Transfermarkt

Xavi Simons’ troubling start to life at Tottenham Hotspur reached a new low on Saturday when he suffered the ultimate embarrassment for a footballer. The 22-year-old was introduced early on after Lucas Bergvall sustained a concussion issue, but Thomas Frank hauled him off again on 73 minutes after a miserable performance. Tottenham were awful against Chelsea, recording their lowest xG in history (0.10) but Simons was culpable for their insipid attacking display.

In his 66 minutes, Simons managed to lose possession on 15 occasions - more than any other player - and he has struggled badly to adapt to the demands of the Premier League following his €65m arrival from RB Leipzig. Simons is Tottenham’s record signing and is on a substantial wage in North London but Spurs fans are developing growing concerns over the attacking midfielder.

Xavi Simons: Poor start to Tottenham career

It’s imperative to stress that it’s still early in Simons’ Tottenham career and players generally require time to acclimatise to a new league, but the Netherlands international’s performances are worrying. Simons is unquestionably a technically gifted footballer but he's failed to adjust to the intensity and physicality of the Premier League. This was exemplified by a lovely turn against Chelsea before getting caught in possession and Sky Sports commentator Jamie Carragher highlighted these issues. He said: “It was fantastic initially, but when you’re in the Premier League, the pace and physicality of players coming back at you. He thinks he’s got all the time in the world to run away, but you just don’t have it.”

As the graphic above illustrates, Simons has registered just a solitary goal involvement with Tottenham - an assist for Pape Matar Sarr on his debut in the 3-0 win over West Ham. But despite showing glimpses of his undoubted quality, Simons has laboured in a Spurs attack that often lacks cohesion and creativity. Fifteen attack-minded players moved for fees in excess of €60m this summer but only Newcastle’s Anthony Elanga has a worse attacking contribution record than Simons.

Xavi Simons: Bundesliga vs Premier League form

It was a fascinating summer with Premier League clubs investing heavily to sign attackers from Bundesliga clubs. Simons was one of five players to move for fees of €65m or higher and they’ve experienced mixed fortunes. Nick Woltemade and Hugo Ekitiké looked inspired signings, while Benjamin Sesko is acclimatising fairly well at Manchester United. It’s arguably Simons and Liverpool’s Florian Wirtz that have experienced the most difficulties and there are similarities in their physical composition and style of play. Simons was the fifth most valuable player in the Bundesliga last season and his attacking output of 0.69 g/a per90 in the German top-flight was impressive.

©IMAGO

For the fourth successive home game, Tottenham Hotspur fell short in front of their own fans after a 1-0 defeat to Chelsea. João Pedro scored the only goal of the game on 34 minutes after some fine work from Moisés Caicedo, the best player on the pitch. When the ball crashed into the net, the atmosphere fell flat. If there was noise throughout the game, it emanated from the away end. But there was a sense of resignation that it was always going to go this way. The margin of victory should've been greater too - indeed, it would've been without Guglielmo Vicario's reflexes in goal. Pedro Neto, Reece James and Enzo Fernandez all had chances for the visitors. At the other end, only Mohammed Kudus really tested Robert Sanchez. Thomas Frank, if he didn't know it already, is facing with an urgent problem: Spurs simply can't win at home.

Club Comparison

Tottenham Hotspur

Chelsea FC

Premier League

Premier League

€920.60m

Market Value

€1.14bn

First Tier

League Level

First Tier

€210.60m

Expenditures 25/26

€339.15m

Thomas Frank

Managers

Enzo Maresca

Full Club Comparison

Since their opening day 3-0 victory over Burnley, Spurs have played four, lost three and drawn one at home in the Premier League. During that disappointing run of form, Frank's men have produced five goals, while conceding five at the other end. And failing to find the net against Chelsea, one of the least-impressive teams on the road in the top flight, would have been deemed a failure against their bitter rivals. Curiously, their form on the road has yielded much more positive numbers: five games, four wins and a draw, 12 goals for and three against. So, is it the burden of expectation on them from 60,000 demanding Spurs fans, who pay one of the highest prices in the league for their season ticket? Or is it merely a case of Frank's football being more suited to away fixtures, whereby the onus isn't necessarily on Spurs to break teams down? Against Enzo Maresca's Chelsea, the likes of Xavi Simons and Randal Kolo Muani struggled to stand out.

