The Spurs boss, who had never lost a European game at home with Tottenham before Wednesday, described his side as having a “lack of passion”.
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The North Londoners were 2-0 down inside 31 minutes after goals from Bernado Silva and Thomas Lemar for the visitors.
“They had only two shots on target and scored twice”. We did enough to win the game but we didn’t take our chances.
“We must learn & improve”.
Striker Harry Kane believes the prospect of up to 90,000 Tottenham fans in the national stadium is “only going to make you play better”. “Our mental approach was to remind ourselves of how we beat Arsenal, in just as big a stadium”.
“We started poorly. They punished us for it”, Alli said. Obviously, when you play that many games for a club and share good moments like we have over the last two years you create a very tight connection to the club. We got a good amount of tickets and hopefully everyone’s friends and family will be able to be there.
The Belgian worldwide was a key player for Spurs last season and was an important part of the side that ended up finishing third in the table so it will be a big boost for Pochettino to have him available for selection.
Toby Alderweireld’s header shortly before the interval offered hope of a second-half siege but Monaco, leaders of Ligue 1, held out comfortably to top the early group standings. I think it’s a good chance to play on a big pitch.
The English club last appeared in the Champions League in the 2010-11 season, reaching the quarterfinals before losing to Real Madrid with a team that included Gareth Bale and Luka Modric – who both now play for Madrid.
Tottenham may have kickstarted their season away to Stoke at the weekend, but they’ll have had one eye on their huge clash with Monaco on Wednesday night. But it’s important we pick ourselves up and keep learning from these experiences and make sure we win the next game.
“I was speaking with my players at half-time”.
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Part of Tottenham’s home stadium is now undergoing construction work, with a section being demolished to make room for a new stadium opening in 2018 adjacent to White Hart Lane.
