AS Monaco (France) (Away) 22.10.2025

With players dropping out injured to add to those we were already missing, the selection more or less picked itself, although Archie Gray had to slot in at left back rather than using Djed Spence, who is the usual option when Destiny Udogie isn’t available.  Micky van de Ven took the captain’s armband again in Romero’s absence

From the kick off, the ball was played back to Guglielmo Vicario, who played it long upfield and the ball was flicked on by Richarlison to Wilson Odobert on the left.  His early ball across the six yard box was only lacking a team-mate to finish it off.  Monaco were moving the ball through the midfield well and created chances with Akliouche having a shot blocked and then Balogan was played in down the right and tried a shot from a tight angle, that Vic had come out off his line to block for a corner.

Spurs were having trouble holding onto possession, while Monaco slowed the game down when they were in possession, suddenly looking to counter-attack.  A Spurs corner  cleared up the left for Fati, who cut into the box, looking as though he might score, but chose to poke the ball to his right as he fell into Vicario looking for a penalty.  His ball intended for Akliouche was cut out by Archie Gray, but after the ball was cleared it was recycled to Akliouche who tried a low shot, although it lacked power and was straight at Vicario, making it easy for the Spurs keeper to gather in.  It was Archie who was in the right place again a couple of minutes later today the same link-up in the Tottenham box.

It took until the 19th minute to have an effort at goal and the ball was worked around from left to right and back again, giving Wilson a chance to cross in as Micky van de Ven, still upfield after a long throw, got across the front of his marker to glance a header at goal.  Unfortunately, he got too much on it and the ball went over the bar.  Our crossing wasn’t great today, but then the lack of targets didn’t help.  Richi was up top on his own and there was little support in goal-scoring positions when we did go forward.  Odobert was finding space and using his trickery on the left, got into crossing positions, but lacked a black shirt finding space in the box to pick out.  When we did get the ball in, it often hit a defender or went straight into the keeper’s hands.

Meanwhile, Akliouche was showing why he is so highly rated, just about reaching a ball down the left hand channel in the box before it went out and lifting the ball to the far post.  Vic had to back-pedal very quickly and the good use of his feet allowed him to slap the ball away with his left hand when it looked as though it might drift in.  The Monaco winger then opened up the Spurs defence with a dinked ball straight into the middle of the Spurs box for Balogan running in behind van de Ven, but Vic did well to come out to block his shot, although his boot caught Micky in the face as he slid in.  Ironically, when play restarted, Spurs created a good opportunity, with Wilson winning the ball on halfway and racing away.  With Kudus moving out to the right, Wilson chopped back the other way and laid the ball into Richarlison’s feet inside the box to the left of the goal 12 yards out.  The striker’s first touch wasn’t great and it allowed Salisu and Diatta to get across to block his shot.  In the 31st minute, a long throw from Kevin Danso bounced all the way through the goalmouth, with the ball retrieved and played back to Pedro Porro, who drove a shot at goal that was rose over the bar.

When Bergvall had the ball taken off him in midfield, Fati played a straight ball into the Spurs box and Balogan looked as though he must score from the middle of the penalty area, but Vicario dived and stretched out a hand to his left to divert the ball wide.  It was a fantastic save.  Tottenham tried to use Kudus as an outlet, but the Monaco defence were doubling up on him to stop his threat.  When Bergvall got space where Kudus would have been, he won a corner and it landed on Danso’s head, but, unmarked, he out his free header over the top.

The second half started with a long ball forward bringing a booking as Richarlison went for it and Salisu came from behind to be kicked on the shoulder.  After five minutes play, Akliouche was played in the right hand channel of the box and dragged the ball back from Palhinha’s sliding tackle to give him space to hit a low shot at the near  post, but Vicario was right behind it at the foot of his post.  Spurs made a forward move from that save and Wilson Odobert came inside from the left to hit a shot at goal that took a deflection off a defender’s shin for a corner, which was hit too long and the goalkeeper went down weakly when Micky was trying to block him to win a free-kick anyway.

