How Should Tottenham Line Up Against Monaco?

After a two week period that featured five games, the question of who should be deployed by Tottenham in Thursday night’s visit to Monaco suddenly becomes a lot trickier. Mauricio Pochettino mostly rotated the squad for two of those games – the Europe League opener win over Qarabag FK and the Capital One Cup loss to Arsenal – but is he willing to do so against likely the toughest opponent Tottenham will face in the Europa League?

Monaco’s resurgence back into the Ligue 1 conversation has been quick and efficient. Fueled in part by Russian petrodollars, the principality’s only profressional men’s club earned promotion back into the French top division in 2013. They earned a second place finish behind perennial champions Paris Saint Germain in their first season back, thanks in part to the millions spent on the liked of Radamel Falcao, Joao Moutinho and James Rodríguez. It seemed that Monaco would join the club of wealthy European clubs buying their way into domestic and international glory.

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And then it didn’t. Monaco’s ownership turned a corner on their team-building philosophy – due in part to a crippling divorce settlement – and sold off or loaned out the likes of Rodríguez and Falcao, but also budding stars like Geoffery Kondogbia and Lucas Ocampos. Claudio Ranieri was let go as manager despite his success with the club, and relative unknown Portuguese manager Leonardo Jardim. It seemed as if the club would settle for mediocrity.

Jardim, it turned out, was too clever to for that however. He changed what was a team built around a robust and lethal attack into one of the most defensively sound football clubs in Europe. Of the continent’s top five leagues, only Barcelona, Juventus and Bayern Munich conceded less goals on a per game basis. It was enough to earn Monaco a third place finish last term in Ligue 1, narrowly besting free-scoring Marseille.

All of which is to demonstrate the task laid before Tottenham Thursday. It will take a set of determined, potent attackers to overcome such defensive potential as Monaco possesses. The good news is that so far this term Monaco actually seem to be regressing to the mean: they’ve already conceded 13 goals in their opening eight games of league play and currently sit ninth in the French table.

Monaco’s general reliance on counter-attacks should be Tottenham’s secondary concern. They’ll again need to have some mettle in defensive midfield to help break those counters up before they can become a threat. No Spurs fan would argue if Eric Dier is given a rest for this match – he’s played in every Tottenham match so far this season – but there’s no question that the team would miss him. There simply isn’t another player available with his skillset.

Tottenham - Europa League - 1st October 2015 - Football tactics and formations /

So then Dier’s inclusion in this prediction is not so much as endorsement as it is a nod to the reality of the situation. Until Nabil Bentaleb is healthy there aren’t a tremendous amount of options at defensive midfielder. Tom Carroll could also feature in the role, but he’ll likely be paired alongside Dier on the night.

Elsewhere we can expect to see first team regulars Érik Lamela and Toby Alderweireld start, if only for lack of other options. Ryan Mason is only just returning to training and Heung-Min Son sustained a foot injury in the game against Manchester City. Unless Pochettino is willing to risk overusing Dele Alli or relying on the still-very-green Harry Winks and Josh Onomah, those are the only options.

The exceptional bit here is the likelihood of Clinton Njie earning his first start. He made a great substitute appearance against City, using his pace to help undue City for the fourth and final time. Here he’s more likely to lead the line in place of Harry Kane, who should be kept fresh for Swansea on Sunday.

Monaco isn’t exactly the type of side that will play to Njie’s strengths, specifically his pace and knack for finding space behind the defense. They will sit deep and frustrate any attempt by a Tottenham player to play around the backline. Njie started neither of Lyon’s games against Monaco last term, and only made a mostly ineffective substitute appearance in the home fixture. He would be played Thursday less because he’s the ideal choice against Jardim’s team and more because it gives some much needed rest to Tottenham’s first choice attacking line.

Check back tomorrow pre-match when we’ll run down the key battles we can expect to see on the pitch.

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