Tottenham flop's reboot in Amsterdam may give club and fans new hope

By Alessandro Schiavone at Johan Cruijff Arena, Amsterdam

Netherlands 4-0 Lithuania

Goals: Reijnders 16', Gakpo penalty 58', Simons 60', Malen 62'

Xavi Simons showed glimpses of his former inspirational RB Leipzig self as he awoke from a first-half slumber to get on the scoresheet in the Netherlands's 4-0 trashing of Lithuania in Amsterdam.

With qualification to the World Cup already secured thanks to a 1-1 draw in Poland last week, the confidence-shot Xavi was given a rare start by Bondscoach Ronald Koeman.

And Tottenham's fans will have liked the look of it when they saw their struggling attacking midfielder take a delicate touch to his right in the box before firing a missile into the top corner in the 60th minute.

That came after Tijjani Reijnders and Cody Gakpo had put the Netherlands in pole position and before Donyell Malen added a wonder goal of his own to proceedings.

Xavi's piece of individual magic was a world removed from a lethargic first-half showing in which he looked off his game and hopeless. A spitting image of his Premier League form thus far.

In the first 45 minutes he offered next to nothing in transition while his flicks and tricks never came off.

He was also matched for pace by Lithuania's ordinary defenders on more than one occasion.

Shockingly if it wasn't for Holland's conspicuous orange jersey it would have been difficult to tell him and the referee apart with both being peripheral.

The goal on the hour-mark was his first since scoring in the German DFB Pokal at Sandhausen in August prior to his switch to north London.

And it was enough to make Tottenham fans believe that he'll open end drought at the club sooner rather than later.

Whoever already wrote the young Dutchman's obituary may as well hold his hands up before binning it. It's likely that they will have jumped the gun after all.

And Koeman deserves credit for deciding to keep faith and stick with him at half-time despite getting nothing in return.

Now Spurs fans expect the £51m signing from Leipzig to repay theirs when club football resumes at the weekend as Tottenham visit bitter rivals Arsenal across town.

What a way that would be for Xavi to finally endear himself to his new supporters by castigating the Gunners.

Arsenal and in particular Jurrien Timber, who missed a sitter yesterday, will do their utmost to avoid becoming Xavi's first English victim in Spurs colours...