Jamie Carragher working as a Sky Sports pundit, with Roberto De Zerbi in a circular frame inset

Jamie Carragher and Roberto De ZerbiSky Sports and Imago

The 'criminal' reality Tottenham now face after what Jamie Carragher flagged vs Newcastle

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Published on:

29 Aug 2026, 7:18 pm

Jamie Carragher raised a major area of concern for Tottenham Hotspur in Saturday's poor home loss to Newcastle United.

A week on from going down 3-0 to Brentford, Spurs produced another bad display as they lost 2-0 against Newcastle.

Anthony Elanga and Yoane Wissa were on the scoresheet for the Magpies at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Back-to-back defeats to begin the season leaves Roberto De Zerbi's side rock bottom of the Premier League.

There is still a long, long way to go this season, of course, but the early signs are not great.

And Carragher was particularly shocked by what he saw in the build-up to Newcastle's second goal.

Tottenham defence already needs addressing

Tottenham have now shipped five goals in their first two games without finding the net themselves.

It is the first time since 1974-75 that Spurs have lost their first two league games without scoring.

That is a worry for De Zerbi in terms of his attackers, but the defence has also looked very shaky so far.

The second goal was a particularly bad one to concede, with a corner into the box not being cleared and Wissa hooking in.

Wissa was somehow left unmarked around four yards out and made no mistake in converting.

"The space Wissa has got in front of the goalkeeper is criminal," Carragher said on Sky Sports' live coverage of the match. "What are the Spurs defenders doing?

"Wissa has to improvise and he doesn't brilliantly. The start to the season couldn't have gone any better for Newcastle - or any worse for Tottenham."

Jan Paul van Hecke and Micky van de Ven acted like strangers as both men failed to spot the danger.

The defence in general is something De Zerbi needs to seriously work on over the coming days and weeks.

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Tottenham home record makes for grim reading

Newcastle generated an expected goals (xG) value of 0.75, which was actually lower than Tottenham's 1.04.

Spurs also had more possession (57.6 per cent compared to 42.4 per cent) and more shots on target (six vs two).

But all that counted for nothing in the end as Newcastle came away with all three points.

Tottenham have now lost the joint-most Premier League home games since the start of last season (11 - level with Wolves, who are now in the Championship).

The Lilywhites have now lost seven of their past nine meetings with Newcastle, meanwhile, with this starting to become a bogey fixture.

Newcastle performed well, to give them their dues, but Tottenham and De Zerbi know these type of performances cannot continue.

Newcastle United Football Club