Christian Eriksen: Tottenham Made Two Small Mistakes
Mistakes cost Tottenham in their 2-1 defeat to Monaco.
Tottenham’s return to the Champions League on Wednesday night did not go the way they had envisioned according to Christian Eriksen.
The club worked hard to achieve this moment last season finishing third in the Premier League. And now that they were able to stand among Europe’s elite once again, Spurs quickly found themselves trailing after the opening 31 minutes.
“We have been building up to this point, we played all season last year to get to where we are now and then we created a performance like this – it’s far from good enough and far from what we’d hoped for,” Eriksen said (via Spurs’ official site).
“We played for 365 days last year to get to this point and then to play like this, it’s very disappointing.”
Starting at a 2-0 deficit made it difficult for Mauricio Pochettino’s side to come back and level the game despite getting a major boost from Toby Alderweireld’s header on the stroke at half-time.
Beginning the second half with momentum on their side and a tactical change with Mousa Dembélé coming on helped but it still wasn’t enough.
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Monaco weren’t exactly superior against Tottenham. They simply capitalized on Spurs’ mistakes when they conceded possession deep in their own half.
That was the major difference in this game.
“It’s the same in the Premier League and the Champions League – you get punished if you make any mistakes and unfortunately it was two small mistakes and they scored,” Christian Eriksen said.
“It made it very difficult for us, we went behind and tried to fight back, we had the chances to come back but we didn’t take them.”
Though, to be fair, one clear mistake that led to Monaco’s opening goal happened after Érik Lamela lost possession of the ball with a bad pass.
The other, was an unlucky bounce after Ben Davies challenged for the ball in the air that Thomas Lemar was quick to react to and score.
There were times that Spurs did have some chances to find the equalizer in the second half. But had Son Heung-Min, Harry Kane or Dele Alli’s finishing been more clinical in both halves, Spurs would have been well ahead in this game.
“Overall, if you look back at the game I think we had the chances, even before they scored, to score our goals, even in the second half, but it didn’t happen.”
Credit to Monaco’s compact and stingy defense for stopping all of Tottenham’s attacks in the second half.
Holding onto a slim 2-1 lead is not easy, there were some tense moments but Leonardo Jardim’s side stepped up to the challenge and secured a hard fought victory on the road.
Next: Tottenham Player Ratings: Home vs Monaco
Following a disappointing Champions League loss in their opening group stage match, Tottenham sit at the bottom of Group E but have no time to sulk about the result.
This Sunday, their focus must be on Sunderland who will visit White Hart Lane.
“It’s always been a must-win and it still is, especially after this,” Christian Eriksen said.
“We want to rise again and get back on it and that’s what we need to do on Sunday.”