At Brentford, Frank had a knack for picking up surprise results against bigger teams. Now, with the pressure of winning much higher at a club of Tottenham's stature, the 52-year-old may be struggling to make that transition from a mid-sized club to a bigger one after spending hundreds of millions in the transfer market. Of course, it must be noted that Spurs look a more organised outfit under his tutelage than the tail end of Ange Postecoglou's reign. They don't look like a team that will lose 22 of their 38 games this season, that's for sure. But there is understandable concern at their inability to beat teams that many would expect them to. A 1-1 draw against Wolves at home, for example, was deemed to be unacceptable given that Vitor Pereira's men at rooted to the bottom of the table. The 1-0 defeat to Bournemouth exemplified many of their issues - both in creating chances and putting them away. Then a 2-1 loss against Aston Villa, a team with indifferent form this term, came after they took the lead.

It's difficult to judge a team after 10 games, and for Spurs, being third in the Premier League at this stage is a definite improvement on their 17th-place finish in 2024/25. But the gap to 11th is just three points, offering a warning of how quickly things could go south. Sooner or later, Spurs have to start winning at home if their ambition is to finish in the top five this season. Competition is rife, perhaps more now than ever before, with Bournemouth and Sunderland proving to be surprise packages. Manchester United have improved, Crystal Palace are a force to be reckoned with, and it's fair to say those teams have established they can win tough games at home. But can Tottenham? The jury is still out - especially after extending their winless run to four games in N17.

©IMAGO

For the fourth successive home game, Tottenham Hotspur fell short in front of their own fans after a 1-0 defeat to Chelsea. João Pedro scored the only goal of the game on 34 minutes after some fine work from Moisés Caicedo, the best player on the pitch. When the ball crashed into the net, the atmosphere fell flat. If there was noise throughout the game, it emanated from the away end. But there was a sense of resignation that it was always going to go this way. The margin of victory should've been greater too - indeed, it would've been without Guglielmo Vicario's reflexes in goal. Pedro Neto, Reece James and Enzo Fernandez all had chances for the visitors. At the other end, only Mohammed Kudus really tested Robert Sanchez. Thomas Frank, if he didn't know it already, is facing with an urgent problem: Spurs simply can't win at home.

Club Comparison

Tottenham Hotspur

Chelsea FC

Premier League

Premier League

€920.60m

Market Value

€1.14bn

First Tier

League Level

First Tier

€210.60m

Expenditures 25/26

€339.15m

Thomas Frank

Managers

Enzo Maresca

Full Club Comparison

Since their opening day 3-0 victory over Burnley, Spurs have played four, lost three and drawn one at home in the Premier League. During that disappointing run of form, Frank's men have produced five goals, while conceding five at the other end. And failing to find the net against Chelsea, one of the least-impressive teams on the road in the top flight, would have been deemed a failure against their bitter rivals. Curiously, their form on the road has yielded much more positive numbers: five games, four wins and a draw, 12 goals for and three against. So, is it the burden of expectation on them from 60,000 demanding Spurs fans, who pay one of the highest prices in the league for their season ticket? Or is it merely a case of Frank's football being more suited to away fixtures, whereby the onus isn't necessarily on Spurs to break teams down? Against Enzo Maresca's Chelsea, the likes of Xavi Simons and Randal Kolo Muani struggled to stand out.

