Tottenham’s start to the season has been far from smooth sailing, as the side sits bottom of the table after the first round of games. Spurs are yet to take a lead in a Premier League match, and there’s at least one clear reason why.Gauging expectations ahead of the 26/26 Premier League season was particularly difficult in the case of Tottenham Hotspur.The North London club spent upwards of £300 million to fund an almost complete rebuild in the image of Roberto De Zerbi, the manager who saved Spurs from relegation last season.With a few massive signings through the door like Sandro Tonali, Mateus Fernandes, or Savio, there were those who expected Tottenham to build on the positives of last season’s end and start off the season strongly.But after 5 games, no wins, and dead last in the Premier League table, the club look miles away from being a functional outfit. Among the many issues that plagued Spurs through their nascent season, among fitness issues, match sharpness, and (…) what stands out in particular is their inability to score goals.Credit: @thefrederikkejensen / InstagramTottenham’s awful goalscoring recordSpurs’ only two goals of their campaign came during their last match, against Aston Villa, where Tottenham scored two late consolation goals after falling behind 3-0.This makes Tottenham the only side yet to find themselves in a winning game state this Premier League season, meaning they are yet to take a lead during a league game.Spurs are obviously better than their position at the foot of the table. Analysis here which includes my groundbreaking hypothesis that Spurs will eventually start taking leads in games, changing the morose complexion of their matches. pic.twitter.com/D4YavHAejR— Conor O'Neill (@Conor0Neill_) September 29, 2026And yet, in terms of underlying numbers, Spurs created more expected goals than their opposition in five of their last seven games, including a League Cup draw against Liverpool, suggesting they create more and better quality of goal-scoring chances.But Spurs’ total of 5.0 xG is still the 18th worst in the league; they take fewer shots than 13 other teams, have the second-worst shot conversion rate (2.8%), and created the 12th fewest big chances.By all accounts and metrics, Tottenham’s attack is a dysfunctional unit, and while some of it can be chalked down to an unfamiliar front three setup made up of two new players, it certainly doesn’t tell the full story.Yes, Spurs’ forwards can be expected to finish more chances as their match sharpness increases, but a total of 5 expected goals is still a depressingly pitiful result for a club spending £300 million over the course of the summer.There is an undeniable issue with the scale and efficiency with which Tottenham create their chances, and it has much less to do with what they don’t do rather than what they do.What Spurs want to do in a football matchTo understand why Spurs struggle to such an extent with creating goalscoring opportunities, we have to take a step back to look at what Spurs’ actual approach to creating chances is, which, of course, derives from the vision of the manager, Roberto De Zerbi.In terms of De Zerbi’s larger philosophy, across his career his approach to football hasn’t changed drastically. De Zerbi’s ideas stem from an uncontroversial fact that attacking big spaces in a football match, like those in a counterattack, is much easier than attacking small spaces, like when trying to break down a low block.But defending deep and waiting for the opponent to lose the ball is fundamentally unpredictable in terms of its repeatability, and it also opens up a team to being broken down by an attacking team. To introduce consistency to this problem, De Zerbi’s players team an opposition’s press forward to find gaps in the opposition structure with intricate passing, thus creating openings behind a defending team, allowing his attackers to attack a big space.This largely remains his approach at Spurs.Credit: @thefrederikkejensen / InstagramSo, what’s going wrong with De Zerbi’s approach at Tottenham?It’s important to note that since introducing his approach in the Premier League, the tactical landscape has changed massively, and the introduction of man-to-man pressing and almost universal out-of-possession defensive improvements across the league mean that De Zerbi’s tactics have been made much more difficult to carry out.Teams nowadays leave fewer gaps, and their pressing systems are much more organised, meaning that accessing space in behind requires better planning, more technical ability and courage to play a dangerous pass which could split apart a defence.This has been Tottenham’s principal issue this season, and we can take a look at their game against Aston Villa to show exactly what I mean.Fans would actually remember particularly the first 15 minutes as a period during which Spurs looked their best, but their early chances came from high