Maddison and Son start roads to redemption as Tottenham beat Hoffenheim to boost Europa League last 16 hopes | OneFootball

James Maddison and Son Heung-min started their roads to redemption as they starred in Tottenham Hotspur‘s 2-3 away win over Hoffenheim in the Europa League.

Maddison has cut a strange figure this season, looking really good at the start of the campaign. He then lost a bit of favour with Ange Postecoglou, but was still showing quality, sticking in Tottenham’s fans’ good books. Per our Squawka Score, he’s Tottenham’s best player at 78% in central midfield.

But in recent weeks, that good will with Tottenham fans appears to be dwindling. The low point was Tottenham’s 3-2 defeat to Everton at the weekend, in which Maddison scored 55%.

“The fans will have their opinion and will criticise – and rightly so. We’ve got to stare that in the face and take it on the chin,” Maddison said after the game.

“They probably don’t want to hear me talking too much either – they want action and we’ve got a big chance to do that against Hoffenheim in the Europa League on Thursday, and show some resilience, because they deserve that.”

During the game, fans on social media were very critical of Maddison, with some calling his time at the club up. But fast forward a few days, and Maddison has started to play his way back into the good books.

The Englishman opened the scoring for Tottenham against Hoffenheim in the third minute, already performing better than he had against Everton. It came from a great ball over the top of the defence from Pedro Porro, with Maddison controlling the past with a good first touch. Moving away from the goalkeeper, Maddison finished with his second touch, showing a lot of confidence which has been missing from Tottenham.

Maddison was then involved in the build up for Tottenham’s second. It was his pass which was deflected into the path of Son Heung-min, whose shot was then deflected over the goalkeeper into the back of the net. Although there was good fortune, it was a slick break from Tottenham with Maddison at the heart of it.

The Englishman had six touches in the opposition box, the second-most of any Tottenham player. He created three chances, the most, and was also top for passes into the final third (16) at the time of his substitution.

Maddison also completed two of his take-ons, the joint-most of any Tottenham player and won the second-most duels (six). He also won three fouls, again the most, as that was the best way for Hoffenheim to stop Maddison.

“I thought Maddison had one of the best games I’ve seen him have for a long time. He was fantastic in there,” former Tottenham striker Peter Crouch told TNT Sports.

It was a similar night of redemption for Son, who is also out of form for Tottenham. The South Korean went into the game with just one goal in his past eight matches across all competitions. And although that goal did come against Arsenal, it was an outlier.

But against Hoffenheim, Son looked dangerous on the break. He was the man to make Tottenham comfortable in the latter stages, capping off a good break to score his second and Spurs’ third.

Son had three shots in total, hitting the target twice for his goals. He also had nine touches in the opposition box, more than any other Tottenham player. Son created one chance and completed 25 of his 26 attempted passes, including 13 into the final third — the most at the time of his substitution. He led Tottenham for crosses too, with three in total.

Of course, Tottenham couldn’t settle for an easy night. Hoffenheim have struggled in both the Bundesliga and Europa League this season. But they seriously worried Tottenham’s makeshift backline and were well worth the goal they got back in the 68th minute.

This time it was Hoffenheim doing the quick counter, with David Jurasek putting the ball into the box for Anton Stach to finish. Hoffenheim’s second came from a cross headed in by David Mokwa, setting up a nervy end.

Hoffenheim had 22 shots in total, the second-most Tottenham have faced in a single game in the Europa League this season. Only Galatasaray (28), Liverpool (24) and Manchester City (23) have had more shots against Tottenham across the Premier League and Europa League this season. Tottenham were just lucky Hoffenheim only hit the target five times.

But, the win was secured, and Tottenham are in a good position of automatically qualifying for the last 16 of the Europa League.