Harry Kane of Tottenham Hotspur reacts to missing an opportunity during the UEFA Champions League match between Tottenham Hotspur FC and AS Monaco FC at Wembley Stadium on September 14, 2016 in London, England.
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Having moved to White Hart Lane from Sporting CP two years ago, Dier has established himself as a first-team regular for both club and country, exemplifying Mauricio Pochettino’s faith in young English talent.
It was Tottenham’s sixth match at the new Wembley and they have only won once – the 2008 League Cup final against Chelsea.
Spurs jogged in to a hopeful roar from the crowd but Pochettino remained still with his arms folded and when the players emerged for the second half the Argentinian had replaced Son with Mousa Dembele, pushing Alli into a more offensive position behind Kane.
But Pochettino refused to use that as an excuse and insisted his team had only themselves to blame.
“I think we have almost sold out all the tickets for it and, with that amount of fans and the atmosphere that can create, then hopefully they will be special nights for us”. Football is on the pitch. “We’re very active in the way we play, so whichever competition we are playing, the most important thing is just to focus on ourselves”. “Not only the first but also the second”. It is hard to accept how we conceded a goal in this way.
“It is true that we had more chances, our positions, we were better than Monaco but they were more effective”.
Tottenham are sitting in the fifth place of the Premier League with two victories and two draws in the first four round.
“I was clear with my players but it is not basketball when you can change the whole team”, he said.
Tottenham have competed in the Europa League for the previous five seasons, and ever since Lloris joined the club in summer 2012, but never progressed beyond the quarterfinals – the same stage they reached in their only previous Champions League campaign.
“Tactically because it’s a larger pitch it might have affected them negatively”.
“In terms of tactics and how we set up we were determined to stop Tottenham in their transitions”. Thomas Lemar has returned to training, but his status for the match is unknown, according to the Monaco team website.
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Toby Alderweireld’s header got the hosts back in it on the stroke of half-time but a comeback wasn’t to be. 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.
