The irony of Tottenham Hotspur sitting in 17th place in the Premier League again is clear. This was not in the script, though, that’s for sure.
Spurs have finished the last two campaigns in that exact spot but after spending over £300m, it came with the promise that performances would improve.
The players, however, are not dancing to Roberto De Zerbi‘s beat just yet. More time is required. They will surely come good. After all, the signings they’ve made, particularly in midfield, are serious level raisers.
Why the midfield was such a big issue for Spurs last season
The Premier League nowadays is less about tidy technicians. Long gone are the days of Cesc Fabregas, Juan Mata and David Silva lighting up the English top-flight from the centre of the park.
Indeed, it’s now all about ball progression, it’s about physical specimens, it’s about running as hard and as fast as you can for as long as possible. Football is changing.
Well, last season, Spurs arguably had none of that. They didn’t have tidy technicians, neither did they have a Declan Rice, an Elliot Anderson, a Mateus Fernandes, a midfielder willing to bust a gut.
It was all too safe, it was all too slow. They lacked ball progressors. Last term, no Spurs player ranked in the top ten for line-breaking passes per 90 minutes. For context, eight different sides were represented in that.
Furthermore, ten sides completed more through balls per game and 14 other teams successfully completed more long balls per 90. You can see how that would have impacted the overall team, not just in midfield, but also as far as chance creation is concerned.
Why Tonali and Fernandes can improve Spurs’ midfield
When you begin to break things down by player, it truly highlights the limitations the midfield had in 2025/26.
With Sandro Tonali and Fernandes now in the side, this will undoubtedly improve. The numbers say it all. They outranked every Spurs midfielder for forward passes, chances created and take-ons last term. Progression, at last, will be on the way.
|
Tonali & Fernandes vs Spurs mids in 2025/26 |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Player |
Forward passes |
Chances created |
Take-ons |
|
Tonali |
16.81 per 90 |
37 |
48 |
|
Fernandes |
12.65 per 90 |
32 |
31 |
|
Sarr |
10.55 per 90 |
11 |
22 |
|
Gray |
10.77 per 90 |
8 |
16 |
|
Palhinha |
12.86 per 90 |
8 |
23 |
|
Bentancur |
11.70 per 90 |
10 |
32 |
The two big summer arrivals are yet to truly hit the ground running but, in time, the midfield will improve. What also helps is a vast improvement from one of the names on that list.
De Zerbi’s new Caicedo is outclassing Tonali & Fernandes
Truth be told, we are yet to see huge improvements from the midfield at Spurs.
Tonali will surely live up to the hype in time but so far, for a £100m midfielder, he has not delivered the goods. He was notably outclassed by Mamadou Sangare in the 3-0 defeat to Brentford, was run ragged against his former employers Newcastle before finally showing signs of improvement last weekend against Nottingham Forest.
Still, De Zerbi will expect a quick improvement. After all, Rodrigo Bentancur has already shown that it’s possible to develop quickly in the Italian’s system.
Last term, the Uruguayan was simply not at the races. His ball progression was not good enough, notably ranking among the worst 8% of midfielders in Europe’s top five leagues last for progressive actions.
This was a player who was stagnating, someone who was described as a “pretty clear weaknesses” under Thomas Frank by Journalist Mitch Fretton. Analyst Raj Chohan even went as far as to suggest Bentancur is “a candidate for the worst midfielder at a big six club”.
Well, he’s proving the doubters wrong, one game at a time. Now, he is a key player in this Spurs team. Compared with Tonali, he looks like the £100m man, he looks like De Zerbi’s new version of Moises Caicedo.
During his time at Brighton, the now Chelsea man was a vital component of his midfield and in the manager’s Spurs team, Bentancur is doing a like-minded job. He may not have the panache or aggressive nature that Caicedo has but he’s certainly providing the glue that binds the team together.
After the 0-0 draw with Forest on Saturday, Football.London’s Alasdair Gold hailed the 29-year-old as “Spurs’ player of the match by a distance”. Fine praise indeed, but why was he their man of the moment?
Simply, Bentancur was a monster defensively, much like Caicedo proved to be under De Zerbi and much like Caicedo continues to be at Chelsea.
In that clash, the £21m signing made as many as 17 defensive contributions, the most of any player on the pitch. No player on the pitch made more than Bentancur’s nine clearances while he also topped the charts for aerial duels won too. He was the perfect screen in front of the backline.
Sure, he still doesn’t provide the ball progression that was lacking last term but that’s not his job. That’s the job of Tonali and Fernandes, who with Bentancur behind them, have the foundations to get forward and make things. It looks finely balanced.
