Xavi Simons: Tottenham manager Thomas Frank says the difficulties of signing new signings are similar to Liverpool’s Florian Wirtz | soccer news

Tottenham manager Thomas Frank believes Xabi Simmons is going through the same difficulties as Liverpool’s Florian Wirtz.

Simmons and Wirtz were big-money signings from the Bundesliga this summer. Tottenham signed Simons from RB Leipzig for £51m, while Liverpool spent £116m on Birtz from Bayer Leverkusen.

However, both players have struggled to adapt to Premier League life and are yet to score for their new clubs.

Simmons, who recorded his only assist on debut against West Ham, has the opportunity to score his first goal for Spurs in Wednesday’s Champions League win over Monaco, and Frank believes the Dutchman is heading in the “right direction”.

When asked in the pre-game press conference about the difficulties Simmons is facing, citing Wirtz’s example, Frank responded: “I think it’s a very good question. It’s also a very good comparison with Wirtz, who like Xavi is also a very good player.”

“A very good player joins a new country, a new club, a new city, he just has to settle in and that’s part of it.

“We are all evaluated every game, but we also need to take a bigger perspective and look at it over time.

“I’m always looking for bits and pieces of what we’re working on, and I think that was the case with Xavi, for example.
Some good points. I worked with him and asked him to get more into the box, and when I looked back at the game he did just that.

“Have there been any big moments that stand out? No, but there have been glimpses. So I think we’re steadily moving in the right direction.”

Frank explains the stark difference between home and away form.

Tottenham face Monaco after a home defeat to Aston Villa on Sunday, meaning Spurs have won just three of their last 18 Premier League home games.

But their away form was in stark contrast under Frank. His side are unbeaten away in all competitions this season (except for the UEFA Super Cup loss to PSG on neutral grounds).

questioner sky sports Trying to explain the imbalance between home and away results, Frank replied: “I don’t know exactly. It depends who you play. It could be home or away.”

“I know at home you can play a certain way and other teams are playing a certain way against you compared to when you left, which opens up teams a little bit more so they can hit a little bit more on the counter, so you don’t have to create everything from scratch and get 11 men behind the ball.

“But I think, as we said before, the away form was obviously very good. I think the fundamentals of the football were very good in terms of us having a good base in the middle, in the low block and very high base.

“I think it’s very important that we have the most attacking team under high pressure and I think that’s a big part of why we’re pretty good at home. We’ll have to go on and play against a very good team tomorrow, but we’re ready for that.”

Frank confirmed that Romero and Udogie will miss the Monaco match.

Tottenham are aiming to go undefeated in the Champions League this season, but Frank will be without defender Christian Romero. and Destiny Udogie from Monaco.

Captain Romero missed training on Tuesday morning with an “abductor strain” after missing the warm-up following Sunday’s 2-1 home loss to Aston Villa.

Frank said this about Romero’s injury in the pre-match press conference: “This is an abdomen strain. We will evaluate it further this week before setting a schedule.”

Asked if fans should be worried about injuries, Frank said: “No, I don’t think so.

“For me, it’s the tension of the kidnapper. We’ll evaluate him this week and then we’ll know more.”

Tottenham will be without Udogie again after he missed Sunday’s defeat to Villa with a knee problem.

Frank said of the left-back: “The most recent thing is that he had an infection in his knee after international duty.

“We’re evaluating and working very hard to do the best we can. We’ll probably know more each day or next week.”

Injured Dier prepares for Spurs reunion with Pogba in Monaco

There will be no Tottenham reunion for Eric Dier after the Monaco defender was injured in a clash on Wednesday.

The England international, who made 365 appearances over nine-and-a-half years for Spurs, was ruled out with a hamstring injury.

questioner sky sports If Dier was disappointed to miss the game against his former club, Monaco’s new manager Sebastien Pocognoli responded: “It was actually a more general disappointment that I got injured because I felt he wanted to start the trip with me at the weekend and he was really upset about the injury.

“Of course it’s very disappointing for him that he missed the game against Tottenham, but we haven’t discussed that.”

Paul Pogba will also not make his long-awaited return to action against Tottenham.

The former Manchester United midfielder has struggled to return to action as he is yet to feature for Monaco since joining as a free agent last summer.

Pocognoli confirmed that the France international is training with the squad.

“I think Paul’s process is one of building everything step by step,” the Belgian native said. “Yesterday he did his first group training under my coaching.

“He was smiling and having fun and interacting with the players. So for me, this is the first step. This can take a few days, two or three weeks, and then you can build on that further through performance and consistency.

“This is the first step. I’m very happy to see him on the pitch.”