Xavi Simons

[SteveAWOL]

Hmmm. Failed at peg
Not sure I’d judge anyone of that considering the history there
And also who was ahead of him at the time. I think it was messi

Xavi was contracted to PSG until January of this year, when they permanently sold him to Leipzig so they could sign Kvaratskhelia.

Back when PSG were Galactico wannabes you could simply say that most of their cast-offs lacked star power but now Enrique has assembled a formidable team there has to be more questions asked.

Hopefully a goal will boost his confidence combined with a few months of bulking up in the gym so he's not so easily shrugged aside by PL opponents.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Xavi was contracted to PSG until January of this year, when they permanently sold him to Leipzig so they could sign Kvaratskhelia.

Back when PSG were Galactico wannabes you could simply say that most of their cast-offs lacked star power but now Enrique has assembled a formidable team there has to be more questions asked.

Hopefully a goal will boost his confidence combined with a few months of bulking up in the gym so he's not so easily shrugged aside by PL opponents.

The question is how they were structured buying Galacticos and not playing their own developed players
That’s a big change bow
Less names and more structure

And back on Xavi the speed of which we play may be having a knock on for how we he plays
At Lepizig they played fast football
We play the slowest in the league IMO

 

[Lemonade Money]

It's so true, but we are not even getting to the point of playing football up to the forwards though. We have enough midfielders who can pass a ball, yet it's all sideways, back and hoof it long.

It's no coincidence that the only decent performances we've really had is against an underbaked PSG and Emirates Marketing Project. Two teams who come onto you, therefore allowed us to hit our usual long balls to actually work for our forwards to run into. But most teams unlike when playing Brentford, sit back against us and ask us to play football and break them down. And we literally don't know how to do it....

Be interested to know if Frank has only excelled at underdog teams, he certainly didn't pull up trees at Brondby.

 

[Stiff_Swede]

Be interested to know if Frank has only excelled at underdog teams, he certainly didn't pull up trees at Brondby.

We have had like 7(?) managers since Poccetino, I do not believe all of them have been useless the same as not all Man U managers have been useless, it is the players.

The players are not children they should know how to put there passes together to create an attack or put a cross in without a manager.

The scouting of this club is maybe the worst in the PL, the amount of brick players we have overpaid for is staggering! I do not rate a single attacking player in the squad except Kudus!
Good luck trying to get some money back for Brennan, Tel, Richy, Solanke, Xavi... That is like 250 mil spent, If we can get 100 back for all of them would be a great deal.

 

[fernadez]

I think it's a bit of a fallacy that teams sit back against us personally. Teams are organised and set up. It's the highest level of football it should be accepted.

I can't think of many occasions in recent times when a team has done an old skool Mourinho and played solely in their own third for 90 mins and offered nothing the otherway. It's just our inability to do anything when a team is set. Yes we're better in a transition type of game, but we've struggled for years against anyone who plays with structure.

 

[parklane1]

How did we balls it up he didn't want to join he rang Arteta to seal the move. The club can be blamed for some fudge ups but that isn't one of them

You know some of our fans will blame us, it what they do.

 

[spurspinter1]

Xavi was contracted to PSG until January of this year, when they permanently sold him to Leipzig so they could sign Kvaratskhelia.

Back when PSG were Galactico wannabes you could simply say that most of their cast-offs lacked star power but now Enrique has assembled a formidable team there has to be more questions asked.

Hopefully a goal will boost his confidence combined with a few months of bulking up in the gym so he's not so easily shrugged aside by PL opponents.

Seems to be awareness rather than brute strength to me. One of his better moments of the game was a nice little turn / feint to get past one player, and then just dallied on it until a Chelsea player caught up with him and took it off him.

A few times Xavi was faced up against a defender one on one and just sort of ran into them unsuccessfully attempting a skill. And then that pass back to VDV for their goal, if in doubt trust the touch of your teammate and put a bit more on it. Granted Mickey carried on the shambles but was dragged into a less than ideal situation.

Yesterday was an awkward one, Frank seemed to be doing him a favour by leaving him out from the start, but then the plan changed after Bergvall's head injury / substitute for concussion protocol. It's definitely not for a lack of effort but then very little is coming off for him so it looks like he's trying too hard if anything.

Everyone bar Vic played badly so it's unreasonable to single him out but at the same time, we've seen the other players do well at times. I'm not sure about this idea of not being able to judge players because they're new / young / adapting to a new league, as said it's a big ask to hit the ground running but the present matters and we could do with even just one of our high potential attacking players stepping up in the here and now. Madders and Kulu have been out for a while and will inevitably take time to get up to speed.

 

[Grays_1890]

Seems to be awareness rather than brute strength to me. One of his better moments of the game was a nice little turn / feint to get past one player, and then just dallied on it until a Chelsea player caught up with him and took it off him.

