TSG 1899 Hoffenheim (Germany) (Away) 23.01.2025

Richarlison put a great cross in from the left side of the box with the outside of his right foot behind two defenders toward the far post early on, although one of the defenders got it back to his keeper before Kulusevski got there.  The keeper played it out long and it was won by Davies, who headed it down to Bentancur who knocked it wide right first time to Porro.  His forward pass over the defence picked out James Maddison’s run, with the midfielder pulling the ball down and from just right of centre, he fired it into the roof of the net to give Spurs the lead inside three minutes.  It was a fine pass by Porro and it was the sort of run that Madders had been making recently, going beyond the front men.

Spurs were comfortable on the ball and won two more quick corners, but when Bentancur gave a short pass to Bergvall, Hoffenheim broke and had a shot from just outside the box, with Radu Dragusin blocking it well.  Tottenham broke from that and worked the ball forward but couldn’t make a clear chance from it as the home side got men back behind the ball.

Tottenham won the ball high in the Hoffenheim half and Maddison quickly moved it through to Richarlison, who hit his shot early, with Baumann getting down to save but pushing it out into the penalty area, although Spurs didn’t have anyone there to make something of it.  Pedro could have added to the score when Son played a pass through the D and the Spaniard hit it with his left foot wide to the keeper’s left hand post.  It was a good chance that should have at the very least made the keeper make a save.

Hoffenheim had been enjoying a bit more possession and a ball into the box bobbled about, the home team saying it was handball in the box by Bentancur, but it came up off his knee and the VAR officials decided it was not a penalty.  The game was becoming a little stretched and when Son was freed in the left channel by Maddison, who had made a positive move ten yards inside his own half when two Hoffenheim players left it for each other.  The Spurs skipper made ground going towards the box and from inside it, he hit a low left-foot shot that deflected off Kaderabek and floated over the keeper who had gone to ground to make it 2-0 inside 22 minutes.  This was the start that Spurs needed after the bad run we were on and it looked as though they would go on to control the match.

Defending well, Archie Gray blocked a long range shot and when there was a corner soon after, we broke at pace and a diagonal ball across to Son saw him flick the ball back between his legs to make space, but he fired it way over the top.  Brandon Austin had made one save when Moerstedt claimed he was being pulled back, when in fact he was pulling Archie Gray’s shirt and his shot dribbled through to the Spurs keeper, but he made a better one when Bischof drilled a low shot that would have gone inside the post had Brandon not stretched full-length to get a hand to it and then be quick to recover the loose ball.  Stach was free in the middle of the Tottenham area given far too much room, with a team-mate to his left, but Pedro Porro got across to put the ball out for a corner.  It brought two more until Austin claimed a second ball into the area and his quick release nearly put Kulusevski away, but a defender did just enough to win possession.

Moerstedt toed the ball away from Dragusin’s head as he dived to head it away and Gray did well to put the Hoffenheim striker off, resulting in a weak effort that Austin got down to.  A foul when Akpoguma went through Maddison resulted in a free-kick that was played in and met by Bergvall’s head forcing Baumann to make a diving stop to his left to keep the ball out on the line.  The following corner ended with Davies prodding a shot at goal that was blocked for another corner, although that went straight into the keeper’s hands.  Hoffenheim had a great chance just before the half-time break when a low cross skipped over Bentancur’s foot and went to Becker whose low shot was blocked by Dragusin, with Austin coming 12 yards out to grab the ball as it ballooned into the air.

At the start of the second half, Spurs were not holding the ball well enough and had to defend balls coming into the box, with Porro making a good block to a shot from outside the area.  The press was on the man in possession missing and Tottenham were dropping deep, with no out ball and no Spurs player running to make space to receive the ball. This meant that the ball kept coming back towards the Tottenham goal and one cross from the right picked out Kramaric, who put a header back across goal and it came back off the crossbar.  Davies then made a fine block from Moerstedt’s shot before Stach put his effort well wide.

To try and break the pattern of the first ten minutes of the half, Richarlison made way for Mikey Moore in an attempt to hold the ball better and help out Archie behind him.  Kramaric had a shot blocked by Porro, Bischof chipped a ball that seemed to come off Ben Davies’ head and it had Austin scrambling and grateful to see it drift wide.  Poor passing when we were going forward was handing it over to the German side and when a cross came in from the right, Austin went for it and Moerstedt went down and the ref pointed to the spot.  It looked more like the Hoffenheim player hit Austin rather than the other way around.  However, everyone was lined up for the penalty to be taken, then the VAR officials called the ref over to review the collision on the pitch-side monitor.  It was a joke decision in the first place, but would the ref be brave enough to admit he was wrong ?  He was and common sense prevailed, and the yellow card shown to the Spurs keeper was also wiped out.  It may have been a mis-communication between the Dutch VAR officials and the Danish ref that caused the odd situation that nearly arose.  Goodness knows what would have happened if he had let them take the spot-kick !

Spurs got caught with a lot of shirts up-field when Son’s square ball across the box went straight to a blue shirt and it was moved quickly forward to their left wing.  A low ball into the six-yard box found Stach poking the ball across Austin to find the net.  It had been coming as Tottenham lacked any impetus after half-time and couldn’t make any headway going forward with Son down the middle being easy pickings for Hoffenheim.

