Matheus Fernades, at £85m from West Ham United, came on as a substitute, while Savinho and possibly Omar Marmoush will add strength, but it was the lack of heart and fight that will be De Zerbi’s biggest concern.
From the first minute, Spurs’ brave new world hauntingly resembled the old one as they cracked under the first sign of pressure, Brentford sensing their weakness as they hunted down a side they clearly felt could be exposed.
And how Spurs were exposed.
Brentford should have been ahead before Keane Lewis-Potter broke the deadlock after 12 minutes, the contest effectively over when Vitaly Janelt doubled their lead before half-time.
De Zerbi cut a frustrated, animated figure as he tried to enliven Spurs, but heads were down, physical challenges lost, desperation their trademark, with not the slightest indication of any self-belief that they might recover the situation.
Conor Gallagher and Lucas Bergvall did not return after the half-time interval, although they might justifiably point out others could have accompanied them.
De Zerbi somehow needs to get into the heads of these Spurs players to give them strength and steel. That is not something that can be achieved with a wave of the chequebook.
For context, this is Spurs’ first game of the Premier League season and many teams with aspiration and ambition have had nightmare starts.
This, however, looked like the worrying continuation of a pattern of defeat and despair.
That pattern has cast a cloud over Spurs’ recent seasons, along with De Zerbi’s predecessors Ange Postecoglou, who at least won the Europa League, then Thomas Frank and – in his “blink and you’ll miss it” reign – Igor Tudor.
De Zerbi added: “I am surprised for the result and performance. I knew we were not in the right condition. We can’t find an excuse. I am sorry for the result and performance. We are starting a new project and we couldn’t find the principle.
“Marcos Senesi, Jan Paul van Hecke and Sandro Tonali are not in the best physical condition. We knew that before the game. We have to improve on that and many other things like organisation and pressing.”
More signings may be on the way, but De Zerbi said: “I don’t want the excuse that the first XI was not enough to compete and get a result. Brentford’s spirit on the pitch was great, it has to be the right example for us.”
New faces are all very well, but this loss showed Spurs problems run deeper than fresh personnel. De Zerbi must banish the ghosts of two seasons littered with losses. And quickly.
He must not change his squad. He must change a culture in which defeats like this have become commonplace.
