Tottenham’s 2-1 defeat to Monaco means Mauricio Pochettino’s men can no longer progress in the Champions League. Derrick Nnadi Jersey . It’s the continuation of a worrying run of form for Spurs, writes Adam Bate… Pochettino argued that you can only smile after Tottenham bounced back from a lacklustre first-half to earn a point at Arsenal earlier this month. Their fans added laughter to the smiles after turning another derby around against West Ham at the weekend. But Tuesdays defeat to Monaco showed theres also a serious side to Tottenhams travails.Of course, this is no crisis club. Spurs are the only team in the Premier League who remain unbeaten in the competition. But nor could the 2-1 defeat in the principality, one that confirmed the team will not be progressing to the Champions League knockout stages, be regarded as a shock result either. Spurs are struggling not soaring this season. Tottenham crash out Tottenhams 2-1 defeat at Monaco ends their hopes of Champions League progress. Saturdays scarcely deserved win was their first in eight. The fluency that so marked their title tilt in the spring is long gone and explanations are offered as regularly as the fixtures pile up. Its the challenge of the Champions League. Its the Wembley home games. Its injuries to key players like Harry Kane and Toby Alderweireld. Its new players needing time to settle.All of these things should be seen as reasons rather excuses. Chelsea and Liverpool are enjoying far greater preparation time. Pochettino can show videos to his players but the opportunity to drill them relentlessly on the training ground has been lost. The problem is we dont have time to train too much, he admits. The priority is to rest and recover. Tottenhams players are struggling to regain their fluency this term Wembley has been a factor in their Champions League disappointment. The problem is home games, as simple as that, said Hugo Lloris this week. Its very clear.The ease with which Monaco cut through Spurs on Tuesday challenged that theory but nevertheless, had they so much as drawn their two Wembley games, theyd be on course for the last 16.The disruptive impact of losing both Kane and Alderweireld can hardly be overstated either, particularly when neither man missed a Premier League game last season.Replacements Kevin Wimmer and Vincent Janssen have offered nowhere near the same quality - but could that ever really have been expected of back-up figures given the abilities of the missing men? The confidence, belief and fluency just seems to have drained out of them. Paul Walsh, Sky Sports And yet, still there are issues that nag away. While Pochettinos reputation as one of the brightest young coaches in the game has been too hard earned to be easily lost, it must be acknowledged that mistakes have been made too.The coach is striving to get the balance right in rotating his squad but its difficult to be persuaded that he is getting it spot on.With Alderweireld missing, Jan Vertonghens inclusion surely became of paramount importance against a Monaco side that had scored 28 goals in their previous eight matches. Not since Alderweirelds arrival had Spurs gone into either a Premier League or a Champions League fixture without one of the two Belgians in the starting line-up. Harry Kane did equalise from the spot but Monaco soon retook the lead Instead, the experienced Vertonghen was left on the bench as Wimmer and Eric Dier were paired at the back. Alongside him among the substitutes was Kyle Walker as Pochettino opted to go into the game with only Danny Rose of his first-choice back four. It was a gamble befitting the Monte Carlo surroundings and it did not pay off.Dier, looking as uncomfortable in defence as hed appeared assured in midfield, was guilty of a wild swing at the ball in conceding the first-half penalty that was saved by the brilliant Lloris.Wimmers woes, meanwhile, show no sign of coming to an end - unable to intercept crosses as might be expected of a man of his height let alone track runners at pace. Hugo Lloris made nine saves against Monaco - the joint-most by a goalkeeper in this seasons Champions League. But its not all about individual errors. Tactically too, Spurs have issues that need to be addressed.The lack of width in the team is supposed to be resolved in an attacking sense by the forays of the full-backs, but against Monaco both Rose and Kieran Trippier found themselves badly exposed defensively by the absence of meaningful cover ahead of them.This was a key factor in Monacos match-winning goal. Straight from the kick-off, right-back Djibril Sidibe was able to overlap untracked leaving Rose in a two-on-one situation and unable to cut out the cross. On the other side of the pitch, left-winger Thomas Lemar had the freedom to pick his spot with no sign of any support for Trippier. Highlights of Tottenhams 3-2 Premier League win over West Ham Perhaps Pochettino does not feel he has the players to do things any differently right now. Certainly, wide options Moussa Sissoko and Georges-Kevin NKoudou have shown little so far to suggest they should be entrusted with such roles. And the Argentine at least seems well aware of the need for his Spurs project to evolve more than two years into the job.Hes spoken of the need to be flexible and to play in different ways in different games recently, backing that up by going with three at the back against Arsenal. But his admission that he cannot rotate the way wed like to rotate the players suggest that his selections are being governed by issues of fitness rather than tactical preference. Sky Sports Black Friday sale Upgrade to Sky Sports now and get 12 months half price! Weve had a difficult period over the last month for different reasons, he said ahead of a result that leaves Spurs facing the prospect of the Europa League once more.We need to be clever. We need to assess every player because we have some problems, we need to be clinical in how we pick the starting 11 because we have a lot of games ahead.The next of those games is at Chelsea on Saturday. Its a return to the ground where Pochettinos players unravelled