Tottenham 0-2 Newcastle gave Matthias Jaissle his first Premier League win and left Roberto De Zerbi explaining why three of his players want out.
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Anthony Elanga scored the opener, set up by debutant Nico Gonzalez. Yoane Wissa got the second, his first of the season. Two players signed for a combined £110m last summer, and it has taken a change of manager to get anything out of them.
Jaissle has done what Eddie Howe could not
Jamie Carragher put it plainly on Sky Sports: "In Elanga and Wissa, it's like two new players."
Elanga now has two goals in the young season after a good showing in the 2-2 draw with Liverpool. Wissa is off the mark. Neither looked like this for most of last season under Howe, and neither has changed physically over the summer. What has changed is where they are being asked to play and how quickly the ball reaches them.
Gonzalez's debut mattered too. His pass created the first goal, and he has already talked up what this squad could do. Newcastle have replaced Sandro Tonali and, at least on Saturday's evidence, not missed him.
Tottenham are in a mess
Spurs have spent roughly £300m this summer and sit near the bottom of the Premier League table. De Zerbi says he is not angry. He also said there is no panic. Then he confirmed that three players have asked to leave before Monday's deadline.
Those two statements do not sit well together, and the crowd noticed. A clip of the stadium announcer telling supporters "we're back, we're going places, we're huge" before kick-off has gone around the internet for reasons the club will not enjoy.
How the game actually went
- Elanga opened the scoring after a Gonzalez pass
- Wissa doubled the lead for his first goal of the campaign
- Tottenham did not score, and did not look especially close to it
- Tonali struggled on his return to the side, while Gonzalez impressed, according to BBC Sport's player ratings
What each club does next
Newcastle go into the international break with three points and a front line that suddenly looks functional. Jaissle arrived with plenty of scepticism about whether a coach from outside England could handle this job. One win does not settle that, but it buys him room.
Tottenham have until 23:00 on Monday to sort out the three players who want to go, and then a fortnight without a match to think about it. De Zerbi has had shaky starts before and recovered. The difference here is the money already spent and how visible the disconnect with supporters has become.
Spurs face a run of fixtures after the break that will define whether this is a slow start or something worse.
Sources: Sky Sports, BBC Sport, Goal.com
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