A few times Xavi was faced up against a defender one on one and just sort of ran into them unsuccessfully attempting a skill. And then that pass back to VDV for their goal, if in doubt trust the touch of your teammate and put a bit more on it. Granted Mickey carried on the shambles but was dragged into a less than ideal situation.

Yesterday was an awkward one, Frank seemed to be doing him a favour by leaving him out from the start, but then the plan changed after Bergvall's head injury / substitute for concussion protocol. It's definitely not for a lack of effort but then very little is coming off for him so it looks like he's trying too hard if anything.

Everyone bar Vic played badly so it's unreasonable to single him out but at the same time, we've seen the other players do well at times. I'm not sure about this idea of not being able to judge players because they're new / young / adapting to a new league, as said it's a big ask to hit the ground running but the present matters and we could do with even just one of our high potential attacking players stepping up in the here and now. Madders and Kulu have been out for a while and will inevitably take time to get up to speed.

Wirtz has come into the Champions and took them back, and he was 120m+

They reverted back to their old side yesterday and won

Telling that in what can happen and how hard it is to adapt in this league.

 

[Bishop]

But he's not what we need now when madders and kulu are out long term.
MGW was the right profile and too bad it didn't happen - Xavi has been a poor signing and is creating more unnecessary pressure for TF.

MGW has been pretty poor also this season with a lot of Forest fans thinking he's more of a CM rather than a AM. Possibly we were buying him for an AM role and that might well have suited the problems we have in midfield but I'm not so sure that was the plan as all the players we were linked with have primarily played AM.

 

[Bishop]

The question is how they were structured buying Galacticos and not playing their own developed players
That’s a big change bow
Less names and more structure

And back on Xavi the speed of which we play may be having a knock on for how we he plays
At Lepizig they played fast football
We play the slowest in the league IMO

It's not just speed, hes an interchange and link player. He needs players on his wavelength that he can bounce the ball into and off again whilst still moving. I think even a fully adapted Xavi would struggle in this Spurs team given it's lack of compatible players to his play style.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

It's not just speed hee and interchange and link player. He needs players on his wavelength that he can bounce bounce into and off again whilst still moving. I think even a fully adapted Xavi would struggle in this Spurs team given it's lack of compatible players to his play style.

Yeah I agree
It’s more than just him as the problem

 

[demotw]

It's not just speed, hes an interchange and link player. He needs players on his wavelength that he can bounce the ball into and off again whilst still moving. I think even a fully adapted Xavi would struggle in this Spurs team given it's lack of compatible players to his play style.

I guess the question has to be were we buying him for the team we are playing now or the team we expected to be (I.e. fit Maddison/Kulu and Solanke’s pressing/ hold up play). Like it or not without those guys we are pretty flat offensively

 

[Bishop]

I guess the question has to be were we buying him for the team we are playing now or the team we expected to be (I.e. fit Maddison/Kulu and Solanke’s pressing/ hold up play). Like it or not without those guys we are pretty flat offensively

I think we bought him for a system going forward. How it takes to implement that is anyone's guess but that would be my assumption.

 

[GGyid]

He looks like a lost youth team player thrown in with the adults.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

He looks like a lost youth team player thrown in with the adults.

Adults who can’t pass the ball very quickly or forwards

 

[Mabspurs]

Adults who can’t pass the ball very quickly or forwards

Come on! I understand people having favourites... but to blame the others for his repeated misplaced passes is a stretch too far.

Only silver lining is that Damsgaard - having a similar build - needed a full season at Brentford before he started to show some form. I only pray the same happens with Xavi...

 

[thfcsteff]

Come on! I understand people having favourites... but to blame the others for his repeated misplaced passes is a stretch too far.

Only silver lining is that Damsgaard - having a similar build - needed a full season at Brentford before he started to show some form. I only pray the same happens with Xavi...

His confidence has been shattered. It needs to be rebuilt. You either believe there's a player in there or you don't. I do, but currently, I cannot fathom why Frank agreed to signing him. It's like getting a Ferrari to tow a trailer. Honestly, we might as well have tried to get that muscle-stacked vaseline-smothered sprinter Traore from Fulham! We could've lumped it at him and seen what happened!

 

[Bishop]

His confidence has been shattered. It needs to be rebuilt. You either believe there's a player in there or you don't. I do, but currently, I cannot fathom why Frank agreed to signing him. It's like getting a Ferrari to tow a trailer. Honestly, we might as well have tried to get that muscle-stacked vaseline-smothered sprinter Traore from Fulham! We could've lumped it at him and seen what happened!

Frank didn't buy him for the left where he has admittedly played most of his minutes for us. He was looked at to fill the same niche MGW and Eze were. It's just he's realised his options on the left leave a lot to be desired at the same time Xavi has struggled physically so he doesn't want to play him through the middle so he's tried to get Xavi in there on the left to do a job (something he's obviously failing at, like you say I think largely down to zero confidence).