Don’t blame Wembley. Don’t blame the spiffy dressing rooms or the slightly different tone and timbre of the noise around those deeply tiered stands on a close, sweaty night in London.

In many ways Tottenham’s 2-1 opening Group E defeat to an excellent Monaco team was perfectly apt, entirely at home in its surroundings, a fine metaphor for the Premier League’s wider engagement with elite level European football. Wonderful staging. Endless hunger for the spectacle, with that record crowd announced over the PA even as Spurs attacked at the end. All combined with a sense of something a little unsettled, of trapped energy and talent as-yet unexpressed.

Tottenham lure record crowd to Wembley but Monaco spoil the party Read more

Tottenham might have equalised at the death, although Monaco always seemed to have strength in reserve behind their guard, the bite on the break to keep Kyle Walker and Ben Davies pinned back, and Eric Dier in his shuttling role when Pochettino might have gambled earlier with all-out attack.

Don’t blame Wembley, though. The culture shock for Tottenham here wasn’t moving a few miles up the road, the quality of the Wembley loam or the glossy showers. It was instead an early intake of breath at finding themselves in the clean, clear air of elite club football competition, where the details are worked relentlessly, where any moment of slackness is exposed.

If Spurs stuttered in those early moments it was because they came across opponents who played a compact, adaptable game, who came primed for the fury of Spurs’ pressing, but ready also to look for the gaps behind. Against this, nine of 13 Spurs players used were making their Champions League debuts. If Dele Alli, for example, looked at times a little lost between the dense Monaco lines this wasn’t to do with having an extra two yards of pitch to run into, or opponents allegedly “inspired” by the borrowed splendour of our imperial footballing home (funny how this never works the other way, our brave boys booing the Bernabéu, romping about the Camp Nou). The fact is for all the glimpses of power and grace, two years ago almost to the day Ali was being subbed off early in the second half as MK Dons beat Barnsley in League One.

It is the air around them this young team must grow used to rather than a Wembley stadium that had been nicely Spurs-ified for this first date. The arch was lit in club white. The home fans also came in white, a honeymoon-suite tribute to Spurs’ own traditional white European kit on their big opening night. There were Spurs-branded stencils on every surface and even down on the concourse a “Welcome to Tottenham Hotspur” arch, raising the notion of Tottenham Hotspur as a moveable feast, an abstract idea, a state of mind.

Don’t blame Wembley! Spurs were just a little callow in that first half, unable to assert their smothering press on opponents who passed the ball slickly and who moved well off it. Spurs had disposed of Monaco easily enough in the Europa League last year. But this is an upgraded version in Leonardo Jardim’s third season, cute enough to beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 at home two weeks ago while having just 33% of possession.

Wembley was a little lukewarm only in the pre-match moments, a stadium that often feels part shopping mall, part exhibition centre. Steadily, though, the seats filled, the noise picked up, the crackle of genuine event glamour in the air as the Champions League “anthem” was played at an insistent volume.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Spurs in action against Monaco at Wembley. Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian

Pochettino had picked an adventurous lineup, with Alli and Eric Dier in central midfield and Christian Eriksen and Harry Kane completing a startlingly youthful forward spine for a game of this scale. In the event Spurs went behind to a terribly soft goal. Erik Lamela gave the ball away cheaply. Just as disappointing was Spurs’ brittleness through the centre, with Bernardo Silva able to groove forward, look up and curl a wonderful shot into the far corner. The second came soon after. Silva’s back-heel from the corner flag was almost satirically casual. The cross hit Davies, bounced and was lashed in.

To their credit Spurs did rally. They were helped along by Wembley itself, which produced a great rolling cheer for Toby Alderweireld’s bullet header past Danijel Subasic from Lamela’s corner just before half-time, before roaring the players off down the tunnel. Moussa Dembélé, the best all‑round midfielder at the club, came into the centre at half‑time. The balance was better straight away, with Alli free to scuttle about linking with Kane, those wandering instincts an asset rather than an open door against opponents this canny.

Pochettino was phlegmatic, pointedly praising his opponents for their ruthlessness. Tottenham are far from out of this group. Perhaps they can even take heart from a similarly unforgiving home defeat for Manchester City against Juventus last season. Either way Spurs will surely be stronger, or at least more focused, gnarlier – in Pochettino’s words “more hungry” – for the experience.