Plenty of Tottenham Hotspur fans have seemingly given up hope that Xavi Simons can be an effective player for Thomas Frank’s side after his latest dismal display against Chelsea, but TEAMtalk has looked at two factors that could alter everything for the talented playmaker.
Simons was initially dropped for the weekend defeat against Spurs’ bitter north London rivals, only for Thomas Frank to turn to him after just seven minutes when Lucas Bergvall suffered a head injury and was forced off.
However, the Dutchman, much like many of his Tottenham teammates, failed to have any positive impact on the contest. Indeed, Simons’ most telling contribution was a poor pass to Micky van de Ven that ended up leading to Chelsea’s winner.
The sub was then subbed as Frank took Simons off with 17 minutes to go to add further insult to his day.
And, while some Spurs fans are still playing the patience game, many have already seen enough and do not think Simons can be a success in English football.
Commenting on Reddit, PinZealousideal1914 added: “I am afraid he is, a Bryan Gil. Too light weight for the Prem, I sure he has bags of skill but if he can’t put it down in a game players like him just get lost. I literally haven’t seen anything about him to get excited about, both in games I have attended and the TV games.”
WeeJonnieR also wrote: “My biggest concern about Simons is that I do not see any physical trait that he has that is not below average. I knew he would struggle with the physicality, but he just seems extremely slow.”
Mooncake45 added: “Sell him in January. Send a message to the squad, invest the money better.”
ski2310 also stated: “I keep saying, hes really good just watch to people….. and 13 games and im starting to go crazy.”
MelodicAd7752, meanwhile, stated: “I think the importance of physicality is severely underestimated in the prem, physical players are trending in the league and a small light player like Xavi will struggle against teams that have large players who can bully him.”
There was a bit of positivity, though, with Harvey_loves_Hoddle adding: “I won’t pass judgement on the kid until the end of the season. Modric was voted worst ever signing by Madrid fans after his first season there. Sonny wanted to leave during his first season with us. Yes, he has disappointed so far but I won’t lose faith in him so easily.”
Fantastic-Macaroon-3 aldo added: “He’s not confident at all, but he absolutely cannot play lw with Spence lb because neither wants to go outside. If he’s forced to play lw udogie has to play because he can actually hold width.”
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Two factors that can spark Simons at Tottenham
That last comment is a real salient point when it comes to Simons playing on the left-wing and not having any width outside of him.
The Dutchman is getting crowded out when he plays centrally but often plays on the left side of the attack when Djed Spence is the starting left-back.
The right-footed Spence will not go on the overlap and create space for Simons to move inside onto his stronger foot, so the return to fitness of Destiny Udogie should help the former Leipzig man massively.
Another problem Simons has faced is not having a central striker he can connect with in and around the box.
Richarlison and the clearly rusty Randal Kolo Muani have offered next to nothing in the forward line of late, but Dominic Solanke’s return could be just what Simons needs.
The England forward’s hold-up play is better than both his rivals for the N0.9 spot and he has linked up well with the likes of James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski in the past.
Solanke is expected to return to action towards the end of November after suffering an ankle injury in August that ended up requiring surgery.
While the 28-year-old is not the most prolific of goalscorers, his all-round play is better than Richarlison’s, while the jury remains out on Kolo Muani for now.
But getting Udogie raiding down the left and creating space for Simons to cut inside, along with Solanke’s ability to link with the Dutchman in and around the box could be just the ticket to get Tottenham’s £51.8m signing finally firing.
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