For Xavi Simons, it felt like a point of no return. He and his Tottenham teammates had nothing more to lose. The FA Cup tie at home to Aston Villa on 10 January was going badly. Played off the park by Unai Emery’s team, they were booed off by their own fans at half-time. They were losing 2-0.
Simons takes it personally when things are not going well and that had been the case, pretty much, since his £51.8m move from RB Leipzig last August. The 22-year-old knows his levels. These were not them.
What Simons did next was to figuratively tear off the gloves. It was as if he pointed at the pitch and told his opponents he was ready to go one-on-one with them. He would get past them and he would make something happen. And if it did not work, he would try again. It was a street-football vibe, however counterintuitive that may sound for a player who was schooled at La Masia, the Barcelona academy.
Simons was the spark for an improved second-half performance, bringing the drive, the sense of possibility. It did not avert another defeat, Spurs losing 2-1, but, for the first time, the club had really seen him.
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