Tottenham Hotspur
·14 September 2025
West Ham 0-3 Spurs | Thomas on Xavi's debut, Lucas' goal and Pape's performance

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Yahoo sportsTottenham Hotspur
·14 September 2025
Thomas Frank spoke about how Xavi Simons 'took the initiative' on his debut, how Lucas Bergvall 'drives the team' and how Pape Matar Sarr 'goes from strength to strength' after our 3-0 win at West Ham on Saturday.
All three made a huge contribution to an all-round team performance as our growing dominance in the first half was rewarded with three goals in 17 minutes at the start of the second half to ultimately secure the Premier League points - our third win in four, including three clean sheets.
Speaking on our Review Show, Thomas was first asked about Xavi's debut, the Dutch forward always probing and looking for answers offensively from the left and delivering the corner for Pape to open the scoring at the start of the second half.
"That's a promising debut," said Thomas. "I like what I saw from him, he took the initiative on the ball, something happened when he took it, he looked forward, he played forward. It was a fantastic assist, so pleased with that, that was promising."
Next up, Pape, who opened his account for the season with that key first goal, a bullet header. "It was a fantastic header, a fantastic ball from Xavi Simons," said Thomas. "Pape has been very good this season, very impressed with him. He just goes from strength to strength. He just needs to keep going."
Finally, Lucas, whose superbly-executed header from Cuti Romero's pass made it 2-0 - his first Premier League goal. "I really like his energy, his enthusiasm," said Thomas. "He's part of driving the team. There's so much more to come from him because he also sometimes needs to... he's young, so, okay, when do I play a little bit slower? When do I play a little bit quicker? When do I get to these positions? But now with the energy, the pressing and running in behind, a fantastic goal, very impressed with him."