London - THE hair has changed, but what lies beneath still looks a little too similar. If there truly is life in Radamel Falcao as a world-class attacker then greater evidence of a pulse will need to be found.
This was not a performance to vindicate the patience or blind faith of those who pay a fortune to employ him.
It was respectable and not especially out of place in a Monaco attack more than equipped to punish the basic errors of Tottenham’s defence.
But it was just not enough to suggest the 30-year-old Colombian is back from the footballing dead. Not yet.
With luck, and Falcao is certainly due some, that day will come. As with Michael Owen and Fernando Torres in the recent past, there is no joy in watching a fantastic talent worn down by injuries.
The hope of those in power at Monaco is that Falcao is out the other side. Given they are paying him about £270,000 a week, and are contracted to do so until 2018, such hope is understandable.
There have been moments to back it up. He scored in each of the qualification legs against Fenerbahce and he also had a prolific pre-season.
But then came a muscle injury, more treatment, and an absence that stretched up to last weekend, when he played his first 30 minutes of the Ligue 1 season.
That was enough to prompt some kind words from Monaco vice-president Vadim Vasilyev. He recalled the player Monaco paid €60m for in 2013, before his anterior cruciate ligament snapped and before two miserable loan seasons in England with Manchester United and Chelsea.
His view is that neither club gave him sufficient time to recover. But the defiance in Vasilyev’s point came from the contention that Falcao is close to being the player he once was.
‘Both clubs in England failed to relaunch him,’ Vasilyev said, ‘but I am sure this year we will see Falcao at his best.’
If Monaco do succeed in getting him to that point, they will have pulled off a remarkable resurrection.
Here, he had a couple of loose touches of no consequence and no shots to recall. There was a spring in the step and one first-half sprint and sidestep that suggested he still believes he can be that guy again. He managed about 80 minutes in all and smiled for most of it.
For now that will have to be enough.
Daily Mail