Clearing the ball with no composure, Hoffenheim were able to put the pressure on.  The referee wasn’t giving many fouls and then gave Spurs a corner when Dejan took the ball along the line and it looked to have come off him last.  Nothing came from it, even though it was a good delivery into the danger area.

When N’Soki passed the ball straight to Bentancur, his straight pass in to Mikey allowed the youngster to move it left for Heung-Min Son.  Coming into the box from the left, he stepped over the ball, making an angle to shoot low across the keeper and into the far corner to make it 3-1.  It was the sort of finish that we are used to from our skipper but it was his last act of the match, as Lankshear came on to give him a rest.  Just when it looked odds on that Hoffenheim would score the next goal of the game, the experience of Son took the game further in Spurs’ favour.

Suddenly, Tottenham looked sharp again, with Mikey playing a pass into the box for Kulusevski, but it was put out for a corner, which was played to the near post but defended well.  Despite making three subs, Hoffenheim were now finding it hard to get hold of the ball, with Spurs controlling play well.

Kulusevski did really well to turn away from three players around the halfway line, but then played a pass short of Lankshear, who had looked for a ball beyond the last defender and when the ball went towards the Spurs box, Ben Davies had to make a crunching tackle on Kramaric on the edge of the box that left the former Leicester striker on the floor for some time.

Just when it all looked like the match was sealed, but you know Spurs !  The waves of balls into the box were endless and one from a break on the right after a Spurs move broke down was aimed at the far post where Hoffenheim had an overload on Pedro Porro and Mokwa headed the ball back across Austin to make it 2-3 with a couple of minutes plus added time to go.  It was another example of players not tracking opponent’s runs and allowing our full-backs to be outnumbered, so the people who were blaming Porro should also look at others who might also be partially to blame.

Maddison was removed before the game restarted and Callum Olusesi came off the bench to make his Tottenham debut and he made a positive start, receiving the ball inside from the left touchline from Moore on halfway, moving forward with the ball to 25 yards out before slipping a pass inside to Lankshear, who was bumped off the ball.  The German side were still finding too much space in wide positions to get crosses in and fortunately, one was overhit and Akpoguma could only hoick it off for a goal-kick beyond the far post.  N’Soki removed Porro’s boot when making a tackle on him, but the ref still wasn’t keen to give a free-kick and another ball into the Tottenham area looked dangerous, but Moerstedt chose to head it down for a team-mate instead of going for goal and it was cleared out of danger by Davies’ header.

A cross from Chaves hit Archie and went off for a corner, but the Hoffenheim sub wanted more, claiming it was handball, but Gray’s arm was down by his side and VAR quickly decided it wasn’t going to be anything that they were going to consider.  The ball in tot he near post was headed away and Spurs moved the ball forward, as Lankshear capitalised on Akpoguma’s weak header after he got too far under the ball and directed it behind him for the Spurs teenager to get control of the ball and pass it just to his right to Kulusevski, who had made a run to support him.  Holding the ball up in the corner, Dejan looked to have won a corner, but the linesman, who was right on top of the players, gave a goal-kick.  A corner then would have killed the game, with only a minute left.

As it was, Akpoguma looked to spread the ball wide but over-hit it as it went sailing over a blue shirt for a Spurs throw.  While the Spurs players weren’t able to hold onto the ball, they hauled their tired limbs for a final effort that saw them grateful for the final whistle.  It was a massive sigh of relief that the players and fans let out as it was a win, by any means possible and one that was much needed, even though the issues that have been plaguing the side are still there.  You could imagine Leicester licking their lips at the goals we conceded for Sunday’s match.

It wasn’t as a convincing win as it should have been.  Being 2-0 up at half-time was a poor return for the chances we created and we let Hoffenheim back into the game before the break, as they had a lot of possession and a couple of good openings, which was replicated after the interval.  There is a need to cut out the supply into the box and that requires players to close down the wide man on the ball, because, as well as we defended most of them, there were still too many that threatened the Tottenham goal.  Players also have to be stronger on the ball, as too often the Spurs men were knocked off it too easily and making sure that passes reach their intended targets, rather than an opponent will help retain possession more often.  Spurs have to learn from the passive approach after half-time and the fact that they dropped deep allowing plenty of space for Hoffenheim to work in.  As former Spurs full-back and later manager of Ajax once said, “when you have the ball, the the team can’t score.”

Despite all the things that still need addressing, a win is a win and this one puts us sixth in the Europa League table with a win needed against Elfsborg next Thursday to ensure going straight through to the knock-out stages and avoiding two extra matches.  A draw will mean we are relying on other results, which from what has gone on so far is really unpredictable.  Hoffenheim were without nine players apparently, but if both sides were at full strength, I don’t think the match would have been this difficult.  The team put in a performance today, to which everyone contributed, with the youngsters being outstanding, while Son and Maddison turned it on when needed to get the goals that got the three points. 

So, another week another two games to come and they will be important in how the season progresses from here.  With some players returning to injury, while others (like Dom being ruled out for six weeks) will be out of action for quite a while, it is still going to be a mix and match team for the foreseeable future.  But with the energy put into this match, it could stand them in good stead. 

The Polyphant

• Callum Olusesi makes his Tottenham debut.