Thomas Frank & Co. had a tough day at work, as the North Londoners had to fight deep to earn that 2-2 draw against Brighton & Hove Albion at Amex. And while that scoreline shows that the game was a close one, it only tells us one story. The afternoon in many ways belonged to Xavi Simons (at least from the Lilywhites’ supporters’ point of view).
The Dutch marquee summer singing was rested by the Dane head coach, given how he has had a few minutes under his belt in the last week. But Thomas Frank turned to the Dutchman on the hour mark after the Lilywhites were chasing the game on a 2-1 scoreline. And the £52m summer signing wasted no time in changing the flow of the game.
Simons came in with his quick feet and sharp movements on that left flank. He came in and straight away showed that confidence to receive in tight spaces, and this in itself started giving the Seagulls all sorts of problems. The North Londoners looked a completely different side after his introduction, and this in turn ended up giving the Lilywhites that 82nd-minute equaliser (via Jan Paul van Hecke’s own goal).
And Tottenham correspondent journalist at Football.london, Alasdair Gold, took to social media to speak his mind. He insisted that Tottenham should look to maximise the 22-year-old’s talent.
He wrote:
Xavi Simons playing through the middle makes such a difference to Spurs’ creativity. Needs to be the way forward.
The Brighton game showed how Xavi Simons can help Tottenham from the inside
While it was a subtle but crucial point. The fact that Simons started the day on the bench ended up raising a lot of eyebrows, given how important he was in games leading up to the Amex trip. But given the Dutchman’s ability to play in the central zones (not just wide on the left), this may end up forcing the Dane head coach into rethinking how he is going to frame his attack.
For most of the first half we saw the Lilywhites feeling that absence of a connector on the pitch. To their credit, Mohammed Kudus was driving with the ball quite well from that right flank, while Richarlison gave that presence upfront (and grabbed a goal before half-time), but there was a clear creative gap down the middle, and this is where Tottenham feel the absence of James Maddison.
This is where having Simons helps Tottenham. Given that he fits quite keenly into that middle zone. He knows the art of dropping into pockets and linking with the players around him (Bentancur and Bergvall). Then the Dutchman slips quite keenly into half-spaces, so suddenly he is in charge of controlling the creative aspects as well as the tempo of the sequences (like most of the elite maestros do).
And doing so against a Brighton side that has the ability to thrive on chaos requires a sense of composure. This is where his experience of understanding the need to push and taking control of the sequences (and game) comes in.
Time for Tottenham and Frank to build around Xavi Simons?
We know how Thomas Frank has this knack of pushing into the individual brilliance of players while tapping into the partnerships around them on the pitch (something that we have seen time and again during his time at Brentford, with the latest of them being Mbeumo and Wissa). And the Dane head coach will now have to consider whether he continues to rotate Simons in and out or whether he builds the midfield and attack around his qualities?
We already saw the impact he can have when he is played more down the middle lanes,qualities. Simons. You not only get more creativity, but you also get someone who can bring more structure and composure (which is closer to Frank’s playing style as well).
Do you think Simons must become the central cog in Frank’s system, or would you want him as an outside-to-inside wide forward in the current system? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.