Xavi Simons is struggling to find his form at Tottenham following a poor start to life at N17
A large portion of the blame for Tottenham’s defeat to Chelsea last weekend was directed at summer signing Xavi Simons. The Tottenham midfielder came on as a substitute within the first ten minutes against a team he was heavily linked with during the summer window. To make matters worse, the 22-year-old was taken off in the 70th minute after failing to make any real impact against the Blues.
It is fair to say that things have not gone smoothly for Simons in the Premier League so far. He is still struggling to adapt to the intensity and physical demands of English football as he tries to make the #10 position his own under Thomas Frank. The Dutchman was completely outmuscled and outplayed by Chelsea’s midfield during his latest outing for Spurs.
It was the 22-year-old’s loose pass that sold Micky van de Ven short at the back, allowing Moises Caicedo to win possession and set up Joao Pedro for Chelsea’s opening goal. Simons’ performance was summed up by a series of misplaced passes, heavy touches, and being overpowered in midfield throughout the game.
Tottenham not helping Xavi Simons as he looks to find his feet in the PL
It appears that everything that could have gone wrong with Xavi Simons’ start to life at Tottenham, has indeed gone wrong. The Dutchman was thriving in the Bundesliga, where he had more space to run into and benefited from a counter-attacking system. Transitioning from that to the physicality and speed of the Premier League was always going to be a difficult adjustment for him. It is only natural that he is still finding his footing in English football.
Now, Mitch Fretton has urged the Spurs faithful to not pin all the blame on Xavi Simons for the club’s recent loss to Chelsea. Taking to X, Fretton said,
“Singling out Xavi Simons as one of our biggest problems just doesn’t sit right with me. I actually think he’s been one of our better players in recent weeks, the issue is we don’t have a competent frontline or midfielders behind him to actually feed him the ball enough.”
The journalist added,
“Just got to give him time. He’s clearly low on confidence and struggling with the pace/physicality of the PL. Got full faith in him.”
Fretton believes that criticising Simons for Tottenham’s poor form is unfair, as the Dutchman has been one of the brighter sparks in recent weeks. He points out that the midfielders behind Simons are not providing him with enough service, making it difficult for the 22-year-old to link up effectively with the forwards.
Like Fretton, we urge the Spurs supporters to remain patient with Simons and give the talented attacker time to adapt to the pace and physical demands of the Premier League. The former RB Leipzig star clearly possesses all the attributes to become one of the best players in the league under Thomas Frank. He now needs to rediscover his rhythm and regain his confidence to show exactly why the Lilywhites invested heavily in him.