turnovers and an intense press, rather than carrying out an in-possession plan.As Villa settled into the game, Spurs found it increasingly more difficult to access attacking spaces, but most severely, they found it incredibly difficult to find attacking spaces quickly.Speed of passing and being fearless are crucial to De Zerbi’s approach, and all too often Spurs players opted for the safe, the less dangerous pass that was less likely to lead to a change in possession.Take this example from the game’s first 20 minutes.Jan Paul van Hecke plays a skilful pass which bypasses Villa’s first two lines of pressure, reaching Rodrigo Bentancur. A clever pass catches Villa off-guard and gives Spurs the oppotunity to exploit with space to play the ball into… The midfielder faces the Villa goal, has empty space in front of Tonali to play the ball into, and at least four different runners to play a through ball to.Instead, Bentancur hesitates and plays a sideways pass to Savio, allowing Villa to easily shift their block to the right.And while Savio and Archie Gray are able to combine in the end, forcing a good save from Zion Suzuki, Villa’s keeper, in principle having the ball on the wings rather than centrally is a much more comfortable position for a defending team to be in.This time, it’s Andy Robertson receiving the ball with quite a lot of time to pick up his next pass. We see Villa’s first two lines of pressure and Rodrigo Bentancur and Sandro Tonali in a lot of space in the middle to receive. Robertson plays an overhit pass to Tonali, who then has to play back the pass to the fullback. Even then, Rodrigo Bentancur is still in space to receive a pass ahead of him from Robertson.…but it has the potential to begin an equally dangerous attack, bypassing Villa’s lines of pressure.A successful pass to Bentancur, although more dangerous, would open up the pitch for Tottenham, bypassing six of Villa’s outfield players and setting up a very dangerous attack with a numerical advantage.But risk aversion wins out, and Robertson decides to play it back to van de Ven.It’s important to note that in the end, Spurs do manage to progress the ball up the pitch. But Tottenham’s playing out only managed to beat Villa’s first two players, and they still have the task of beating a more organised defence. Spurs gave Villa time to settle and shift into a more central block, a better defensive setup.Were that original pass from Robertson ahead of Bentancur played, Spurs would suddenly find themselves in a much more dangerous situation. The hesitation and lack of willingness to exploit a potential gap with a dangerous pass inhibits the potential upside of De Zerbi’s football.Finally, here is Rodrigo Bentancur again in possession. Spurs just stopped a Villa attack, and three of their players are still recovering from behind the ball. Bentancur again finds himself with the option to play a through ball to Dominic Solanke or Omar Marmoush or even a straight pass to the Egyptian.The ball instead is played sideways, and Villa have the time to recover into a defensive shape. Had the dangerous ball been played, two lines of Villa’s defence would’ve been bypassed for a potential clean shot on goal.Instead, any advantage Spurs had from recovering the ball vanishes because of a lack of willingness to play the riskier pass. And while they managed to retain possession and force Villa further down the field, breaking down a low block is a difficult task, and Spurs were only able to muster a cross into the box to threaten the Villa goal.What can De Zerbi do to fix this?Taking for granted Roberto De Zerbi changing his approach to football overnight as an unlikely scenario, Spurs can only hope to simply play better.Because the current issue has so much to do with a risk-avoidant mentality, there simply doesn’t exist an easy tactical tweak that would suddenly make Spurs’ players play riskier and more adventurous passes in the right moments.A change in personnel that prioritises technical ability, particularly in midfield, could help. Neither Sandro Tonali nor Rodrigo Bentancur are midfielders particularly known for creative passing. Mateus Fernandes remains an unused pivot player option for De Zerbi, and his superior technical ability to Tottenham’s other players could mean he’d be that much more confident to pass more aggressively.James Maddison’s return to the team would likely alleviate some of those decision-making issues too, but whether he’s fit enough to play a bigger role in a match remains a doubt.For now, De Zerbi’s best hope is to work on the training ground and a reasonable hope that his players will grow in confidence as they familiarise themselves with the system and their teammates.READ MORE: Mikey Moore does it again: Tottenham star scores two in two for England U20sThe post Tottenham’s biggest issue analysed: Why decision-making is stopping Spurs in their tracks appeared first on Spurs Web.