Take from London Evening Standard
Having been relatively upbeat for much of his post-match press conference after
Tottenham’s defeat to Aston Villa,
Thomas Frank's irritation appeared on the home straight.
"Thomas, you talk about some of the offensive problems...," began the final question.
Frank interrupted: "No, not problems. I didn't say problems."
The record was duly corrected to "lacking some creativity in the final third" and the question continued as to how much responsibility
Xavi Simons takes for that.
The £52million summer signing has now made eight appearances in a Tottenham shirt. He has not scored for the club and his only assist came on debut when swinging a corner to the back post for Pape Matar Sarr.
"I think it's the whole team," Frank mounted as a defence.
"Of course it will always be, let's say, the front four - today Wilson, Mo, Xavi and Mathys - that is the main guys that will be judged on it, which is fair. Other players coming on from the bench.
"I like Xavi's personality today, especially in the first half. I think he wanted to get on the ball, he wanted to create. I think he was very aggressive in the pressure. I think it was a fine game.
"I think I need to remember it myself when we judge players and they come into a new club, a new country. I know it's part of football, [but] we judge them with a very small sample of games.
"I'm not in doubt that Xavi will be good for us. Today was an average-plus game."
“Average-plus” was a generous reading of what was a poor performance from Simons. In matches at home when Spurs have the majority of possession and need to break a team down, he should be a difference-maker. Currently, getting the best out of the 22-year-old is just another problem for Frank to solve.
The Dutchman barely had a kick in the opening 30 minutes, staying high up the pitch in the No10 role rather than dropping deep to get involved.
Spurs need Simons to take more responsibility in demanding the ball when things are not working. There is, of course, also the issue of service. Frank again opted to play both Rodrigo Bentancur and Joao Palhinha together in a home match and progressing the ball up the pitch was once more a problem.
As is often the case, Spurs focused their attacks down the wings. Frank wants his sides to get crosses into the box and so both Mohammed Kudus and Wilson Odobert saw plenty of the ball.
Wing play is a key focus of Frank's teams and Kudus has been Spurs' best attacker so far this season, but it does mean Spurs rarely play to Simons' strengths. Put simply, they do not attack through the middle of the pitch very often.
Simons' best moments came off the ball, making four tackles in the first half and seemingly enjoyed the physical battle. He squared up to John McGinn after one challenge left him frustrated.
It does not feel like it is the physicality of the Premier League that is a problem for Simons. In the first half, finding Simons was the issue, but after the break the frustration was more his quality on the ball.
More than once in the second half, Simons cut in off the left and had a chance to get a shot away, but instead continued to drift inside and played a safe pass.
Away at Brighton last month, in what was Simons' best display for Spurs, he had three shots in his half an hour off the bench, running the show in midfield. He was brave and decisive and backed himself when the space opened up. In three Premier League starts since then, he has not had a single shot and his confidence appears to be dwindling.
Spurs do not need him playing those kind of sideways passes. There are plenty of others to do that, with Simons brought in to address the lack of creativity in midfield in the absence of James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski.
On current evidence, Simons could have no complaints if Frank started Lucas Bergvall instead, with the Swede more likely to drive the team forward.
At his best, Simons is exactly what this Spurs side need. For now, though, it does not feel like a comfortable match.