along with their title hopes in May. Theyll need to be cleverer this time. Given the form of the two teams, they might also need some more of their derby fortune if theyre to find a way to be smiling when they leave Stamford Bridge.Upgrade to Sky Sports now and get 12 months half price. Hurry, offer ends December 4! Also See: Tottenham crash out As it happened Neil Smith Jersey . Howard had 17 points and a career-high-tying 26 rebounds in his Houston debut, James Harden added 21 points and the Rockets cruised to a 96-83 win over the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night. Gary Green Jersey . More importantly, he is trying to show his young teammates the Colorado are still post-season contenders. He hopes winning a series at home was a fresh start. http://www.customchiefsjersey.com/custom-tony-richardson-jersey-large-1156n.html . Although Olivetti, a qualifier, had 13 aces, he failed to force a single break-point chance on Gasquets serve and lost his own three times. Gasquet next plays third-seeded Jerzy Janowicz of Poland, who won had 18 aces in a 6-2, 6-4 win against seventh-seeded Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France.So we will see the Heat in the Finals. Maybe they will beat San Antonio. Maybe they will lose to Oklahoma City. Whatever. No. Big. Deal. (crickets) Okay, Im trying to be all nonchalant but this is actually VERY PERSONAL. I am holding back years of torment and contempt. Bile in my throat. Bags under my eyes. Ancient pain in my heart. In 2010, I learned to hate LeBron James. I had not hated anyone in sports so much, ever. Not Harold Ballard, not Michael Vick, not Vince Carter. On July 7, 2010, I considered LeBron James to be an excellent player, living up to the incalculable hype, even if I didnt care for his chronic uncalled traveling violations or his cloying media personality. By July 8, I wanted him dead (figuratively, obviously). That was the night of Mr. Jamess infamous "Decision" to leave Cleveland, when he would gather his many talents and massive entourage, and partner with Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh and Pat Riley in South Beach, a notoriously undeserving sports town full of ray-soaked, disinterested seat-fillers. Courtesy: CelebBuzz Let me be clear. I was not a Cleveland Cavaliers fan and had, in fact, driven quickly most times I passed through Ohio. I was, and still am, a staunch Baltimore Ravens supporter, about as natural an enemy to a Cleveland sports fan as there is. But on that Thursday night, I drank from a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame collectors tumbler. On that night, I became an ardent fan of something I to this day refer to as “Team 29”. That is, any team playing LeBron. I had been a basketball nomad ever since the previous low point of my fandom: February 24, 1994, the day my beloved Atlanta Hawks traded my childhood wallpaper, Dominique Wilkins, to the Los Angeles Clippers. I still shudder at the memory. When the Toronto Basketball Club chose to name itself the "Raptors" instead of a self-respecting choice like "Towers" or "Huskies", I could never entirely settle in with my newly formed local. But, on that fateful day in 2010, I was granted asylum. I finally had a home. Team 29. Whoever was playing LeBron. My animosity burrowed deep. In a hushed tone, I admit to making the 500-kilometre December journey to wintery Northern Ohio - on my own - to assist the locals in ushering in Jamess return to Cleveland. You may revisit my chronicle of that journey here and my subsequent delirious celebration later that season when Team 29, AKA the Dallas Mavericks, triumphed over Miami in thee Finals. Priest Holmes Jersey. The day after LeBrons defeat, a sigh of aching relief passed through my lips. A burden lifted. I had not noticed, but my loathing had become an appendage. I dragged it around like a boil on my cheek. Suddenly, it was lanced. Even though it meant losing part of my identity, I simply didnt have the hate in me anymore. LeBron was too talented for me to despise. I dragged around some residue resentment the next year, but I was going through the motions. I didnt want to be on the wrong side of history as the greatest player since Jordan did the requisite great things. But even as I reconciled my feelings for LeBron, I felt a familiar twinge, something which made me continue rooting against him. And, as Ive certainly foreshadowed, it was relatively easy to pinpoint what it was. I cant stand the Miami Heat. I harbour an endless depth of loathing towards LeBrons brethren in South Beach, particularly the ever-whining Dwyane Wade, who was gifted the 2006 Finals by the most biased refereeing this side of of an Ante Sapina soccer match. Ive had it with the cluster of Ray Allen-come-lately veterans looking for a coattail ring in the Florida sun. Ive seen too many of Pat Rileys Armani suits. You may enjoy luxuriating on South Beach, but attend a game in south Florida and tell me those spoiled, limp crowds deserve their seven major championships. But whats to be done? It would be great if the Raptors met the Heat in the second round. It would be great to see Jonas and Amir get their licks in against the histrionic Chris Bosh, a guy I rank after Paul Millsap in talent, but will somehow wind up a first-ballot Hall of Famer. It would be an epic demonstration of cosmic fairness for the die-hard, through thick-and-thin faithful of Toronto to triumph over the second quarter arriving, third quarter leaving falling ass-backwards into success Miami fans. But wishing wont manifest destiny. The East is in stone. Predetermined like a game officiated by Tim Donaghy. Miami is heading to the Finals. So I recognize what must be done. Im keeping my eye on the prize this year. I know the focus of my venom, and I welcome you to join my Team 29 bandwagon. I dont care if LeBron ever wins another ring, I just dont want anyone else in Miami to get one. Gallays Poll #7 Who do you want to win the 2014 NBA Finals? (A) The Miami Heat, because I have no conscience. I also hate puppies and hugs.(B) Team 29, because I am a good and decent person. ' ' '