Tottenham's Unbeaten Preseason Draw Against Hoffenheim
Tottenham finished their unbeaten preseason with a 2-2 draw against TSG Hoffenheim on Saturday, a low-key rematch at Hotspur Way that felt more like a tactical lab session than a grand finale.
Twenty-four hours after a sharp 3-0 win over the same opponents, Roberto De Zerbi ripped up his teamsheet and started again. The result: a heavily rotated XI, a strange but intriguing shape, and just enough chaos to keep everyone honest.
Hoffenheim struck first from the spot after James Maddison, rusty and deep in his own half, was robbed by Leon Avdullahu and then hauled the winger down. Adam Hlozek converted. Spurs responded before the break through Ben Davies and the increasingly eye-catching Luca Williams-Barnett, before Valentin Gendry’s thumping second-half volley levelled it.
Unbeaten preseason intact. Plenty to chew on.
Key men return – and raise expectations
This was the day the treatment room finally started to empty.
Maddison, Pape Matar Sarr, Rodrigo Bentancur, Souza and Damola Ajayi all made their first appearances of the summer. Kevin Danso and Mateus Fernandes stepped up their minutes too.
For De Zerbi, it was a glimpse of the depth he might actually have available when the real stuff starts. The XI still looked experimental, but the names on the teamsheet hinted at a much more rounded squad than Spurs carried for long stretches of last season.
De Zerbi’s “Frankensquad”
On paper, the lineup looked like a dare.
Central midfielders everywhere. Three you’d call orthodox CMs, two attacking midfielders, one winger and no recognised striker. It was the kind of selection that makes you double-take and wonder what exactly the manager has planned.
Yet De Zerbi didn’t unveil some wild new shape. He stayed close to his preferred 4-2-3-1. Fernandes and Bentancur formed the double pivot, Sarr operated as the No 10, Williams-Barnett and Ajayi worked the flanks, and Maddison was asked to lead the line as a false nine.
It never looked entirely natural for him. Maddison spent long spells dropping into deeper pockets to help build play, with Sarr also drifting back to get on the ball. The structure occasionally blurred, but the purpose was clear: get minutes into legs, even if it meant a slightly lopsided system.
Given the lack of fit forwards, it was a compromise De Zerbi was always likely to make.
The van de Ven question
Amid all the returns, one absence stood out.
Micky van de Ven has yet to play a single preseason minute. Others have had minor knocks – Dominic Solanke, Destiny Udogie – but the information around van de Ven has been scant, and his continued omission is becoming harder to brush aside.
He came back late from the World Cup with the Netherlands, but not later than several teammates who have already featured. With his injury history, the obvious fear is that there’s a problem being carefully managed behind the scenes.
Spurs can talk up their depth all they like. Starting the season without their quickest, most aggressive defender would hurt.
Hoffenheim press the weak spots
Hoffenheim had seen this movie already.
Knowing Spurs would insist on playing out from the back, the visitors pushed high again and picked their moments to spring the trap. The targets were clear: right-back Tye Hall and goalkeeper Brandon Austin.
Both are competent on the ball, but under concerted pressure they looked less assured than the players around them. Hoffenheim often waited for Austin to feed a pass into midfield, then snapped into gear at the first hint of a loose touch.
That plan produced the opener. Maddison dropped deep to receive from Austin, Avdullahu pounced, nicked the ball, and the midfielder’s desperate tug gave Hlozek the chance to score from the spot.
Spurs will keep building from the back. Opponents will keep testing whether every link in that chain can handle the squeeze.
Maddison’s rust on show
Maddison’s return late last season gave Spurs a creative outlet they desperately lacked, even when he was short of full fitness. The vision was still there. The legs weren’t always.
This outing felt similar.
He drifted in and out of the game, stitching together the occasional clever pass but struggling to dominate from an unfamiliar role up front. His touch under pressure for the penalty incident betrayed a player still searching for rhythm, and his reaction – dragging Avdullahu down – summed up that lack of sharpness.
He’ll need minutes to reach the level Spurs require. The talent isn’t in question. The timing, right now, is.
Mateus Fernandes starts to open up the pitch
Fernandes arrived with a reputation as a bold, forward-thinking passer. The first half didn’t fully showcase that side of him, but it did reveal something else: quality delivery in the final third.
An early driven cross from the right flashed just ahead of an onrushing Sarr. Then, from a short corner routine, Fernandes took the return ball and whipped in a superb cross for Davies to nod home.
After the break, the game stretched and his full range emerged. He began pinging crossfield passes – some drilled, some floated – that dragged Hoffenheim from side to side and gave Spurs a different dimension.
Spurs badly lacked that kind of passing range last season. If Fernandes can produce it consistently, he changes the feel of their midfield.
Austin stakes his claim
While Hoffenheim’s press occasionally rattled him in possession, Brandon Austin’s shot-stopping told a different story.
He produced a sharp save at his near post to deny a Nathan De Cat flick, then stood up brilliantly when Adam Daghim broke through one-on-one. Those interventions kept Spurs in control during a scrappy phase.
Between Austin, Martin Dubravka and Antonin Kinsky, Spurs may not boast a universally acknowledged elite keeper right now – Kinsky has the tools to grow into that bracket – but as a trio they look impressively complete.
And that’s before you even get to Guglielmo Vicario.
Williams-Barnett steals the show
Luca Williams-Barnett has been one of the revelations of Spurs’ preseason. This might have been his most mature display yet.
He repeatedly took on and beat Vladimir Coufal, but the real evolution lay in what happened next. Earlier in the summer, his head would go down and the shot was almost inevitable. Here, once he’d skipped past his man, he lifted his head and picked passes: sharp, incisive balls that opened lanes for teammates.
His goal capped it. Sarr slalomed brilliantly past Albian Hajdari and slipped a reverse pass into the box. Williams-Barnett met it first time, guiding the ball calmly into the net to give Spurs a half-time lead.
He’s still too raw for a loan move to make much sense. Performances like this, though, will make it hard for De Zerbi to ignore him when the senior side needs attacking spark off the bench.
New names, new steps
De Zerbi has leaned heavily on the academy this summer, but most of the faces have been familiar to anyone who follows the U-21s. This time, a few fresh stories emerged.
On the bench sat 15-year-old Mikel Jack, son of former Trinidad and Tobago goalkeeper Kelvin Jack, so new to the scene he didn’t even have a squad number. Reiss Elliot-Parris and Miracle Adewole both got on the pitch for their first senior outings in Lilywhite.
Neither teenager shifted the game, and they didn’t need to. Just seeing two 18-year-olds take that first step at this level, in front of the first-team staff, mattered enough.
Fitness first, points later
If there was any lingering doubt about De Zerbi’s priorities, this match erased it. This was about legs, lungs and loading.
Maddison came off at half-time, replaced by Elliot-Parris – an actual striker, which at least restored some positional logic. Souza and Ajayi, both returning from injury, were carefully withdrawn around the 70-minute mark.
The headline, though, was Fernandes completing the full 90. Sarr and Williams-Barnett also logged heavy minutes before being replaced late on.
With no European football and mostly one game a week ahead, Spurs have used this preseason to build a base rather than chase statement scorelines. The unbeaten record is nice. The real question now is whether this fitness platform, and the depth finally emerging beneath it, is enough to turn that quiet optimism into something far louder when the season starts.
