Best game in a Spurs shirt

Tottenham hung on to a rather uninspired 0-0 draw away to Monaco in the Champions League on Wednesday, but stellar goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario wasn’t their only shining light in France.

Vicario saves Tottenham with 10/10 display in European stalemate

Without doubt, Spurs’ number one, who’s come under fire recently for his handling of crosses into the box, was Thomas Frank’s saviour against the Ligue 1 side.

Monaco ended the 90 minutes with a whopping 21 shots on goal and threatened to break the deadlock constantly, and if not for Vicario’s heroics in the Lilywhites goal, Spurs would’ve almost certainly tasted their first European defeat of the campaign.

The home side had chance after chance to win the game, and ex-Arsenal striker Folarin Balogun will still be wondering how he didn’t notch at least one strike in the first-half alone.

Alas, Monaco’s nine attempts on target were all saved by Vicario, with the Italian undoubtedly enjoying one of his best games for the club during what was a night to forget overall for the north Londoners.

Spurs were without captain Cristian Romero – one of 10 players unavailable – and Frank again shuffled his pack with £52 million playmaker Xavi Simons only on the bench and Archie Gray surprisingly recalled at left-back.

Gray was quickly involved, blocking an effort by the excellent Maghnes Akliouche before Vicario saved from Balogun, and Tottenham’s makeshift full-back then intercepted Ansu Fati’s pass after a dangerous run.

The visitors threatened for the first time after 20 minutes when Wilson Odobert clipped a ball in for stand-in captain Micky van de Ven, but he could only head over under pressure.

It was then Vicario’s turn to step up as he clawed away a dangerous cross by Akliouche before Balogun peeled off van de Ven, but the Spurs goalkeeper raced out to block bravely.

Seconds later, Odobert slipped in Richarlison, who had a left-footed shot thwarted by Mohammed Salisu.

However, Tottenham were indebted to Vicario again in the 36th minute. Balogun again found space and was picked out by Mamadou Coulibaly, but the Italian keeper brilliantly parried away Balogun’s curled shot from 12 yards.

It remained goalless at the break after Kevin Danso sent over a corner by Kudus – not long after, he headed straight at Philipp Kohn, but he was subsequently penalised for a foul.

Akliouche put Joao Palhinha on his backside at the start of the second half only to scuff his effort straight at Vicario before Odobert cut inside and had a shot deflected over by Kehrer.

Monaco remained on top and Vicario pushed wide a shot by substitute Aleksandr Golovin before he scrambled across his goal and looked mightily relived when Kehrer headed past the post from a Fati cross.

Vicario’s next heroics came in the 75th minute when Caio Henrique’s cross found Jordan Teze and yet his close-range header was superbly blocked by Spurs’ busy goalkeeper.

Takumi Minamino squandered another golden opportunity with seven minutes left when he blazed over from Balogun’s cut-back. When Spurs did finally fashion a chance late on, substitute Brennan Johnson’s effort was blocked by Christian Mawissa, and it finished goalless.

While Vicario has grabbed all the headlines with Tottenham’s creativity letting them down yet again, members of the media did lavish Odobert after his fine performance at the Stade Louis II.

The 20-year-old, who was unfortunately forced off through injury midway through the second period, looked like Spurs’ brightest attacking player and created more chances in the first-half than all of his teammates combined.

Odobert earned plaudits as a result of his direct and forward-thinking play in the first period, with the former Burnley star threatening down Spurs’ left-hand side and injecting some much-needed pace into the game at times.

Podcasters Seb Martin, Ben Bowman and Jonny Blain were among the media figures to point this out, while journalists Matt Verri and Jack Pitt-Brooke also found time to praise the Frenchman.

Reporter Mitch Fretton joined in on the act as well, claiming Odobert looked “absolutely excellent” against Monaco, but regrettably for Frank’s side, Vicario and the forward’s performances were as good as it got.

Now, Frank is sweating on the fitness of Odobert, praying that the attacker’s injury isn’t a serious one.

He had just started repaying the Tottenham manager’s faith after four successive starts in all competitions, so a lengthy lay-off would be unbelievable bad luck.