A one-two with Richarlison ended with Archie being brought down a few yards outside the box to the left of centre.  Porro hit the wall and only a sliding tackle by Odobert prevented Monaco breaking away from the clearance and then Palhinha slid in to block a cross when Spurs gave the ball away from Vicario’s kick out.  Sarr and Simons then replaced Bergvall and Bentancur as Thomas Frank looked to add energy and imagination to the midfield.  When Danso’s long throw was cleared, the ball was worked back to him and his cross was high and hanging, creating a problem for the Monaco keeper, who got under it although it didn’t fall to a Spurs player.

66 minutes gone and Spurs failed to clear an attack that lead to Golovin trying to bend a shot in from outside the D, but it was a good height for Vicario to dive to his left to push the ball wide for a corner, which was cleared, but played back in for Kehrer to win a header that went a couple of feet wide with Vic scrambling.  Porro did well to block Enrique’s cross for a corner, then Danso did the same to Minimino.  Spurs won it away and it looked like Tottenham had an overload on Monaco on the halfway line, but Simons turned back when there were three players ahead of him and his pass for Randal Kolo Muani, who had just come on was behind him.

Henrique picked out Teze in the middle with a cross and his point-blank header was well saved by Vicario, although it was straight at him, then Tottenham broke only for Porro’s cross to be easy pickings for Karl.  Ten minutes from time, the ball was flipped into the Spurs box and headed on for Minamino, who volleyed the ball over the bar from five yards out as he stretched to reach it.  Minamino then chopped a shot wide of the near post when a low ball was played into him in the box, as Spurs struggled to keep the ball.  The Japan winger then fired over the top from 12 yards out as Les Diagonales kept making chances.  Akliouche tried a 20 yard effort and with the two goal last Sunday against Villa coming without closing their scorers down, it was fortunate that he put it well wide.  Spurs looked like they had a golden opportunity with a couple of minutes left with Kolo Muani involved as the ball was played in from the left to Johnson just beyond the penalty spot, but he failed to get a full contact on and it hit a defender to prevent it reaching the goal.

There were six added minutes to be played and a minute in, Xavi tried to test the keeper from 25 yards, but it was always going over the bar.  Archie Gray stepped in to intercept the ball in midfield, but his run forward got crowded out, as Spurs managed the game better in the last fifteen minutes of the match than in the preceding 83.

We seem to have a problem effectively clearing the ball at the moment.  Not only with their being a player available as the out ball, but also with the distance our clearances travel.  Both against Villa on Sunday and here tonight, the ball was often hoofed or sliced up into the air in our box.  The lack of available players in the midfield probably explains the higher number of long balls we are playing as the defence try to hit Richarlison or play the long diagonals to Odobert or Kudus.  The cavernous hole in the middle of team is creating issues for the defence, as there is little opportunity for the play to be linked up, so it breaks down and keeps coming back  towards our goal.  We have to be thankful that Monaco were so poor when it came to finishing off the openings they had, which makes it surprising that they have not failed to score in all their games up until now.  What was less surprising is that this was their first clean sheet of their season, with our attack rarely making any real impact on the home defence.  

A large proportion of the credit for this point obviously goes to Vicario, who was a major obstacle to Monaco winning the game, with a string of fine saves.  With the defence re-arranged again, the understanding between each of them and with the players in front of them looked uneasy, while how deep the midfielders had to drop to receive the ball from the back four meant that there was a long way to go to get the ball into the Monaco half.  That could perhaps change when our injured creative players return to the side, as it could open up that midfield space, but the task facing Thomas is to find a short-term solution.  Akliouche was the main Monaco threat from a creative point of view and he is everything in a number 10 that we are missing at the moment. 

It was a better point for us than for the French side, having been under the cosh for so long and there is nothing like the football we saw in the opening couple of games of the season, albeit the selection being restricted by the injuries we have suffered, but there is a lack of pattern to the play and some players look uncomfortable in their roles.  New players in new countries can take a while to settle in, but there needs to be some more joined up moves with a string of  tough matches coming up.

• Thomas Frank became the first Spurs manager to go unbeaten his their first three Champions League matches.
• Tottenham had played 125 games in all competitions without a 0-0 draw prior to this match dating back to a goal-less draw with AC Milan in March 2023.