TSG 1899 Hoffenheim (Germany) (Home) 16.08.2026

It meant that there were some starting positions for Luca Williams-Barnett, Damola Ajayi and Souza to stake a claim for more minutes when the season starts.  It also meant that Tottenham were operating without a recognised centre-forward so there was going to be a false nine being utilised, which turned out to be a rotational issue for whoever could pop up in an attacking position.  MiIkel Jack, a 17 year old, got a place on the bench in case anything happened to Brandon Austin.

Spurs kicked off on a hot afternoon and looked comfortable on the ball to start with, but in the third minute a cross into the Spurs box ended with Hlozek shooting wide when he should have made more of the opportunity.  A lot of the Hoffenheim attacks were coming down the Spurs left and when the ball was played in to Hlozek, Rodrigo Bentancur did well to dispossess him inside the Spurs penalty area.  

Tottenham’s first effort cam in the 12th minute.  Luca Williams-Barnett broke down the left with a turn that took him away from his marker, playing the ball across to the right for Damola Ajayi to come back inside to shoot, but the effort was blocked.  However, three minutes later, Spurs were behind.  Trying to play out from a goal-kick, Maddison tried to turn on the ball in the box, but Avdullahu nicked it off him and Madders pulled him down, which could quite easily have been a red card in a competitive match.  The spot-kick was dispatched low beyond Brandon Austin’s dive to the right just inside the post by Hlozek to give the German side the lead.

Spurs responded by putting together a good passing move down the right with Manuel Fernandes’ low ball across the six-yard box was just too far ahead of Pape Matar Sarr, but a corner was conceded.  It was played short to Maddison who returned it to Fernandes and his in-swinging cross was met in the middle of the six-yard area by Ben Davies who put glanced his header low to the keeper’s left to level the score.

A shot from Avdullahu from the inside left position outside the box forced Brandon Austin to make a good stop and Fernandes cleared the danger by kicking the loose ball away.  Hoffenheim were good in the first half with a near full strength (minus injuries) side and former Iron Vladimir Coufal took free-kick that flew just wide of Austin’s right hand post.  A hydration break was taken and with no crowd, there were no dissenting boos.  When the match restarted, the German team were still looking to regain the lead with a low cross coming in from the left, Nathan de Cat touched it towards goal at the near post and Austin down sharply to push it out for corner.

When Maddison gave the ball away 30 yards out after the half hour, Vogt took a quick shot when ball moved forward to him and it went a yard wide with Austin caught out by the speed of the effort so couldn’t set himself.  The Spurs keeper had to be quick off his line soon after when the ball ran through from a tackle that Daghim got onto and he ran past Kevin Danso, but Austin was out to block the shot just inside his box.

A ball was played forward to Pape Matar Sarr, who skipped away from his marker 30 yards from goal and the midfielder moved forward before laying it to his left for Williams-Barnett to stroke it first time across the keeper to find the left hand bottom corner, making it 2-1.  It was an excellent pass from Pape, as Luca was able to take the ball in his run and his clinical finish was similar to that we had seen the day before by Mikey Moore.

Hoffenheim made wholesale changes at half-time, as they did at the THS, but Spurs opted to change only Reiss Elliott-Parris for James Maddison, who had been making his first start for a long time and did OK.   Tottenham looked lively and Damola Ajayi came in from right to curl a left-foot shot at goal but it went over the bar and that was before Honajzer was fouled by Tye Hall just outside box to the left and the Hoffenheim attacking midfielder got up to take it, beating the wall and forcing Austin to dive to his right to push wide.

After 55 minutes, a long cross from the Hoffenheim left found Gendrey racing in beyond the far post and side-footing a well executed volley across goal and into the roof of the net.  It was a goal that could have been prevented and I am sure that the Head Coach will be looking to stop crosses coming in and that players are picked up around the box.

Just after an hour of play, a Spurs corner was bent in towards the near post under the bar but the goalkeeper punched it out, with the loose ball being played to Williams-Barnett on the right.  His curled cross was to the far post where Kevin Danso won a header that hit the face of the bar and came out.  It could have resulted in a winning goal, although it was mainly all Spurs after that.  Five minutes later, Sarr got into box close to the line on the right  and drove the ball across goal but the keeper deflected it up and away.  A long ball forward from Hoffenheim caused Austin to come way out of goal to clear with his head, but he clattered Danso in the process and while he received attention they took a hydration break.

Five minutes after the restart, Luca got away from his marker, but was thrown to the ground by his neck and if it hadn’t been a friendly, it would definitely have been a yellow card.  With five minutes left, Byrne crossed to far post and Elliott-Parris just wasn’t able to get over the and it went over the bar.  Williams-Barnett was tormenting the Hoffenheim players and he tricked his way past Chaves, who pulled him back, so Luca pulled Chaves.   Spurs won the ball again and played it up to Luca and with Chaves riled he bundled Williams-Barnett over.  Again another yellow card in a competitive match.  The free kick was played in to the near post by Fernandes but keeper punched it away.  A last minute run towards the penalty box by Miracle Adewole was unceremoniously ended by a crude foul by Bernardo just out side the box (it would have been another yellow card), but it came to nothing and the match ended soon after.

While this match lacked a little of the intensity of the previous day’s meeting, it was a tough enough test and with both teams facing their first competitive match at the weekend, coming up against decent opposition helped sharpen them up.  With some players adding to the few pre-season minutes they had previously had on the pitch and the youngsters looking solid, it gives De Zerbi plenty of options for the Brentford game, although I am sure he would prefer to have some more of his senior players available to him.