Xavi Simons thought he was Tottenham Hotspur’s hero against Brighton. And when he scored the winning goal, he celebrated like it too.
But while his teammates celebrated with him, Willem van Hanegem thinks that they should have been very unimpressed. In fact, he thinks Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman will think the same way he does.
Highs to lows for Xavi Simons
The Dutch forward had arguably his best game for Tottenham in the 2-2 draw with Brighton on Sunday.
After providing the cross for Pedro Porro’s opener, his superb solo effort appeared to have won the game in the second half.
The 23-year-old celebrated his goal wildly, taking his shirt off to celebrate in front of the home crowd as if he had scored a last-minute winner.
Instead, he was later seen on the verge of tears as Georginio Rutter’s late equaliser broke Tottenham hearts and plunged them further into relegation trouble.
Van Hanegem was watching on and was left unimpressed by Simons’ big celebration after his goal.
“If a player like that had played in our era, and the manager didn’t want to take him off, then the players certainly would have taken him off themselves,” he said, via PSV Inside.
“If Koeman sees this now, wouldn’t he have something to say about it? Xavi Simons always plays his own game. It is truly terrible to watch.”
Tottenham focus
The bigger question is whether Xavi Simons can recover from the emotional blow to repeat his performance against Brighton again.
The reality is that such performances have been sorely lacking this season following his big-money arrival from RB Leipzig in the summer.
But if he can perform like he did against the Seagulls more often, Tottenham might have a fighting chance of dragging themselves out of their current predicament.
The Dutchman looked devastated after the final whistle, though. And coming back from that might be a task he finds difficult.