• The Fighting Cock is a forum for fans of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. Here you can discuss Spurs latest matches, our squad, tactics and any transfer news surrounding the club. Registration gives you access to all our forums (including 'Off Topic' discussion) and removes most of the adverts (you can remove them all via an account upgrade). You're here now, you might as well...

    Get involved!

Player Xavi Simons

Latest Spurs videos from Sky Sports

TommyD123 said:
If we went down the 3-4-3 route - having him as one of the 2 in the middle with Palhinha I could definitely see that work.

We had a spare with us Thursday and, having offered to pretty much every spurs fan I knew, no takers I took a neighbour who’s a Newcastle fan.
Was interesting getting his take on the game as he watches a fair bit of football but had hardly seen Spurs this season. Xavi came on and he was very surprised - had heard the narrative that he’s poor but watching him play he said you could see he was a class above everyone else on the pitch. He was particularly surprised at his work rate - tracking back and tackling.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
At this point feels like we haven't got much left to lose. Might be a disaster but so has everything else we've tried and would at least give us some technique and passing in the middle of the park.

But yeah - interesting to hear your Newcastle mate's take on him. He is clearly so talented and does work hard for the team. Just feels like something hasn't clicked for him (or the entire team for that matter) this season.
 
TommyD123 said:
If we went down the 3-4-3 route - having him as one of the 2 in the middle with Palhinha I could definitely see that work.

We had a spare with us Thursday and, having offered to pretty much every spurs fan I knew, no takers I took a neighbour who’s a Newcastle fan.
Was interesting getting his take on the game as he watches a fair bit of football but had hardly seen Spurs this season. Xavi came on and he was very surprised - had heard the narrative that he’s poor but watching him play he said you could see he was a class above everyone else on the pitch. He was particularly surprised at his work rate - tracking back and tackling.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
2026 and people still rate Palinha. The mind baffles.
 
I think he’s good but massively unsuited to both the way we play and the situation we are in. We’ve seen flashes from him when things click but he’s just a very fairweather footballer.
 
Timberwolf said:
At this point feels like we haven't got much left to lose. Might be a disaster but so has everything else we've tried and would at least give us some technique and passing in the middle of the park.

But yeah - interesting to hear your Newcastle mate's take on him. He is clearly so talented and does work hard for the team. Just feels like something hasn't clicked for him (or the entire team for that matter) this season.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
MIght as well suffer a disaster by actually going for it, rather than select a midfield of nothingness made up of the likes of Biss, Gallagher, Sarr, Gray, etc...

We can deliberate about the quality of the options all we like but ultimately if the composition of the midfield is off then we're going to be fucked.

Shoehorning a bunch of "8's" across the entire midfield is screwing us over from the off and I'm sick to death of it.

It should be really, REALLY, simple to just select one of Pal/Gray for the dm, one of Sarr/Gallagher for the b2b, and then Xavi for the 10 and then at least we have something approaching a functional midfield.

Porro/Spence and Souza/Udogie shouldn't be too far off from all being available for the wing-backs, and despite Tudor's utter madness of late, we do have 3 centre-backs available, so ffs play 3 centre-backs as the centre-backs.

A straight 352 also allows us to just play 2 up top, which is good because, again whatever you think about the quality of the options, we do have numbers there, and they're all shit out wide so getting them through the centre seems like a better option.

It's all so simple that it's baffling that a highly paid manager cannot deduce it.
 
It's not that I don't rate Xavi Simons. It's just that I think he is too lightweight for the premier league. He hasn't got the body type to compete in the advanced central areas of the pitch
 
He’d probably do much better within a proper functioning team, but he’s certainly not the ready made player I was expecting considering the sums involved.

A prime example of a panic buy after we lose out on our first choices.

Our recruitment has been woeful and is probably the most important area that needs an overhaul.
 
Nowhere near as talented as I thought he'd be.

I know it's not the easiest team to come in and play, but his lack of physicality is why I think he won't make it. I said this early on and I've seen nothing to change my mind. Another woeful Lange hire after we missed out on Eze and MGW. Sums up the club.

