Trump had told his first lie.

The fact is abysmal Spurs had already spent a whopping £237m by the time the clash kicked off in this unassuming part of west London, framed by the A4 flyover, and the Thames at Kew Bridge, with De Zerbi handing debuts to four new players, in Andrew Robertson, Marcos Senesi, Jan Paul van Hecke and Sandro Tonali. 

The club’s spending of an exorbitant £100m on the latter from Newcastle, who, when miserably firing an effort high over the bar at 3-0 down, prompted gleeful Bees fans to chant: “What a waste of money.” 

Spurs fans may have objected to such mockery at the start of the match, fuelled by the air of optimism that the start of a new campaign invariably brings. However, long before the hour mark, many in white had already fled the away end for the consolation of beers in local pubs along the capital’s river at low tide, or simply to avoid further delays on Saturday’s wretched District and Piccadilly Lines, that were as dreadfully unreliable as the Spurs team itself.

New Brentford star Mamadou Sangare was magnificent throughout. The £38m signing from Lens outclassed his counterparts when imperiously ruling the midfield, while also providing an assist for Lewis-Potter’s 12th minute opener. 

The all action 24-year-old, who helped Les Sang et Or (The Blood and Gold) finish second in Ligue 1 and win the Coupe de France last term, signed a five-year deal with Andrews side this summer, with the Mali international offering options as a No 6, or a No 8, as his intelligence, allied with his strength and physicality overwhelmed Spurs’ fragile side.

Fuelled by Sangare’s prowess, Archie Gray — who became Tottenham’s youngest-ever captain in the absence of injured new skipper Micky van de Ven — admitted Spurs lacked fight. “They just outfought us all over the park,” said the 20-year-old, who played at right-back due to Pedro Porro’s late return from Spain’s World Cup, adding: “We need to do better. For whatever reason, we weren’t up for the fight as they were. That’s on us.”

Such was Brentford’s dominance, De Zerbi switched the misfiring Conor Gallagher with £85m signing Mateus Fernandes at the break, along with the perennially fallible Lucas Bergvall for Rodrigo Bentancur, but the damage was already done. The 21-year-old Fernandes, who joined in the summer from relegated West Ham, could be forgiven for thinking he faced another season of struggle ahead. 

While Spurs are set to splurge at least a further £100m on targets Omar Marmoush and Savinho from Manchester City, the previously parsimonious club — certainly under former chairman Daniel Levy — are now splashing the cash.

Yet, on Saturday Spurs suffered their joint-heaviest opening-day defeat of a new season, with De Zerbi admitting after the match: “We arrived late too many times, but then we lost too many duels to compete with Brentford. I’m sorry for that. I’m sorry for the defeat.”

The result extended Brentford’s impressive unbeaten run in their opening home league fixture to seven matches — six wins and a draw — stretching back to 2019. 

Fans of De Zerbi’s Spurs are already facing the prospect of another gruelling season of relentless underachievement.