The Champions League is back, and this is Match day 3 for both sides, with Tottenham aiming to build on their unbeaten European start and Monaco desperate to avoid a third straight defeat in the competition.
How are Monaco looking?
Domestically, they’re 7th in Ligue 1 but winless in their last four games across all competitions, including a frustrating 1-1 draw away to Angers on Saturday. Defensive frailties have been highlighted, as the principality sit 30th in the league phase table with just 1 point from two matches (a 4-1 loss to Club Brugge and a 2-2 draw with Manchester City). They’ve scored 3 goals but conceded 6.
Spurs look less vulnerable in that respect, currently 9th place with 4 points, which included a 2-2 draw at Bodø/Glimt and a 1-0 win over Villarreal. We’ve been solid enough at the back, conceding just 2 goals, and sit 6th in the Premier League with 14 points. However, a 2-1 home loss to Aston Villa on the weekend exposed some weaknesses, particularly offensively, marking our second defeat in three league games.
These clubs have met four times in European competition: Monaco wins: 2 Tottenham wins: 1 Draws: 1. The last clashes between these two were in the 2016/17 Champions League round of 16, where Monaco edged both legs 2-1 (thanks to goals from the likes of Kylian Mbappé and Bernardo Silva—stars long gone from the current squad). Tottenham’s sole win came in the 2010/11 Europa League.
What’s the short term prognosis, then?
Clearly, this is the beginning of a run of games that will test Thomas Frank’s resolve. None of teh players he needs are that much closer to making a return to teh starting XI and his attacking line looks horribly weak.
The game against Aston Villa highlighted just how useless Richarlison has become, and how off the pace both Odobert and Tel are.
Daniel Levy’s legacy has truly come home to roost and revealed just how fragile this squad is. Perhaps a miracle will happen, but this next run of games that includes Monaco away, Everton and Newcastle away, not to mention Chelsea at home, smells of banana skin.
If Richarlison isn’t capable of making his mark against this lot, this winter will surely be his last in London – this is the man that was brought in to replace Harry Kane, for goodness’s sake.