Blunderneath the Arches - Spurs 1 - 2 Monaco

Let's get one thing clear. Tonight's result has nothing to do with Wembley. The fans came in their thousands were magnificent and made Wembley our home.
Sadly, the Spurs players seemed to freeze or forget that this was a Champions league game.
Pochettino went with an attacking line up with Alli, Son, Lamela and Eriksen all starting with Kane up front. For me, the mistake was playing Alli too far back. He was subdued in the first half and looked shackled. Spurs were slow and laboured, similar to their first half performances this season so far. In the Premier league we have managed to remain unbeaten and against Stoke we showed our class in the second 45 minutes. We saw what this Spurs can do in that game but tonight it was seen in fits and starts. More fits than any starts.

Spurs had plenty of possession and there was one glorious moment when Kane was found out wide and crossed into the middle. It was too far for Alli but it fell to Son who should in truth have done better.
And then it all fell apart. Vertonghen showed the striker onto his favoured left foot when it was easier to push him wide on the right and the inevitable then happened with Lloris having no chance.
The Lamela made a complete hash of things and Spurs were 2 down and looking lost.

I hope Spurs fans don't see this an opportunity to get on Lamela's back because he actually worked hard and was trying to rectify the situation. Unfortunately those that can't see how good Lamela is becoming will give him a hard time. It was a glaring error but he will recover.

The incredible Spurs support were given something to cheer when Lamela turned provider for us and Alderweireld put Spurs back in the tie.

At half time I was crying out for the introduction of Demeble and on he came. I would have taken Dier off rather than Son because when Son went off I felt we lost any width or pace.
That said we did up the tempo and Alli nearly scored a screamer only for it to be well tipped over the bar.

There was a penalty shout and at one point it looked as if the official behind the goal had given advice to give it, but nope. I am totally bereft of any idea what the officials behind the goals are actually there for. They never give decisions and add nothing to football. More technology would probably be quicker and more cost effective!!!

Harry Kane finally broke his duck on Saturday but he again looked tired, leggy and not likely of adding to his tally. Last season I felt as if he was going to score at any moment but something just doesn't feel quite right.
He will of course get a hat full but I've just got a feeling he needs a break.

Janssen came on but he didn't have enough time to make any impact and the game petered out and ended with Spurs dropping points in their first game back in the Champions league. The only saving grace was that Leverkusen and CSKA drew so we are only a point behind those 2 teams.

Spurs need to start games much quicker in all competitions. I could go all doom and gloom but the fact is we were just not good enough tonight but we will get better. If we didn't get out of this group I would of course be angry. It's not the hardest group and if we don't improve we will be a laughing stock. Did I say I wouldn't be all doom and gloom? I think I forgot!

There is a word that always seems to follow Spurs around and it's Frustrating. So frustrating. The talent is there, the performance is there somewhere but on occasions it fails to happen. Tonight was one of those nights.

Onwards and upwards folks and Come on You Spurs!!!!

 

Just got home and incredibly disappointed with tonight's result.

Everything was set for the team; the stadium; the fans etc and they didn't deliver tonight - we were slow out of the blocks and not at it, not at it at all. You can't switch off at this level and when u do, u get punished. Monaco were average but clinical (unlike us) and have quite simply done a number on us.

Why we didn't start Demebele is beyond me. If he isn't fully fit, at least start him and get ur noses in front. He can come off later and be replaced appropriately. Elementary error.

At least BL and CSKA dropped points; we must now take 3 points from the next CL fixture.

A Spursy performance tonight, making life difficult for ourselves but we will probably take it to the last game and qualify!

COYS

 

Well in same old Spurs fashion the scene was set, the fans were ready and then came our Heros to serve up more glorious failure.
This team and manager is totally berift of ideas, inside, backwards, sidewards.
Please stop talkin up Lamela because he runs alot he is a donkey and this isnt to slate him as hes one of our better players.
I watched tonight and there are some glaringly obvious things that need to be addressed-
1st Kane is in woeful form
2nd Jan is a poor defender
3rd We are lacking pace and creativity in abundance.
4th Poch is totally stumped on what to do.

