Tottenham vs Monaco a few quick thoughts
Dan Tracey
September 15, 2016
1,682 Views
- Well that wasn’t in the script now was it
- Tottenham’s Champions League bow at Wembley got off to the worst possible start as Monaco ran out 2-1 winners
- I had the fortune or is that misfortune of being there and it’s fair to say the performance didn’t match the occasion
- The atmosphere in the build up to the game was fantastic as our 6 year exile from the competition came to an end
- A late summer evening was the perfect setting but unfortunately Mauricio Pochettino’s side couldn’t get off to the perfect start
- It could have been so different had Heung-min Son converted his early chance
- Unfortunately the South Korean couldn’t replicate his form from Saturday and was largely ineffectual
- Then Monaco hit Tottenham with two smash and grab goals
- Erik Lamela was dispossessed and Bernardo Silva curled home a fantastic strike to silence the near sell out Wembley crowd
- The night then went from bad to worse as Thomas Lemar pounced on Ben Davies’ failure to clear and he fired home from close range to give Tottenham an uphill task
- Now if there was any justice in the world (Sorry I had to get at least one Lemar pun in)
- Tottenham gave themselves half a chance when Toby Alderweireld headed home Pamela’s corner in first half injury time
- That gave the crowd a timely boost and it seemed to have fired Spurs up as they came out of the blocks quickly after the break
- The return Mousa Dembele would have played a large part in that
- Tottenham really lacked his dynacism in the middle of the park
- For Spurs a lot of possession was either backwards or side to side
- Countless balls being played back to the defence instead of probing forward
- Hugo Lloris’ distribution was poor last night
- Christian Eriksen was largely anonymous, looked good on Saturday but has seemingly revered to type
- The arrival of Vincent Janssen gave Spurs an extra presence up front but by now the formation was being made up in the fly
- Any real midfield cohesion had at this point fallen apart
- Janssen did well to create a chance for Harry Kane with 10 minutes to go
- One that last season Kane would have buried
- But much to the frustration of Spurs fans his effort was fired straight at the Monaco keeper
- A collective groan of frustration as the realisation that that was Tottenham’s final chance of the night dawned
- The game petered out and so did the fans in a bid to beat the Wembley traffic
- I wasn’t that fortunate. You don’t mind when you win but it’s annoying when you just went to get home especially with the day job the next day
- Still crowd control and transport issues aren’t Tottenham’s problems
- They first have to recoup for the visit of Sunderland on Sunday
- And also now will need to pick up at least one win on the road in this Champions League adventure
- Not a good start but still a long way to go
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