Thomas Frank had a turbulent start to life as Tottenham Hotspur manager.
Spurs looked much more organized, scoring just four goals in their first six Premier League games and achieving five clean sheets in their first seven games across all competitions.
But despite keeping a clean sheet against Everton a week ago, there is a sense that Frank has yet to win the fans over.
They have kept only two clean sheets in their last eight games, and only two of those have been wins.
More trigger-happy Daniel Levy may no longer be chairman, but the pressure is still on Frank to improve.
The way the Lilywhites lost 1-0 to Chelsea on Saturday was alarming.
The hosts had an expected goals (xG) of just 0.10, were repeatedly denied the ball, missed a late free kick and were booed at the final whistle.
Guglielmo Vicario much to the dismay of the home support, in fact, Jamie Carragher decided to cut it short after simply saying: “Spurs were terrible today.”
So why do things go wrong?
Spurs’ biggest underperformer against Chelsea
Vicario was the only player to make a mark in the white coat, despite taking a bizarre set-piece towards the end of the match.
Without him, the scoreline would have been even worse as he recorded a total of 2.17 xG and a whopping 8 saves.
The players in front of him, especially the defenders, made him work hard.
Both Xavi Simons and Micky van de Ven combined disastrously to give Joao Pedro the ball in the build-up to the goal.
Players like Pedro Polo and Kevin Danso didn’t hide behind their laurels either. Polo gave the ball away, especially in the first half, which led to chances for Pedro, and Danso was also given a terrible time by the Brazilian. With the centre-back returning from injury, it was no surprise that he was replaced by Cristian Romero in the 60th minute.
Danso has had some encouraging displays of late, but this was not one of them, especially towards the end of the first 45 minutes when Chelsea’s attacking mainstay allowed Danso to slip past him with ease.
On offense, the Spurs were dry. The defenders couldn’t do their part, but the front line defenders couldn’t relieve the pressure.
They failed to create any big chances and took just 15 touches inside the opposition box. For context, Enzo Maresca’s team managed 36.
It was a tragic story for many of the club’s summer signings. Randall Kolo Muani has cut a lone top player, but he cannot hand over much of the responsibility to a French loanee starved for assignments.
It fell right in front of Mohammed Kudus. Despite completing 96% of his passes, Kudus failed to create any scoring chances and missed all six of his crosses.
But perhaps the biggest concern was Simmons’ display upon arriving at the marquee.
Spurs’ biggest concern after Chelsea
Frank would have honestly hoped to be at Spurs in the first transfer window, but it’s no exaggeration to say that that didn’t happen.
With Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison out for extended periods of time due to injury, the club’s leadership knew they needed to bring in more creativity. They tried very hard to do so.
To everyone around the world, it looked as if they were going to sign Morgan Gibbs-White from Nottingham Forest.
The declassification clause is said to have only been triggered against forest owner Evangelos Marinakis in order to threaten legal action against the north Londoner. Gibbs-White ultimately remained at the City Ground, signing a new contract in the process.
Spurs faced Eberechi Eze but once again their efforts were fruitless. The England playmaker looked set to sign, but only a deal had been agreed with Crystal Palace that saw Arsenal overwhelm their rivals in the 11th hour.
Kai Havertz’s injury leaves the Gunners in need of extra support in attack, and with Eze’s boyhood club playing there can only be one outcome.
As a result, the Franks turned their attention to Simons. Before arriving in Britain, the 22-year-old was considered one of the continent’s brightest jewels.
Simmonds, once a member of Barcelona’s famous youth club La Masia, had long been highly regarded and made a living by regularly scoring goals and providing assists.
In two seasons with German side RB Leipzig, the creative midfielder scored 22 goals and provided 24 assists in 78 games. But for Spurs, his ability to influence games is waning.
Like another Bundesliga import in the form of Florian Wirtz, he looks lightweight in the Premier League but has really struggled to get going. The Dutchman has recorded just one assist in his previous 12 games, with no goals to show for his efforts.
Simmons’ worst performance to date was arguably the 1-0 loss to Chelsea, in which he was substituted several times.
Xavi Simmons vs Chelsea | |
|---|---|
Play time (minutes) | 66 |
touch | 55 |
failed touch | 4 |
loss of ownership | 14 times |
exact path | 25/29 (86%) |
key pass | 0 |
accurate cross | 0/2 |
shot | 0 |
dribbling success | 2/3 |
tackle | 2 |
intercept | 0 |
won a duel | 9/17 |
dribbled past | 3 times |
Statistics by Sofascore. | |
The Dutch international was not initially set to start, but after young Lukas Bergvall picked up an injury just seven minutes into the first half, he was brought on in a big summer deal from Spurs.
His influence over the litigation was almost non-existent. Football.London reporter Alasdair Gold gave the midfielder a dismal rating of 3/10 after the match, aptly summarizing his performance by writing: “Aside from a few nice touches, the Dutchman was a passenger against a team he’s been linked with all summer.”
Simmons gave the ball away a few times, 14 times in total, but couldn’t provide the spark they sorely needed. There were no shots, no important passes.
When he was called upon to defend, his performance was summed up badly. The former Leipzig man was given a late yellow for selling Van de Ven short in the build-up to goal and then making a desperate lunge on Alejandro Garnacho in the second period.
For a player who paid £51.8m in the summer, more is expected. At the moment, he will fall into the category of Richarlison and Tanguy Ndombele.
Ndombele was also a talented midfielder when he arrived. The Frenchman had a lot of talent but could not bring it out.
As the Daily Mail’s Dan Ripley said in September 2020, he was a signing that should “consolidate Tottenham Hotspur’s place in the top four for at least another season”.
It was a deal that got Spurs fans very excited after they reached the Champions League final.
The resemblance to Simmons is startlingly frightening. A huge addition to Spurs, who reached the European final and actually won the competition, the Dutchman is here to take Frank’s team to the next level, just as Ndombele should have done six years ago.
But for some reason, he just neglected to do it. Like Ndombele, he has endured a nightmare first season in English football and is unlikely to reach his full potential anytime soon.
He has yet to play a full 90 minutes with his new club and has never played more than 78 minutes in a game.
Frank may struggle to coax form out of the Dutch star, but he will have to do so if Spurs are to cement their status as genuine top-four contenders.
Sadly at the moment Simmons is becoming the second Ndombele. He was a talented midfielder and was worth his price tag at the time. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have that qualification right now.