He's so slow and weak. That is never going to change.
 
Spanish Spur said:
It's not that I don't rate Xavi Simons. It's just that I think he is too lightweight for the premier league. He hasn't got the body type to compete in the advanced central areas of the pitch
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

He’s another Bryan Gil. Too small and weak to ever make an impact in this league. Mad to think we spent £85 plus Lamela on those two and neither are even as good as him.

He has a bit of talent but honestly he’s nothing special. He would struggle to make the first XI at most PL teams.
 
Spanish Spur said:
It's not that I don't rate Xavi Simons. It's just that I think he is too lightweight for the premier league. He hasn't got the body type to compete in the advanced central areas of the pitch
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Tbh I think he’s adapted pretty quickly to the physicality, faster than a lot of players

He’s just a technical player that needs to associate and link with his teammates to keep the v clock ticking and we are too dysfunctional for him to do that.

He’s not a winger that can stay high and wide. He needs to drop deep, connect in build up and ping passes. Then collect it back in the half spaces to play 1-2’s or take shots
 
I think it's really hard to properly judge any of our players right now because the whole club is in a funk.
The panic is infectious, it's spread to pretty much everyone and we don't seem to have any proper leaders in the squad to pull them through.

We just look like a team of individuals who are trying too hard and that's leading to mistakes.
It's not been helped by the injuries but I really don't think that many of our players are as "shit" as they currently appear.
They're just disorganised, downtrodden and completely lacking in confidence.

Most of them are still young players and they're struggling to handle the pressure of the situation because they've not experienced it before.
 
Last edited:
Herclueless said:
MIght as well suffer a disaster by actually going for it, rather than select a midfield of nothingness made up of the likes of Biss, Gallagher, Sarr, Gray, etc...

We can deliberate about the quality of the options all we like but ultimately if the composition of the midfield is off then we're going to be fucked.

Shoehorning a bunch of "8's" across the entire midfield is screwing us over from the off and I'm sick to death of it.

It should be really, REALLY, simple to just select one of Pal/Gray for the dm, one of Sarr/Gallagher for the b2b, and then Xavi for the 10 and then at least we have something approaching a functional midfield.

Porro/Spence and Souza/Udogie shouldn't be too far off from all being available for the wing-backs, and despite Tudor's utter madness of late, we do have 3 centre-backs available, so ffs play 3 centre-backs as the centre-backs.

A straight 352 also allows us to just play 2 up top, which is good because, again whatever you think about the quality of the options, we do have numbers there, and they're all shit out wide so getting them through the centre seems like a better option.

It's all so simple that it's baffling that a highly paid manager cannot deduce it.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It's that simple that I understood this.
This is a serious question - do you see this plan clearly because you've watched us over the last couple of seasons, or is it that obvious that a coach worth half his salt should have it sussed within two weeks, considering he doesn't know the PL? Are we being unreasonable in expecting too much from Igor? Trouble is, we're running out of time for him to show what he can do. Makes the decision to let Johnny Heitenga go even more bizarre.
 
Harrier said:
He’d probably do much better within a proper functioning team, but he’s certainly not the ready made player I was expecting considering the sums involved.

A prime example of a panic buy after we lose out on our first choices.

Our recruitment has been woeful and is probably the most important area that needs an overhaul.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It must be a problem for him in midfield to look up and not one player is free so he either dwells on the ball and loses it or passes it sideways and momentum is lost!
 
Mrs Perryman said:
It's that simple that I understood this.
This is a serious question - do you see this plan clearly because you've watched us over the last couple of seasons, or is it that obvious that a coach worth half his salt should have it sussed within two weeks, considering he doesn't know the PL? Are we being unreasonable in expecting too much from Igor? Trouble is, we're running out of time for him to show what he can do. Makes the decision to let Johnny Heitenga go even more bizarre.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Anyone should be capable of seeing it for me.

He's lost the plot so quickly you have to wonder if he ever even had it in the first place.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top