At Brentford, Frank had a knack for picking up surprise results against bigger teams. Now, with the pressure of winning much higher at a club of Tottenham's stature, the 52-year-old may be struggling to make that transition from a mid-sized club to a bigger one after spending hundreds of millions in the transfer market. Of course, it must be noted that Spurs look a more organised outfit under his tutelage than the tail end of Ange Postecoglou's reign. They don't look like a team that will lose 22 of their 38 games this season, that's for sure. But there is understandable concern at their inability to beat teams that many would expect them to. A 1-1 draw against Wolves at home, for example, was deemed to be unacceptable given that Vitor Pereira's men at rooted to the bottom of the table. The 1-0 defeat to Bournemouth exemplified many of their issues - both in creating chances and putting them away. Then a 2-1 loss against Aston Villa, a team with indifferent form this term, came after they took the lead.

It's difficult to judge a team after 10 games, and for Spurs, being third in the Premier League at this stage is a definite improvement on their 17th-place finish in 2024/25. But the gap to 11th is just three points, offering a warning of how quickly things could go south. Sooner or later, Spurs have to start winning at home if their ambition is to finish in the top five this season. Competition is rife, perhaps more now than ever before, with Bournemouth and Sunderland proving to be surprise packages. Manchester United have improved, Crystal Palace are a force to be reckoned with, and it's fair to say those teams have established they can win tough games at home. But can Tottenham? The jury is still out - especially after extending their winless run to four games in N17.

It's transfer window may be closed in Europe's top leagues, but the rumours continue to circulate as clubs plan out future moves. Teams are working tirelessly behind the scenes on identifying targets and figuring out their budgets.

Managers will be constantly assessing their squads with sporting directors and recruitment staff scanning the market for potential deals. The rumour mill is still gathering pace and we've collated some of the biggest current transfer stories.

Today's biggest transfer stories

Real Madrid forward Endrick has struggled for game time this season and reports in Spain suggest that he could be on the move in January. West Ham, Real Sociedad and Valencia have all been linked with loan moves for the 19-year-old talent.

According to Fabrizio Romano, MLS side Orlando City are set to launch an audacious move for Tottenham Hotspur striker Richarlison. The transfer guru claims the US club have already made contact with the 28-year-old striker.

It's transfer window may be closed in Europe's top leagues, but the rumours continue to circulate as clubs plan out future moves. Teams are working tirelessly behind the scenes on identifying targets and figuring out their budgets.

Managers will be constantly assessing their squads with sporting directors and recruitment staff scanning the market for potential deals. The rumour mill is still gathering pace and we've collated some of the biggest current transfer stories.

Today's biggest transfer stories

Tottenham are reportedly now among the leading contenders to sign 25-year-old Crystal Palace and England defender Marc Guéhi, after his deadline day move to Liverpool fell through.

According to reports in Spain, Real Madrid's 27-year-old Uruguay midfielder Federico Valverde has emerged as a target for Manchester United next year.

It's transfer window may be closed in Europe's top leagues, but the rumours continue to circulate as clubs plan out future moves. Teams are working tirelessly behind the scenes on identifying targets and figuring out their budgets.

Managers will be constantly assessing their squads with sporting directors and recruitment staff scanning the market for potential deals. The rumour mill is still gathering pace and we've collated some of the biggest current transfer stories.

Today's biggest transfer stories

Chelsea and Manchester United are said to be lining up a cut-price move in January for Juventus striker Dušan Vlahović, according to reports in Italy. The Serbian's contract expires in June and the Bianconeri are keen to offload the towering striker due to his sizeable wages.

Tottenham Hotspur reportedly have the option to re-sign striker Harry Kane from Bayern Munich next summer if he leaves the Bavarian giants. Kane, who became the fastest player in history to reach 100 Bundesliga goals, has been heavily linked with a move back to Spurs after Thomas Frank opened the door to his return.

Manchester City have been tracking PSG teenager Warren Zaïre-Emery ahead of a potential move next summer, per reports in France. The youngster, 19, has already made over 125 appearances for the Parisian outfit but has lost his place in the team and Pep Guardiola is understood to be a fan.

Although Tottenham Hotspur didn’t pick up all three points in their 2-2 draw with Brighton on Saturday, new Spurs manager Thomas Frank was still delighted with his team’s performance. “The mentality that we showed today, I was so impressed with. The mentality to stay in the game, to keep going, to keep pushing and come back and get a well deserved 2-2,” noted the Dane to the BBC after the match. "I actually think that overall if there should have been a winner, it should have been us.”

