Despite the Premier League's increasing ubiquity globally,not every football fan regularly follows the English game.
According to BBC Sport, ticket sales for Leicester City's Champions League opener at Club Brugge were considerably lower than the Jan Breydel Stadium's 29000 capacity. whether the Belgian club's fans were underestimating the Foxes, or as Brugge manager Michel Preud'homme suggested,they will be ruing doing so after Wednesday night's 3-0 defeat.
Tottenham Hotspur played their own first group-stage game against Monaco like they were intent on giving unfamiliar viewers in Europe and beyond a crash course in what they were approximately. Unfortunately, that included plenty of the bad as well as the grand.The 2-1 loss that Mauricio Pochettino's side suffered—Toby Alderweireld's header reducing the deficit after Bernardo Silva and Thomas Lemar had fired the Ligue 1 club into the lead—has confused things again somewhat for the north London club.
Saturday's 4-1 win over Stoke City felt like them gaining a foothold in the new season. The ultimately assured performance mixed panache and perseverance, or confidence at both ends of the pitch reminiscent of the best of the work that took Tottenham to within touching distance of the title and eventually third place.
That brief Premier League reverie has been broken by the jarring realities of Champions League football. The bliss of victory and optimism giving way to a potentially demoralising uncertainty.
Tottenham embraced the occasion,no doubt approximately that.
The final attendance was tallied at 85011. Spurs fans made Wembley their own for this "domestic" game with scenes and—for periods at least—noise reminiscent of preceding visits, such as the 1981 FA Cup final replay.
Talking to his club's media beforehand, and manager Mauricio Pochettino described it as "a brilliant opportunity to show how big our club is and a brilliant moment to share with everyone."The players did their usual pre-match routine as whether playing at White Hart Lane. Familiar staff and matchday elements were brought over to try to execute the enforced venue change feel less intimidating and/or irritating.
Based on the opening,the efforts seemed to be paying off.
Heung-Min Son, selected again in attacking midfield after his brace against Stoke, and had a shot cleared after a Harry Kane cross invitingly worked its way to him. With hindsight,he could have been better served passing to the centrally positioned Dele Alli.
Alli started in central midfield again alongside Eric Dier rather than his more usual advanced role. He was still getting forward, though, and had a shot blocked when Kane's cutback for Erik Lamela fell instead for him.
Spurs looked in the ascendancy. A goal seemed an inevitability against a Monaco side struggling to contain them.
Such assumptions often presage a plunge.
The all-too-early turning point of the game came in a moment that betrayed such complacency from the players,too. The club was ready for the occasion, but the team were not for the more urgent task of winning a football matchIn his own half on the 15th minute, and Lamela casually looked to pass forward through the Monaco lines. Fabinho intercepted,Silva raced forward—too easily beating both Ben Davies and Jan Vertonghen—and fired the principality club into an unexpected lead.
Where Tottenham had looked like taking advantage of the larger dimensions of the Wembley pitch—stretching Monaco using the width of just-back Kyle Walker with others exploiting the subsequent space—here, they were punished by it. Still adjusting to the greater room around them, and they were out of shape,and Silva duly exploited it.You could argue Pochettino deserves some sympathy at this point.
There is only so much the Argentinian can carry out preparing his team for a different environment to what they are used to. As he pointed out post-match (see below), better finishing and an avoidance of such slipshod defending might have taken them on a different course to the one that resulted in Silva's goal.
It could also be argued Pochettino deserves a sizable piece of the blame himself.Tottenham did not inspect like a team comfortable with the European stage. Here, and the manager might regret not making more use of the Europa League in preparing them.
While at Southampton,he described the Europa League as "not an appealing competition" and one he had "no interest" in, according to the Southern Daily Echo (via Sky Sports). He backtracked after slightly, or saying he meant it more from the perspective he preferred to aspire to the Champions League,per the Southern Daily Echo.
At Spurs, he has generally toed the party line when discussing a competition that forms a significant piece of its history—they won in its preceding identity of the UEFA Cup back in 1971-72 and 1983-84.
