Tottenham Hotspur have spent significantly this summer but Roberto De Zerbi’s side were comprehensively beaten by Brentford on the opening weekend of the Premier League season.Spurs have committed to nearly £250m on transfer spending already this summer, with a deal worth up to £85m for Savinho agreed with Manchester City and one for his team-mate Omar Marmoush progressing too.De Zerbi gave four players their competitive debuts for Spurs in defenders Andy Robertson, Jan Paul van Hecke and Marcos Senesi, with Sandro Tonali staring in midfield. But there is understandably work to do before they look a team and Brentford raced into a 2-0 lead in little over half an hour with Keane Lewis-Potter and Vitaly Janelt starting.De Zerbi made two changes at the break with Mateus Fernandes making it five Spurs debuts but it was Brentford who struck again, with Michael Kayode finishing after the impressive Mamadou Sangare, making his Premier League debut, had his shot saved.De Zerbi saved Spurs from relegation last season but looks to have a big job still to do to turn their fortunes around.Here The Athletic’s Jay Harris and Liam Tharme break down the key talking points of Brentford’s 3-0 win.What went wrong for De Zerbi?Firstly, he picked a team packed with technical quality against an opponent known for its physical dominance. And De Zerbi knew that. This was his fifth Premier League match against Brentford and he’s only beaten them once.Kevin Danso would have offered more protection, particularly against Igor Thiago and Kevin Schade. Brentford won 12 of the 18 first-half aerial duels and 64 per cent of their long passes found a teammate.Similarly, the hold-up striker role asked of Richarlison suited Dominic Solanke much better. Richarlison does his best work running into space and isolating centre-backs out wide. He does not have the strength back-to-goal profile , which was exposed for Brentford’s second goal, when Antonin Kinsky played through the press to him, and Kristoffer Ajer dispossessed the Brazil forward with ease.De Zerbi had a day to forget (Photo: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)The pick of Conor Gallager at No 10 was a curious one because this was the one position where De Zerbi opted for physicality. He tried to correct the error at half-time, switching the yellow-carded Gallagher for Matheus Fernandes, but the damage was already done. Lucas Bergvall, who lost a duel in the build-up to the second goal, was hooked too.At no stage did Spurs get a grip with Brentford’s set pieces — which falls on specialist coach Andreas Georgson — including the third goal by Michael Kayode on 48 minutes, which sealed the win. There’s a root cause here too: Spurs have now failed to win for 35 Premier League matches when going 1-0 down, losing 27 of those, and last won from such a position in November 2024.