Look at Monaco not really much to do but they were direct and clinical when they got their chances. There we were aimlessly 'controlling' things and doing absolutely nothing with it. An alarmingly unwanted trait of last 3/4 seasons and looking like continuing due to no star match winning quality.
Weve relied (especially poch) heavily on a kane purple patch and now thats not working what have we got?
Janssen works hard but is he ever going to score? Its not like hes forcing saves or getting shots off .
After Kane n Alli where r the goals going to come from??
Eriksen the Hot/Coldspur?

That 'performance' was an embarrassment but par of the course for us Spurs fans.
The fans turned up only for the players to dissapear whenever its important.

(30 mil for Sissoko) ridiculous how about spending money on reliable quality match winners for once.

 

Another wishy washy performance , unfortunately we didn't get away with it this time ..
First things first , Poch needs to sort out this sleep walking into games , every game this year we,ve made shocking Lackadaisical starts , it's not right , I'm not sure if it's a tactic or not , to feel our way into it slowly , give nothing away and build from there but it's becoming a farce now ...

Too many players still not at it I'm afraid , Kane not motoring but the 3 behind didn't help at all ... Look at this stage we all know Erikson is a lightweight but he's the one who makes things happen more then any other ( ala Modric ) and when he's not in the game it really hurts us ... Bar the 2nd half last week he's been anonymous so far this year but again that's him , he,s never started a season well for us yet .. As for Lamela , personally I just don't get the hype from a lot of our fans , they love him , he has a great work ethic , but like everything else he does its wreck less ... Nearly everything he does is a fraction off , from tackling , passing , dribbling , he's so frustrating .... Look we're talking fractions here but it makes all the difference ... Sonny was invisible also and any of or all 3 could have came off at half time , so it was always going to be difficult for us with so many underperformers and that's only getting through the 4 lads at the top end of the pitch ....

All in all it was ugly but it's early in the season yet and given our performance's so far we haven't done too much damage yet .. We have plenty of games coming up so hopefully we,ll start to get it together a bit over next few weeks starting at the weekend .. We,ll be able to judge it a lot better by the next international break ...

Matt started with " let's get one thing clear , Tonight's result had nothing to do with Wembley " well let's get one thing clear , Wembley is not our home , and I.m.o that's a big disadvantage ...

 

There's no debating that some of our key players (Kane especially) are in bad run of form. One thing I'd ask more of him is to run in behind the defense a bit more, he looks very leggy and I think Poch may have to consider sitting him for a game or so. The worst characteristic of a young squad is inconsistency; we suffered from that this evening. Having been a support of Jan, I am starting to lose some trust in him; he definitely got exposed today. Even though Lamela lost the ball in the middle, there was ample time for Jan to guide Bernardo Silva in the corner and not allow him to cut onto his favored left foot. Jan lacks pace and strength that a top notch defender ought to impose. I'd like to see Wimmer afforded a chance to prove his quality.

I really felt for Dele(who was our best player) tonight, playing next to Dier you could see his frustration with the lack of movement upfront. Kane, Eriksen and Son didn't really provide much for him to distribute....Lamela was actually more involved in the game. We missed Rose to provide that extra width as well as his defense (Davies can't handle dynamic wingers), Walker got in some good positions going forward but not really enough. It would have been more productive had Sissoko and Janssen subbed in earlier, given at least half an hour to work with.

Wembley's a much bigger pitch, we ought to use the pace we have in the squad now....I assume Sissoko and N'koudou aren't fully match fit yet. Monaco's defense needed to be stretched!! Anyways, hope we learn from this and move on!!! Come on Sunderland. COYS!!!

 

Monaco are a good side on a good run of form with plenty of CL experience. They were undoubtedly underestimated by poch,staff, players and fans alike. I saw one poor piece of defending from Jan and still think he's a quality player and a good defender. The problem with lamela comes from the fact he cuts in from the right onto his left foot into traffic and often gets dispossessed. On the left it would happen less often.
IMO I would have started with wanyama and dier to find our feet as many of the starting 11 have no CL experience with a view to bring dembele on later in the game and open the game up once gained control of the midfield.
Don't agree Kane looks leggy he made some great runs on the night especially in between the full back and centre half but finishing wise bang out of for.
Sunderland is a great fixture to bounce back and rest,rotate or give one or two a right royal kick up the ass. I go lloris walker Toby jv dembele dier sissoko eriksen alli (has to be as a no 10) janssen.