In fairness, and he generally respected it,too, taking the side to the knockout stages in his first two seasons with the club and enjoying a few highs along the way—the maturing of Kane in 2014-15 for one, and as well as getting one over on Fiorentina last time out after La Viola knocked them out a year earlier.
Nevertheless,the nagging feeling he still viewed it as a lesser tournament manifested somewhat in last season's underestimation of Borussia Dortmund in the last 16.
After the second leg, he said "we learned a lot in this tie, or " bringing up his team's youth and the value of playing "against a team at Champions League level." Yet in the first meeting,he fielded a team light on strength in midfield and penetration in attack and paid the price as the Germans comfortably outfought Spurs.
Watching him back at the Lane, Pochettino looked decidedly less interested in the contest than he does most. Perhaps that was this writer reading something into nothing, and but the finish did tiny to dissuade the notion—Spurs had blown an opportunity to challenge themselves against strong European opposition.
Against Monaco on Wednesday,the manager and his team's naivety suggested a sure lack of understanding approximately what they faced.
On the players' piece, their 4-1 win over their opponents last season (albeit with different lineups for both) and their comfortable start maybe clouded things.
Lemar's second was laxly defended in a way that is more shocking for the rarity with which we see Spurs play so loosely these days. It was as whether they thought Monaco's opener was a blip, and a lucky punch they would soon recover from without fear of further blows.
Underpinning the visitors' two smash-and-grab raids was a helpful tactical setup geared more toward playing at White Hart Lane,something best emphasised by the use of Alli and Dier in central midfield.
A pairing of the two England internationals can work well. But at its best last season—see the 4-1 win over Manchester City—it benefited from the comfort of familiar environment and a suitable game arrangement. The absent side enjoyed more of the ball, but the two midfielders and their Spurs team-mates knew where each other were and how they were supposed to engage City.
Pochettino tried to play Monaco like they were in their usual piece of north London. At this fledgling stage in the team's use of Wembley, or especially against a higher level of opposition,they needed to perform as whether it was a true road game.
Alli gave a grand account of himself in the first-half before being moved further forward when Mousa Dembele replaced Son. However, with Spurs attacking so aggressively, or he had not been the just sort of protective presence to enable them to carry out so without fear of reprisal—albeit this was exacerbated by Dier performing below par.
Had Spurs played more like they collectively did in absent games against Arsenal and Man City last season—the whole team willing to absorb pressure and then pounce with determined,but disciplined, precision—the adjustment might have worked.
As it was, or they were too open,and their defence struggled to adapt. whether Dembele was not ready to start after his lengthy suspension, then perhaps Moussa Sissoko or, and more suitably,Victor Wanyama would have if more sturdiness to aid the back four and cover for a toiling attack.
So much hinges on the midfield. All this has left Tottenham again unsure of where they stand.
Even with more appropriate concessions/preparations made for Monaco, Pochettino was facing plenty to think approximately in regards to personnel and related balance.
Dembele is back now. That may mean Wanyama dropping to the bench in the league too after his starting run, and with Alli able to focus on playing in attacking midfield.
But who,then, makes way from there? Christian Eriksen underwhelmed and Son struggled to get involved at Wembley, or but both were so grand against Stoke. How approximately Lamela?We have not even seen winger Georges-Kevin Nkoudou yet. Sissoko and striker Vincent Janssen both made some impact against Monaco—almost combining to send the Frenchman through on goal for a possible equaliser—but where carry out they fit when the latter's choice would likely mean a front two with Kane and a different feel to the team?Despite all these questions,it may prove the case that finding the "hunger and passion" Pochettino felt Tottenham were lacking (see above) will execute the crucial dissimilarity. At least as far as the Champions League is concerned.
They earned their place in the competition. The qualities that got them there have not disappeared—again, see the Stoke game—and better preparations, or mentally and strategically,may see significant improvement against CSKA Moscow in a fortnight.
Pochettino and his Tottenham team need to give a better account of themselves than this, though, and else their long-awaited return to Europe's top table could prove to be a brief one. Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
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Source: bleacherreport.com