For days, Tottenham Hotspur supporters were flummoxed as to why manager Thomas Frank was discarding top summer transfer Xavi SImons on the bench, especially when Spurs were floundering badly game after game against some pretty important opponents.
While Simons was not playing particularly great, he was an asset to the team. So it was confusing at the start of it all when Spurs supporters saw that Frank had left Simons out of the team against Arsenal for the biggest game of the season, and they felt incensed watching the cowardly display of football unfold before them as Spurs got ragdolled 4-1 by the Gunners in the North London Derby.
Simons then did not play in subsequent poor team performances against PSG, Fulham, and Newcastle, raising more questions about Frank's lineup selection and decision to snub one of his most talented players.
Xavi Simons has Tottenham flying high
And then Frank brought him back against Brentford. Since then, Spurs have been flying high, with Simons playing a central role as a creator, goal scoring threat, and a more dynamic box to box midfielder in an attacking role that suits him more, hearkening back to his past usage at RB Leipzig and PSV.
Maybe this idea is giving Thomas Frank too much credit here, but perhaps Frank had planned this all along with Simons. It is possible he saw that Simons was struggling under the pressure and needed a reset. So he took him out of the team for a few games, experimented with the rest of the lineup, and spared Simons a rough patch of fixtures that he knew Spurs would struggle in while they adjusted to the final form of football and style of play that Frank wanted for them.
Then agains Brentford and Slavia Praha - easier games in which Spurs could dominate the ball and benefit more from a top playmaker like Simons - Frank brought the Dutch star back in and watched as the young man reaped the rewards.
Again, it is probably giving Frank too much credit here, because Simons would have been fine regardless and his performances against Slavia Praha and Brentford are all down to him and his quality rather than some master plan from Frank. However, Frank never seemed bothered by the criticisms of him nor did he seem to have any qualms about Simons during the time in which he benched the new signing. So maybe, just maybe, it was all part of the quiet coach's scheme.