3 things we learned as AS Monaco beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1

There weren’t many reasons for Tottenham Hotspur fans to be happy on Tuesday. Their team put in a poor showing away from home against AS Monaco, losing 2-1 thanks to second-half goals from Djibril Sidibe and Thomas Lemar. With the win, Monaco have secured advancement to the Champions League knockout rounds, while Tottenham Hotspur find themselves needing a not-so-minor miracle if they’re going to advance now.

The opening 10 minutes for Tottenham Hotspur were not exactly inspiring, Son Heung-Min scuffing a wide-open chance at scoring an early goal, then seeing Eric Dier give away a jaw-droppingly poor penalty just as the clock hit the 10-minute mark. Fortunately they recovered quickly, with Hugo Lloris saving Radamel Falcao’s try from the spot, and the English team seeming to stabilize quickly after that big moment.

Even with that improvement, though, it still felt like Tottenham were largely on the back foot throughout the first half, with Monaco constantly able to find space to probe at their defense with, generating numerous near-miss chances. At the other end, Spurs were able to create a few half-chances, but nothing on the same scale or threat level Monaco were comfortably sitting at.

The second half started in sheer chaos, with Spurs’ defense getting absolutely shredded by Monaco’s fullbacks. Benjamin Mendy pushed up high and to the box, turning Kevin Trippier inside out and putting a gorgeous cross in across the face of Tottenham’s goal, finding a late run from Sidibe and watching his fellow fullback head the ball home with ease.

Tottenham responded quickly, with Delle Alli earning a questionable penalty just a few minutes later. His fall to the ground was decidedly theatrical given the tug of the shirt he got from Kamil Glik. However, given that Glik had often been drawing the referee’s attention with various chippy fouls and other harsh moments, the Polish defender did not get the benefit of the doubt. Harry Kane was perhaps fortunate to score his penalty given that Monaco goalkeeper Danijel Subasic got his hands to it, but his lack of clean contact and the power Kane got on his shot made sure that he scored anyways.

Tottenham were only able to relax for a moment, though — and perhaps they relaxed for a moment too long. Once they restarted the action, it took just 16(!) seconds for Monaco to retake the lead, with Thomas Lemar streaking in from the wing to get on the end of a ball from Sidibe. Spurs were caught ball-watching — and even putting it that way might be a bit kind — and Lemar was able to put the ball in with ease because of it.

From there Monaco controlled the game with relative ease. A trio of subs saw Tottenham shift to a more outright attacking formation and mindset, but that wasn’t enough to do more than occasionally threaten at Monaco’s goal. The loss is a backbreaking one for the English side, who have been dealing with a poor run of form for the last two months and badly needed a win to give themselves a better chance at advancing in the Champions League. Now those chances are all but gone, while Monaco have secured their path to the Round of 16 with a game to spare.

AS Monaco: Danijel Subasic; Djibril Sidibe, Kamil Glik, Jemerson, Benjamin Mendy; Bernardo Silva, Fabinho, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Thomas Lemar (Joao Moutinho 81’); Valere Germain (Guido Carrillo 77’), Radamel Falcao (Andrea Raggi 89’)

Goals: Sidibe (48’), Lemar (53’)

Tottenham Hotspur: Hugo Lloris; Kevin Trippier, Eric Dier, Kevin Wimmer, Danny Rose; Victor Wanyama, Mousa Dembele (Vincent Janssen 65’); Dele Alli, Harry Winks (Moussa Sissoko 75’), Son Heung-Min (Christian Eriksen 65’); Harry Kane

Goals: (Kane pen. 52’)

Radamel Falcao’s return to form has, rightfully, drawn a lot of media attention, but Monaco’s attack is about so much more than the Colombian international. Valere Germain was a huge influence in attack, giving Monaco a reliable target up top to allow Falcao to lurk and find advantageous positions to take up. Then there’s Bernardo Silva, who’s creativity and lethal runs from the wing gave Spurs fits all night long.

But then there’s Sidibe and Mendy, the two fullbacks who pushed up high and put in excellent crosses all night. There’s goalscorer Lemar, who continually used the chaos his teammates were creating to slip in from the left wing to find dangerous positions to take up. There’s Fabinho, who constantly charged up from midfield to force defensive mistakes. There’s even central defender Jemerson, who was a constant menace on set pieces. This Monaco side has an incredible, complete, and deep attack who can find ways to score on just about anyone, and that was on full display against Tottenham.

Part of this is down to the sheer, overwhelming quality of Monaco’s attack. But even looking at individual performances and how Spurs’ defense played, there’s no way to come away from this match as anything but disappointed with the English team’s back line.

Kevin Trippier? Absolutely dreadful. Turned around way too easily, couldn’t contain anyone who challenged him, and constantly got caught way too far away from Eric Dier. Dier was little better, making a lazy and sloppy challenge to give up that early penalty and never really recovering from that moment, and struggling badly to do much against Germain. Wimmer was constantly disappearing in the heart of Spurs’ defense, rarely in position and not doing much when he was, and more often than not Danny Rose was way too high up the pitch to really be called a left-back.

Yes, this was largely an emergency back line, with Spurs dealing with numerous injuries coming into this match. But this was a dreadful showing from their defense, and a sign that they need to do a lot of work in front of their goal if they’re going to get their season back on track.

This loss, coupled with Bayer Leverkusen earning a point in Russia earlier in the day, leaves Tottenham in a bad, bad place if they want to advance in the Champions League. They have one match left, against CSKA Moscow at Wembley Stadium, and they desperately need to win that match if they’re going to have any hope of advancing. Even then, they need Leverkusen to lose at home to Monaco and see the goal differential swing in their favor to get out on the good side of the tiebreakers.

Tottenham might not be officially out of the Champions League knockout rounds, but that big of a miracle might be too much to ask for.