It has been an awful couple of days for Tottenham Hotspur fans, as they were dominated by rivals Arsneal on Sunday afternoon 4-1 in a game that completely shattered any illusions that fans had about the state of the squad and even the job that new manager Thomas Frank is doing at the club.
Conspicuous by his absence from the starting lineup was the club's most expensive talent injection of the last summer transfer window, Xavi Simons. The young attacking midfielder is still in his very early days at the club, and while Frank certainly hasn't helped him shine thus far - including by inexplicably benching him in the biggest game of the season - he also hasn't helped himself.
Simons came off the bench and was quite poor. Meanwhile, on the other side, the player Tottenham originally wanted in his position but lost out on to Arsenal, Eberechi Eze, scored a rapid hat trick and completely stole the show, dominating the North London Derby while sending a personal message to both Spur and Thomas Frank, who had playfully mocked him at a press conference before the match.
Xavi Simons has to wake up
The most understated personal message, though, may have been delivered to Simons himself. Tottenham fans had been bragging about Simons being younger, cheaper, and a better long term play than Eze. While that all may be true, Simons is only boosted by a potential Spurs fans clearly have not seen yet, because, on the pitch, in just one match, Eze outdid everything Simons has done in a Spurs shirt - which is to say, more specifically, that the former RB Leipzig has done very little for Spurs.
At some point, Simons has to wake up out of his slumber, and while Frank has to do a better job of getting Simons the ball and not fitting him into a hole in his mind of the player that he isn't, Simons has to bear responsibility for his own struggles on some level. Because true superstars always find a way, and Simons was brought in with the expectation of being an important player to Tottenham.
Eze's romping and dominance of the North London Derby puts all the pressure on Simons to respond in kind and be that level of a player. He doesn't have to score a hat trick every week - or even once - but Spurs signed Simons to be able to take big games over as Eze did on Sunday.