How We Drew: Monaco v Tottenham
By Ryan Wrenn
Tottenham managed a draw away from home at Monaco in their second Europa League group stage match Thursday.
It began as a contest that seemed as if it would only ever go Tottenham’s way. Mauricio Pochettino started almost as strong a squad as could be imagined, short of the full-backs. With Harry Kane at the top and Érik Lamela, Christian Eriksen and Nacer Chadli just behind him, it seemed as if Tottenham were out to settle the game as early as possible.
RELATED: Tottenham Should Use Europa League as Testing Ground
In the opening stages of the game, Monaco seemed content to give up the ball in favor of a more compact, defensive playing style. Tottenham played their typically narrow game, Chadli and Lamela often meeting toward the center of the pitch. With Monaco also playing their own narrow game, both Danny Rose and Kieran Trippier were give immense room in which to run forward and attempt to contribute to the attack. Monaco’s left-back Fábio Coentrão stayed high up the pitch and Trippier regularly made his way around him, sending in some dangerous crosses throughout the game, the first of which was almost an own goal off of Ricardo Carvalho’s shin.
More from Europa League
- Spurs projected XI at Mura, rotation coming for Conte and Tottenham
- How did Tottenham do in the UEFA Europa Conference League draw?
- Competition for places a good thing for Tottenham Hotspur
- Tottenham opponent for Europa Conference League Playoff no pushover
- After Saturday results Tottenham Hotspur controls Europa League destiny
How exactly the deadlock was broken by Tottenham goes a long way to explaining how this game ended as a draw and not an outright rout.
Tottenham’s goal actually began very similarly to the winning goal against Crystal Palace two weeks ago. Lamela retrieved the ball from within Tottenham’s third, shuttled it forward stunningly well to Chadli, the ball ending up with Dele Alli who subsequently took a shot within Monaco’s area. It was as deft a bit of counterattacking play as Tottenham managed all night.
Against Palace, that sequence also began with Lamela but involved Eriksen assisting and Heung-Min Son scoring. By all rights it should have ended with a goal for Alli here, though Monaco’s commitment to some remarkale – or lucky – last ditch defending denied his attempt. Only Lamela’s excellent run up the pitch and into a dangerous area in front of goal allowed the Argentine to open Tottenham’s account on the night by latching on to Alli’s deflected shot.
That theme persisted throughout the night, though never again resulting in another Tottenham goal. Kane found himself in advantageous areas only to see his shots ricochet off of Monaco centre-backs or the goalkeeper Danijel Subasic. It was by no means a regular occurrence – Tottenham only managed six shots on goal – but the shots occurred in particularly advantageous areas in front of Monaco’s goal. Tottenham should have been able to convert at least one more and settle the game.
Live Feed
Inside Ibrox
As it stood, however, Lamela’s goal forced Monaco out of its shell. In the dying minutes of the first half and throughout the second, Monaco led some meaningful charges toward Tottenham’s goal. They managed only half as many quality shots on goal as Tottenham but ended with three more total shots overall, along with leveling the possession balance that Spurs had largely dominated leading up to Lamela’s goal. Tottenham coped well with Monaco’s attempt at a barrage and had their own chances in the second half, but Monaco pulled one back by exploiting a tactic rarely seen in the Premier League.
For the bulk of the game Monaco attempted to find some advantage in their 6’8 striker Lacina Traoré. Balls were lofted into Tottenham’s box in the hopes that the immense Ivorian could nod them past Hugo Lloris. When that plan failed, Monaco manager Leonardo Jardim made three overtly offensive substitutions, including removing Traoré from the pitch entirely. In making these subs, Jardim top-loaded Monaco to an almost obscene degree, ending the game with a front four combination of strikers and attacking mids. Monaco’s goal came from all three of those subs – Nabil Dirar providing the assist a Stephan El Shaarawy goal allowed in part by the efforts of Guido Carrillo.
El Shaarawy was accompanied into Tottenham’s box by Carrillo. Each of them occupied one of Tottenham’s centre-backs enough that when Dirar’s cross came into the box, Lloris wasn’t able to guess where the goal would come from. Being closer to the source of the cross, Lloris guessed Carrillo. The ball overshot the Argentine forward and found El Shaarawy behind him, who was able to convert as Lloris dove the other way.
POPULAR: England Snub Should Motivate Eric Dier
Rarely are Tottenham – or any other Premier League club for that matter – asked to defend against two strikers. The prevalence of one striker formations has meant that most defensive pairings in England always feature an extra man to track down wayward shots or simply crowd the opposition striker out of relevance. Here, Monaco exploited Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen’s assumption that there would always be that extra man to devastating effect.
Thus a fiercely fought game ended 1-1, and should perhaps have gone to Monaco given their improvement toward the end. It will be interesting to see if they take these lessons to heart when they face off again against Tottenham in December.