Spurs Face Creativity Crisis as Maddison Returns

Tottenham finally have a point on the board. They still don’t have a goal.

A goalless draw at Nottingham Forest stopped the early-season slide, but it did little to ease the sense that Roberto De Zerbi’s side are playing with the handbrake on. Brentford put three past them on opening day, Newcastle added two more in the second game. Across 270 minutes of Premier League football, Spurs are yet to score.

The absence of their No10s is written all over those numbers.

At the City Ground, Conor Gallagher and Mateus Fernandes toiled between the lines, but the spark never really came. Spurs moved the ball, probed, recycled. They rarely cut through. The problem is obvious; the solutions are all in the treatment room or only just emerging from it.

There is at least some light.

Maddison steps up his return

James Maddison remains out, still nursing the shoulder he injured against Brentford on the opening day. That blow came just as he was trying to rebuild rhythm after last year’s ACL lay-off, and Spurs have felt his absence sharply.

He did get minutes at the Gtech Community Stadium, coming off the bench as part of a carefully managed comeback. Since then, the club have kept him away from competitive action, prioritising conditioning and contact work.

The key development: Maddison is now back in full team training. That has raised genuine optimism inside the camp that his return is close, with the home game against Everton on September 12, 2026 pencilled in as a realistic target.

For a side crying out for someone to take the ball on the half-turn and thread passes into the box, that date cannot come quickly enough.

Kulusevski close, but not quite there

Dejan Kulusevski is back on the grass and working with the squad, yet his story is one of cautious steps and frustrating pauses.

The Swede is returning from a serious patella injury that has kept him out for almost 18 months, a long, draining spell on the sidelines for a player whose game is built on sharp changes of direction and power over short distances.

De Zerbi explained before the Forest draw that Kulusevski had suffered a minor setback just as momentum was building.

“Kulusevski started [training] with us at the beginning of the week, and then the last two days, a small, small problem, stopped [him from training],” the head coach said. “But I think he’s in a good way. It’s going very well. I already said the medical staff is very high level.

“We can be positive with him. I’m looking forward to having Deki in the squad.”

The message is clear: no rushing, no risks. Spurs will phase him back, and for now, any firm return date remains unknown.

Simons a long way off

Xavi Simons is the long-term absentee who hovers over this entire conversation.

The Dutch playmaker tore his ACL against Wolves in April last season and has been ruled out for the rest of this calendar year. His absence has stripped Spurs of another creative fulcrum, another option to operate in tight pockets and link midfield to attack.

He has been a regular presence around the squad in a supporting role, but the boots will stay off on matchdays for some time yet. Early 2027 is the current expectation for his competitive return.

Odobert edging ahead in ACL race

Wilson Odobert knows the same road as Simons all too well.

The French winger also suffered an ACL tear last term, yet his recovery is slightly ahead of his team-mate’s. The club believe he has a realistic chance of featuring again before the turn of the year, a rare positive in a bleak injury landscape.

Odobert’s pace and direct running could offer a different route to goal for a side that has looked blunt and predictable in wide areas.

Savio and Destiny Udogie, both eased back into the starting XI at Forest and withdrawn around the hour mark, emerged without fresh concerns. That at least removes one headache for De Zerbi.

But the bigger issue remains. Until Maddison is back dictating, Kulusevski is fully trusted with his body, and Simons and Odobert rejoin the fight, Spurs will keep asking the same question: who is going to unlock a game that refuses to open?