 

Unfortunately Matt, I am one of those that cannot see how good Lame la is becoming. The error he made last night was a carbon copy of the error he made as soon as he got on the pitch against Stoke on Saturday - he does not learn. He seems to think that there are judges awarding points for the cleverest flick, the classiest dribble and using one's left foot when the right foot would be easier - he seems oblivious to the fact that scoring more goals than one's opponent is the target. Many fans see his trickery but are oblivious to his shortcomings - nutmegging Townsend is remembered by all, but the fact that he then lost the ball and Palace broke which could easily have cost us the win is erased from our memories.
He might be handy as a squad member but having him on the pitch with Eriksen makes us extremely lightweight - add Son into the mix and it is not surprising what happened last night.

 

well we were the home team at Wembley....and we played like the normal Wembley home team. we could have been watching England. always looks like a Sunday stroll with no-one interested.
Those who don't think Wembley make a difference are WRONG!! ....it always give the opposition a huge lift to play there. Would it have been sooo bad to play at home with a lesser crowd?

as for the game...well we were interested for 20 minutes or so when Alli was moved centrally and behind Kane....and then we dropped off when he was moved wide. Dier, Dembele...Alli central...Kane up top. its not rocket science to see that works for us. ...Janssen is a decent player....but you can't have two up front with neither of them having real pace. Sissoko wide right and someone with pace left. lets try Nkoudou (we spent ages trying to get him so Pochy must like him).....as for me Erikssen and Lamela just don't do enough.

 

Great Sadness!!!! Poch made a huge error: i do not understand why Dembele did not start: A Team without a good balance. I hope Poch will learn the lesson. In my opinion Kane must rest for 2-3 matches ( at the moment He is like a Tree...). Let's go to Moskow with only one result: WIN!!!! AS EVER COYS!!!!

 

On a personal note i think Wembley stadium is anti atmosphere and anti sport.
Its designed like being in a shopping mall and its more like sitting in a cinema venue than a proper stadium.
Sure its big and sparkly but even with good tickets last night u feel too far away and spaced out from the action.
I hope and pray that when the new stadium is built its nothing like the Souless hyper bowl that is Wembley.
And our fans gave it a good go last night in pockets but its like shouting into space no ones going to hear you and your not going to be the extra man as it cannot possibly transmit to the players on the field, which showed the moment we went 0-2 down and it became flat as from a spectators point of view.
For me you miss that were in this together atmosphere badly.

On a lighter note though the food was excellent.

 

Felon82...prawn sarnie was it??? ....I wondered who didn't come out for the start of the second half!

I didn't understand it when Arsenal played at Wembley whenever that was. These decisions are based on revenue. Wembley is big so we'll get more money. (which I suppose we need for our new stadium).
but the realty is that european opposition players see it as a major thing to play at Wembley and will always raise their games. their lad that went off last night early on was distraught. ...distraught because he was missing a game??? ...or distraught because he was playing at Wembley and now missing out!?

we should be using our own stadium minus a few thousand seats.
...or using leyton Orient and sticking two fingers up at the crowd numbers...and the overhyped overtelevised overloved overthetopcovered money making entity that is the CL

 

Don't quote me, but I believe but the reason that we are not able to play at 'The Lane' is simply that as it is, it doesn't comply to Champion's League specifications. Whatever they are!
We'll pull it around fellow Lillywhite's...Prem and CL.
COYS!!

 

An extract from the diary of a lifelong Tottenham born Spurs supporter:-

Wednesday September 14th 2016

Morning and Afternoon Entry.....

Dearest Diary

I've awoken all starry eyed and excited about this special day of days.

The day promises so much. It's beautifully sunny and warm and I've been fortunate enough to plump for some of those lovely Club Wembley tickets that Mr. Levy, our Chairman kindly sold to me at half price, because I'm so old that I can even remember when Spurs used to beat everybody. Sigh.....

I've decided to roll out the boat with my cousin, get a driver to take us and head for the Hilton Wembley for pre match drinking poo's and a lovely meal. Apparently there is a chance of a record English crown of over 85,000........how fantastic will that be. Do you reckon that lovely Mr. Levy might have to revisit his plans for the new stadium that he has promised us, otherwise he'd be missing out on 23,000 lots of £notes...do you think he realises that.