Frank’s optimistic take on two points dropped was certainly a sign of how things have changed in North London, following the club’s decision to bring in the former Brentford tactician to replace Ange Postecoglou in the summer. For a club that was uneasily keeping one eye on the relegation spots at the start of the year, Tottenham now sit third in the Premier League table with just one defeat from their first five league games of the season. Everything seems to be clicking into place for Frank and his team, but how much have the club really improved since making their high-profile managerial change? Let’s take a look.

Postecoglou vs Frank

In Frank’s first five league games at Tottenham, the 51-year-old head coach has picked up impressive wins over Burnley, Manchester City and West Ham, while the aforementioned draw with Brighton and a 1-0 defeat to Bournemouth stand out as the only black spots on his record to date. As such, the new Tottenham manager currently enjoys an impressive average of 2.0 points per league game at the North London club. And when we compare his record to his predecessor’s, we can see why Frank has been more successful.

Indeed, as the graphic above illustrates, Frank has won more points per game and enjoys a far better win percentage of 60% compared to Postecoglou 41%. That, to no great surprise, is in no small part due to Frank’s team already showcasing far more control in their league encounters. So far this season, Tottenham have averaged 2.0 goals scored per league game while conceding on average just 0.6 per game. Only Liverpool have scored more goals than Frank’s team in the first five matchdays of the season, while only Arsenal and Crystal Palace have conceded fewer.

This stands in stark contrast to Postecoglou’s time at the club. In total, Tottenham scored a decent return of 138 goals in 76 league games under the Australian tactician’s stewardship of the club, but conceded an almost equal 126 goals in that time too. As such, not only does Postecoglou’s offensive record of 1.8 goals scored per game fall below Frank’s own average, but his defensive record of 1.7 goals conceded per game is almost three times higher than his successors. Which undoubtedly explains why Tottenham were languishing near the bottom of the table last season but now sit just five points off top spot this time around.

Although Tottenham Hotspur didn’t pick up all three points in their 2-2 draw with Brighton on Saturday, new Spurs manager Thomas Frank was still delighted with his team’s performance. “The mentality that we showed today, I was so impressed with. The mentality to stay in the game, to keep going, to keep pushing and come back and get a well deserved 2-2,” noted the Dane to the BBC after the match. "I actually think that overall if there should have been a winner, it should have been us.”

Frank’s optimistic take on two points dropped was certainly a sign of how things have changed in North London, following the club’s decision to bring in the former Brentford tactician to replace Ange Postecoglou in the summer. For a club that was uneasily keeping one eye on the relegation spots at the start of the year, Tottenham now sit third in the Premier League table with just one defeat from their first five league games of the season. Everything seems to be clicking into place for Frank and his team, but how much have the club really improved since making their high-profile managerial change? Let’s take a look.

Postecoglou vs Frank

In Frank’s first five league games at Tottenham, the 51-year-old head coach has picked up impressive wins over Burnley, Manchester City and West Ham, while the aforementioned draw with Brighton and a 1-0 defeat to Bournemouth stand out as the only black spots on his record to date. As such, the new Tottenham manager currently enjoys an impressive average of 2.0 points per league game at the North London club. And when we compare his record to his predecessor’s, we can see why Frank has been more successful.

Indeed, as the graphic above illustrates, Frank has won more points per game and enjoys a far better win percentage of 60% compared to Postecoglou 41%. That, to no great surprise, is in no small part due to Frank’s team already showcasing far more control in their league encounters. So far this season, Tottenham have averaged 2.0 goals scored per league game while conceding on average just 0.6 per game. Only Liverpool have scored more goals than Frank’s team in the first five matchdays of the season, while only Arsenal and Crystal Palace have conceded fewer.

