Tottenham didn’t win, but they finally showed they care

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June is itching closer and closer for Tottenham Hotspur, and there have never been a set of fixtures more important than the next few.

Their latest test against Brighton would be De Zerbi’s first with enough time to get his ideas radiating through the team. It would be against his old club, a club that still adopts many of the same philosophies that he ingrained during his time there.

If anyone knows how to stop Brighton, it’s Roberto De Zerbi.

One of the first changes to his team – bringing Xavi Simons back into the starting 11. Simons had scored just 1 goal with 4 assists prior to this match, in an underwhelming season at best. He hadn’t shown genuine passion and care when floating his way around the pitch for Thomas Frank’s team, and often looked disjointed.

Look at him now.

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The other immediate change was just how relentlessly Tottenham pressed. They worked their socks off for what felt like the first time this season.

Especially when Brighton tried to carry the ball out from the back. They would swarm the carrier with numbers, limiting their time on the ball to make a decision.

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It was a direct result of this intensity that they scored both of their goals. Xavi Simons should have found the back of the net in the first half when he slid the ball casually onto the post. And he made no mistake with his second big chance of the game – striking a cracker into the corner of the net to take the game to 2-1.

Running away like a madman, Xavi released his shirt and all sense of logic, as he dove into the crowd like he’d just scored the game winner with seconds to spare.

Only problem? – It was the 77th minute.

You could see the emotion etched onto the face of Xavi Simons when Brighton scored their own equalizer in the 95th minute – to make it 2-2 at the death.

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Simons had worked hard all game. Barely playing a full ninety all season, he worked so hard that his legs cramped up on multiple occasions in the closing stages of the match. Assisting Spurs’ first goal and scoring what should have been the game winner, the 22-year-old had his best performance of the season.

But football is funny like that. When you think you’ve won the match in the 77th minute, you haven’t. Especially when you’re Spurs, and you haven’t won a match in the whole of 2026.

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This tie might feel like a loss for Spurs. But it shouldn’t.

The jubilation after Simons’ thunderbolt hit the back of the net was something unseen all season at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. For the first time, Spurs have a style of play. They have intensity. Pressing. They have intentionality. Creativity. Dynamism. A sense or urgency.

They have passion. Emotion. Fight. Desire.

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I’m not sure where this Tottenham have been hiding all season. They’ve not shown so much passion in a match in all of 2026. Roberto De Zerbi has brought that back into them, along with bringing immense quality in Yves Bissouma, Rodrigo Bentancur and James Maddison back into the side.

But it’s still not enough for the time being. They’re still prone to mistakes when it matters most. They’re still prone to complacency.

However, if Tottenham are to stay up, they need to channel this passion. They need to channel that excitement and joy. They need to channel the kind of passion Xavi Simons showed when he scored, and the same passion he showed when Brighton scored.

De Zerbi’s team now have five games to go, and they need to make them count. The only way to do that is to channel everything they gave in this match, and show that they truly care about staying up.