Anyway we arrived early, missed all the traffic and the atmosphere was truly like nothing I'd ever experienced before. Such joy and great anticipation written on the fans faces. Everybody was so jolly, even the bouncers on the doors to the hotel. We just breathed in all that wonderful aid and it was heaven.

When we stepped out into the heat it felt like everything was building to a fantastic finale later in the day. The Wembley concourses were rammed, all the fans were chanting, I was fair intoxicated by the wonderful mood that filled the air, helped by the Stella and the Aussie Shiraz somewhat.

We then entered the stadium past the statue of the legend that is Sir Bobby Moore. Now there was a left sided player if ever there was one. The best, despite being from them down east.

Once in the stadium it was like entering Harrods for the first time, a truly different world. Lots of lovely people directing us to our padded Club Wembley seats and you know what I have never experienced an atmosphere like that. Must be like that nice lad Gareth gets every week in Madrid, or that Messy boy at the New Camp, the one with the bad hair do. Shame. Should have gone to Specsavers.

We only had ten minutes to wait. I'd made sure I'd had a wee wee, as senior citizens like me can be caught out you now, and I didn't want to miss a single moment.

All our lovely boys came out, we clapped and cheered them all, such joy like I'll never ever seen or heard before. It was amazing, truly unforgettable ....

Then that referee man blew his whistle and spoils the show.....I blame it on him.

That concludes my diary entry for September 14th 2016. I'm now going to see what all those lovely Tottenham Live boys had to say about the period after the referee blew his whistle. Good night Diary

COYS

 

Anyway enough of the good bits from yesterday, now let's say what I really feel about the time that passed us by after that ref man blew his whistle.

- a back four that has Vertonghen and Davies left side is just not good enough, certainly not CL.....
- Dier has been poor, and I'm being kind. Bench last night. Wanyama should have started.
- No Dembele to start. Jesus wept.
- Powder puffs Lamela, Son and Eriksen worry me when they are on the pitch together, particularly at the start of such a big game.
- Playing Kane through such bad form is looking an ever increasing gamble, even if we have few options.
- Sissoko should have come on at half time.
-Poch didn't set us up well and failed to ready us to be able to explode out of the blocks. FFS 85,011 people, most of them yiddo's delivered there part of the deal.

It was so painfully disappointing wasn't it.

It's going to an interesting season between now and December......

COYS

 

Haha Bazza other than the Hilton this was like a mirror image of my Day, brilliantly put.

 

Felon says..
1st Kane is in woeful form
2nd Jan is a poor defender
3rd We are lacking pace and creativity in abundance.
4th Poch is totally stumped on what to do.

Agree totally with each and every point.

AS for Lamela I am sorry to say I disagree with the writer...for me he is poor . Always cuts in and congests the middle of the park, has ample opportunities to shoot, never takes them, cannot tackle and seriously football is his job and he cannot do anything with the right foot ...

Do not think Wembley will help up in the long run, Wednesday night was the night to put on a display, win and keep the fans coming, this did not happen..

Trying not to upset too many people here but I really do not rate Kane. Yes he scored alot in the last two seasons but he is not good in the air, has zero pace and now does not even seem to put the CB's under pressure.

Vertongen should be gone, get Wimmer back in ...

 

Sorry on the above regarding harry Kane...
Wow..

 

For Sunderland....personally I'd move Vertonghen to LB while Rose is out
a rest for Davies, Dier, Eriksen and Lamela
It's Sunderland! ...if we can't get the new lad Nkoudou on the pitch...when can we play him?? ..I wouldn;t start him but I'd get him on the pitch at some point

Lloris
Walker, Aldi, Wimmer, Vertonghen
Sissoko, Wanyama, Dembele,
Alli, Kane, Son

For me we bought Janssen but we still miss that 'striker' that most other teams seem to have....pace and finishing. without that sort of player we need to get other players up with Kane (or Janssen).....hence 433

 

Thanks Felon. I thought it might be a better way on remembering one of my best Spurs build-ups ever....

 

Excellent post. Really enjoyed that.