Tottenham s all-time icon, lost in the muscle forest of the Premier League

Xavi Simons' poor start to life at Tottenham Hotspur hit rock bottom on Saturday when he suffered one of the most humiliating moments for a footballer. The 22-year-old came on as an early substitute in the seventh minute of the first half after Lucas Berivar suffered a concussion, but poor performance saw him substituted again in the 73rd minute. Tottenham Hotspur's game against Chelsea was miserable, creating the lowest expected goals number in team history (0.10), and Simmons is mainly responsible for the team's weak attack.

Simmons lost the ball 15 times in 66 minutes of playing time, the most of anyone. He has struggled to adapt to the intensity of the Premier League since joining Tottenham Hotspur from RB Leipzig for €65 million. Simmons is Tottenham's all-time leader and earns a high salary in North London, but Tottenham fans are increasingly worried about the performance of the attacking midfielder.

It must be emphasized that Simmons has only been with Tottenham Hotspur for a short time, and players usually need time to adapt to a new league, but the performance of the Dutch international is worrying. Simmons is undoubtedly a skilled player, but he has failed to adapt to the intensity and confrontational nature of the Premier League. The best example of this was when he intercepted the ball after a beautiful turn against Chelsea. Liverpool legend Carragher also pointed out his problem. Carragher said: "His previous performance was very good, but when you are in the Premier League, you will find that the opponent's speed and physical confrontation are very strong. He thought he had enough time to get rid of the defense, but this is not the case."

Simmons has only participated in a goal since joining Tottenham Hotspur. That was in Tottenham's 3-0 victory over West Ham United. Simmons assisted Sarr to score in his Premier League debut. Although Simmons has occasionally shown undoubted strength, he has always seemed a bit inadequate on Tottenham's offensive end, resulting in the team's offense often lacking coordination and creativity. This summer, a total of 15 offensive line players joined Premier League teams with transfer fees of more than 60 million euros (including intra-Premier League transfers). Only Newcastle's Anthony Elanga made less offensive contributions than Simmons.

The Premier League transfer market is exciting this summer, with major clubs spending huge sums of money to sign attackers from the Bundesliga. Simons is one of five players from the Bundesliga to the Premier League whose transfer fee reached 65 million euros, but their situations are different. The additions of Walter Mader and Ekitic were a stroke of genius, and Sheshko also adapted quite well to Manchester United. Simmons and Liverpool's Wirtz are undoubtedly the two toughest among them, and their physical fitness and playing style are also quite similar. Simons was the fifth most valuable player in the Bundesliga last season and his offensive efficiency of 0.69 goals/assists per 90 minutes in the Bundesliga was impressive.

Gegenpressing Podcast host and UK country manager Stefan Bienkowski explained the German's view of Simmons and his view that Simmons is still an "outstanding player." "Originally, Simons was considered a very good signing for RB Leipzig," Bienkowski said. "In his first season on loan at Leipzig, he was one of the best playmakers in the Bundesliga, ranking alongside the likes of Wirtz and Musiala in terms of goals and assists. But by his second season at Leipzig, things had changed dramatically. Leipzig sold a number of stars and Simons was deployed as a substitute. He is an outstanding player but struggled in a weaker team last season. I suspect he may face similar problems at Tottenham this season as the team is still waiting for more stars on the attacking line to return from injury. "Although Simmons did not start well at Tottenham, he deserves time to show his strength, but people's patience is gradually running out.