Thomas Frank enjoyed a rip-roaring start to life as manager of Tottenham Hotspur.
Spurs looked a great deal more organised, shipping just four goals in their first six Premier League games and keeping five clean sheets in their first seven fixtures across all competitions.
Yet, despite maintaining their clean sheet against Everton a week ago, there is a sense that Frank still hasn’t got the fans on side.
They have kept a clean sheet in only two of their last eight games and have won just two of those encounters too.
While a more trigger-happy Daniel Levy may no longer be chairman, the pressure is still on Frank to improve.
The way in which the Lilywhites lost to Chelsea on Saturday, tasting a 1-0 defeat, was alarming.
The hosts only managed an expected goals tally (xG) of just 0.10, they gave the ball away on countless occasions and were subsequently booed off the pitch at the full-time whistle after making a mess of a late free-kick.
Guglielmo Vicario decided to take it short, much to the dismay of the home support and indeed Jamie Carragher who simply said: “You have been awful today Spurs”.
So, why are things going wrong?
Spurs' biggest underperformers against Chelsea
Despite his bizarre set-piece late in the fray, the only player in white to come away with any credit was that man Vicario.
Without him, the scoreline would have been far worse as he made a whopping eight saves, denying a combined xG of 2.17.
He was made to work hard due to the efforts of the players in front of him, notably the defence.
Both Xavi Simons and Micky van de Ven combined in dismal fashion to give the ball away in the build-up to Joao Pedro’s goal.
The likes of Pedro Porro and Kevin Danso did not cover themselves in glory either. Porro notably gave the ball away in the first half which led to a Pedro chance, while Danso was also given a rough time by the Brazilian. It was no surprise to see Cristian Romero come on for him in the 60th minute as the centre-back made his return from injury.
Danso has had a few encouraging displays of late but this was not one of them, notably allowing Chelsea’s main man in attack to get past him easily towards the end of the opening 45 minutes.
In attack Spurs were dry. The defence didn’t do their bit but those in front of them failed to ever relieve the pressure.
They did not create a single big chance and had just 15 touches in the opposition’s box. For context, Enzo Maresca’s men managed 36.
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It was a tale of woe for many of the club’s summer signings. Randal Kolo Muani cut an isolated figure up top but not much of the blame can be handed to the French loanee who was starved of service.
That fell at the door of Mohammed Kudus, who despite completing 96% of his passes, failed to create a goalscoring opportunity and failed with all six of his crosses.
Perhaps the biggest concern, however, was the display of marquee arrival Simons.
Spurs' biggest concern after Chelsea
Frank will have been hoping for a straightforward first transfer window at Spurs but it’s safe to say he did not get that.
With Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison out long-term with injuries, the club’s hierarchy knew they needed to bring in more creativity. They tried extremely hard to do so.
For all the world it looked as though they were going to sign Morgan Gibbs-White from Nottingham Forest.
A secret release clause was allegedly activated only for Forest owner, Evangelos Marinakis, to threaten legal action against the north Londoners. Gibbs-White ultimately stayed at the City Ground and signed a new contract in the process.
Spurs moved on to Eberechi Eze but were again fruitless in their efforts. The England playmaker looked set to sign, a deal had been agreed with Crystal Palace only for Arsenal to gazump their rivals at the 11th hour.
An injury to Kai Havertz meant that the Gunners needed more cover in their attack and there was only going to be one ending once Eze’s boyhood club came to the table.
As a consequence, Frank and Co turned their attentions to Simons. Before arriving in England, the 22-year-old was seen as one of the most sparkling jewels on the continent.
Once of La Masia, Barcelona’s famed academy, Simons has long been highly thought of and had made a living off scoring and assisting goals regularly.
In his two seasons with RB Leipzig in Germany, the creative midfielder scored 22 goals and supplied 24 assists in 78 matches. At Spurs, however, that ability to influence games has waned.
Like another Bundesliga import in the shape of Florian Wirtz, he looks lightweight in the Premier League and has really struggled to get going. The Dutchman has a solitary assist and no goals to show for his efforts from 12 contests to date.
Simons’ worst performance to date arguably came in that 1-0 loss to Chelsea, so much so that he was substituted on and back off.
Minutes played
66
Touches
55
Unsuccessful touches
4
Possession lost
14x
Accurate passes
25/29 (86%)
Key passes
0
Accurate crosses
0/2
Shots
0
Successful dribbles
2/3
Tackles
2
Interceptions
0
Duels won
9/17
Dribbled past
3x
The Netherlands international initially wasn’t pencilled in to start but after young Lucas Bergvall suffered a first-half injury on just seven minutes, Spurs’ big-money summer signing was introduced to the action.
His influence on proceedings was near non-existent. Football.London reporter Alasdair Gold handed the midfielder a dismal 3/10 rating post-game, aptly summing up his performance by writing: ‘Other than a couple of nice touches the Dutchman was a passenger against the team he was linked with all summer.’
Simons gave the ball away on several occasions, 14 in total, and never really looked like providing a much-needed spark. He didn’t have a single shot and didn’t provide a key pass either.
His display was summed up abysmally when he was asked to defend. The former Leipzig man sold Van de Ven short in the build-up to the goal and was shown a late yellow for a desperate lunge on Alejandro Garnacho in the second period.
For a player who cost £51.8m in the summer, more is expected. At the moment, he’s heading into the Richarlison and Tanguy Ndombele categories.
Ndombele was another talented midfielder when he joined. The Frenchman had bags of talent but failed to ever extract it.
As the Daily Mail’s Dan Ripley put it in September 2020, he was a signing that should have ‘at the very least cemented Tottenham Hotspur’s place inside the top four for another season.’
It was a signing that, after reaching the Champions League final, really excited Spurs fans.
The parallels with Simons are strikingly scary. Spurs’ big addition after getting to a European final and indeed winning the competition, the Dutchman is here to take Frank’s side up a level, just as Ndombele was supposed to do six years ago.
However, for whatever reason, he’s simply failed to do that. Like Ndombele, he’s enduring a nightmare first campaign in English football and it’s difficult to see him extracting his full potential anytime soon.
He is yet to play a full 90 minutes for his new club and hasn’t lasted past the 78th-minute mark in any game he’s played in.
Frank may well be struggling to get a tune out of the Netherlands star but he’s going to have to if Spurs are to cement themselves as genuine top four contenders.
Sadly at the moment, Simons is becoming another Ndombele. He’s a talented midfield player and was deserving of his price tag at the time. Unfortunately, he is not deserving of it right now.