Tottenham managed to preserve their pre-season unbeaten streak as they took on Hoffenheim in their last pre-season friendly before they kick off their season against Brentford in less than a week.After Tottenham handily dismantled Hoffenheim in their pre-season fixture at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium just a day earlier, the team were suddenly forced into much greater effort in their second fixture against the Bundesliga team today.The two consecutive fixtures gave Roberto De Zerbi the chance to play some of the players with fewer minutes behind their belt, notably featuring first minutes for Mateus Fernandes since his appearance against MK Dons in July as well as a full half of football for James Maddison.Here are the 5 things we’ve learned.Credit: @thefrederikkejensen / InstagramTottenham injury crisis is not fully over, as many first-teamers still absentEven though Tottenham were one of the busiest clubs in the Premier League this transfer window, the absences of many of their potentially first-team players suggest that it might be a while still before we see Spurs at full strength again.Between today’s friendly at Hotspur Way and yesterday’s at the stadium, the team saw no involvement from the likes of Mohammed Kudus, Dominic Solanke, Destiny Udogie and Dejan Kulusevski, which casts reasonable doubt on their involvement in their opening game of the season against Brentford on the 22nd of August.Wilson Odobert and Xavi Simons are progressing in their recoveries from their ACL injuries but are not scheduled to be back until late 2026 too.While Spurs did add some valuable cover, particularly in midfield and in defence, their attack remains dangerously understaffed.If the currently available players don’t start coming back soon, Tottenham might be only a few unlucky injuries away from another crisis.James Maddison is finally being reintegrated in the team but he has a way to go before full match fitnessOne player whose return to first-team involvement will be more than welcomed by Roberto De Zerbi is James Maddison, who started his first game for Spurs since his knee ligament injury in last year’s pre-season.While in his few brief cameos in the closing stages of the 25/26 season, Maddison managed to be a bright technical spark in a team devoid of creativity, he supposedly suffered a minor setback which prevented him from being more involved in Spurs’ pre-season.Against Hoffenheim, James Maddison looked understandably rusty. His job wasn’t made much easier by Roberto De Zerbi thrusting him into an unfamiliar position as a false 9, but even when dropping deeper, Maddison still couldn’t find the cohesion and link-up play with his teammates, even conceding a cheap penalty when trying to wriggle his way out of the box.While his involvement today hopefully suggests that he’s well on his way back to the first team, it might still be a while before we see the best of the attacking midfielder. Tottenham desperately need striker reinforcements to arrive before the end of the transfer windowDominic Solanke’s rumoured recurrence of an ankle injury has left Spurs with almost no solutions to their non-existent depth in the striker role.With Tottenham’s only other natural number 9, Will Lankshear, leaving on a permanent transfer to Middlesbrough, they have put themselves in a situation where they must rely on the infamously unreliable fitness of Dominic Solanke and Richarlison.With Richarlison playing the full 90 yesterday, Roberto De Zerbi had little choice but to use another player unfamiliar with the role to deputise as the striker. James Maddison and Pape Sarr alternated as false 9s during the fixture, but neither of them are suited to the role.To have any real chance of competing for top honours in the coming season, Tottenham will need to bring in another striker to share the load.Credit: oscar.visualss / InstagramLuca Williams-Barnett stakes his claim to be involved around the first team this seasonSo far this preseason, Luca Williams-Barnett managed to be a shining star whenever given the chance to make an appearance.This time featuring on the left-wing and despite having to play next to an obviously disjointed midfield, Barnett managed to create a few chances for himself and remained a constant threat and his efforts on the day were capped off with a well-taken goal set up by Pape SarrBarnett moves with the maturity and guile of a player 10 years older, and although his out-of-possession work still needs a lot of development, there is an easy argument to make for his involvement in the season to come.Roberto De Zerbi’s Tottenhan rebuild of Spurs is still a work in progressIn all the exuberance of narrowly avoiding relegation and of a transfer window which saw Spurs break their all-time transfer record twice in one week, it’s perhaps easy to forget that Roberto De Zerbi has just started his true work at the club. Today showed that his players still need time to develop the connections and the understanding before “De Zerbi-ball” can really be in full flow. A new in-possession shape of a 4-4-2 diamond as well as a midfield pairing that looked desperately unfamiliar with each other too shows that even though Premier League season is just around the corner, the degree of Spurs’ success next season will also be largely decided by how quickly they manage to become the well-oiled machine that De Zerbi expects. READ MORE: Tottenham player ratings from 2-2 draw with Hoffenheim as 8/10 star shinesThe post Five things we learned as Tottenham drew 2-2 with Hoffenheim in pre-season appeared first on Spurs Web.