This stands in stark contrast to Postecoglou’s time at the club. In total, Tottenham scored a decent return of 138 goals in 76 league games under the Australian tactician’s stewardship of the club, but conceded an almost equal 126 goals in that time too. As such, not only does Postecoglou’s offensive record of 1.8 goals scored per game fall below Frank’s own average, but his defensive record of 1.7 goals conceded per game is almost three times higher than his successors. Which undoubtedly explains why Tottenham were languishing near the bottom of the table last season but now sit just five points off top spot this time around.

If you choose to “Accept all,” we will also use cookies and data to

Develop and improve new services

Deliver and measure the effectiveness of ads

Show personalized content, depending on your settings

Show personalized ads, depending on your settings

If you choose to “Reject all,” we will not use cookies for these additional purposes.

Non-personalized content is influenced by things like the content you’re currently viewing, activity in your active Search session, and your location. Non-personalized ads are influenced by the content you’re currently viewing and your general location. Personalized content and ads can also include more relevant results, recommendations, and tailored ads based on past activity from this browser, like previous Google searches. We also use cookies and data to tailor the experience to be age-appropriate, if relevant.

Repeatedly hearing the word 'mate' in an Aussie accent is close to coming back to Premier League press conferences. Ange Postecoglou's imminent return to the English top-flight is certainly a good thing for the neutral. Handbrake off. Fast and fluid football. Defensive mishaps. All or nothing. That's what we became used to during his tenure at Tottenham, and the 60-year-old is now set to replace the sacked Nuno Espírito Santo as the new Nottingham Forest manager. The Australian has never held back his true emotions, and the prospect of him working with the hot-headed Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis could also add another layer of drama to proceedings.

But on the pitch itself what can Postecoglou bring to the City ground? At Spurs, there was a clear identity under the Australian. A sheer determination to play fast attacking football. It was at times naive. It certainly cost Tottenham points, and ultimately cost Postecoglou his job. But there was something admirable in how he stuck to his principles and beliefs. Will we see the same style at Forest? To try and answer the questions of Postecoglou's future at Forest, Transfermarkt takes a look back into the past and analyses his time at Tottenham.

Tottenham's worst ever Premier League finish

Let's start with the bread and butter which is the Premier League. In his first campaign in north London, Postecoglou led Tottenham to a respectable fifth-placed finish. However, after being top of the table after 10 games, it was a mighty drop off in the second half of the campaign which led to Spurs missing out on Champions League football. That form certainly carried over into last season. Under Postecoglou's stewardship, the 2024/25 season ended up being Tottenham's worst ever Premier League campaign.

As illustrated in the graphic above, the comparison to the previous 15 seasons highlights just how poor a domestic campaign it was for Spurs. They finished in 17th place with just 38 points. In many other seasons that would have been enough to actually get relegated into the second-tier. That meant that in the league last season, Postecgolou had an appalling record of just 1.00 points per game (ppg). In the Australian's defence, Tottenham did have rotten luck with injuries, and he was rarely able to call upon his best defence. However, his lack of adaptability was evident. But it was in Europe, he really showed his worth.

Winning Tottenham their first trophy in 17 years

In what has proved to be one of the coldest quotes in modern football, at the beginning of last season Postecoglou famously said, "I don't usually win things, I always win things in my second year, nothing's changed." It was a quote vilified at the time, but eight months later, those words came to fruition as Tottenham beat Manchester United in Bilbao to win the Europa League - the club's first trophy in 17 years. The first since winning the EFL Cup in 2008.

In truth, the quality had significantly dropped in the competition following the UEFA changes at the start of last term, with Spurs beating Bodo Glimt in the semi-final and a poor Manchester United side in the final, but Postecoglou was the one to finally get them over the line and break the curse. Winning a trophy was the feat that most Tottenham fans wanted more than most, and would have sacrificed a miserable league campaign for the silverware. But it wasn't enough for Postecoglou to keep his job. He was relieved of his duties just two weeks later. Having Postecoglou back in the Premier League is good for the division, but will his all or nothing style lead to success with Nottingham Forest? The jury's out.