Xavi Simons’ time as a Tottenham player has gone from bad to worse in Tottenham’s clash with Liverpool.
Given the fact that Tottenham have won just two Premier League games at home this season, there is a lot of pressure on them to get a result against Liverpool.
In the early stages, their chances of doing so looked promising, with very little between the two sides, and Spurs having a few defensive moments in transition.
However, their ability to end their dreadful home record now looks to be abolished after what Simons did that left Gary Neville raging.
Simons’ red card sums up his time at Tottenham
Given the money that was spent to bring Simons to Tottenham, his season has been nothing short of a letdown, so far at least.
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The occasional below-par performance can often be overlooked, but only if the character is there, and against Liverpool, it wasn’t.
Just 33 minutes into the clash at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the Dutchman was handed his marching orders, for what can, in all honesty, only be described as a horror challenge on Virgil van Dijk.
It took a VAR check to come to that conclusion, and Neville was left disgusted by the replays showing the challenge.
Via Sky Sports, he said: “I can see why it’s getting checked, it’s a ridiculous challenge.
“If it were the other way round, it would have been a leg breaker. They can cause real damage. He’s absolutely nowhere near that football; it’s malicious and nasty. He’s going to get a red card, stupidity.”
Tottenham have been let down by Simons, not just against Liverpool
Simons was supposed to be a game-changer for Tottenham, and he has been nothing of the sort.
The 22-year-old has just three goal contributions in the Premier League this season, but his deeper numbers paint an even more concerning image.
Via FotMob, the so-called creator has created just nine chances so far this season, which places him in the bottom 45.1 per cent of his players for his position.
Simons has completed just 40.7 per cent of his attempted dribbles in the Premier League, with only 15.4 per cent of his crosses reaching a Tottenham player.
Had his performances set the league alight this season, you could perhaps forgive a moment of stupidity, but given that is not the case, that red card is nothing short of criminal.