KAA Gent 1, Tottenham Hotspur 0: Mauricio Pochettino admits Spurs suffering a mini-crisis of confidence
Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino admits his side are suffering from a mini-crisis of confidence after slipping to a surprise defeat to Gent in their Europa League last-32 first leg clash.
Spurs failed to respond to Pochettino’s rallying call following Saturday’s loss to Liverpool and, despite the Argentine naming a strong side, succumbed to a second-half strike from Gent’s French striker Jeremy Perbet.
The north Londoners have scored just one goal in their last four matches and have a steeper hurdle to overcome in the second leg at Wembley on 23 February than would ideally have been the case.
“After Liverpool, it is true that our confidence dropped a little bit,” said Pochettino. “Until the Liverpool game we were on a good run with good results and sometimes that can happen.
“Today was a different competition and we tried to win the game and find the way to score goals. It wasn’t our best game but we created enough chances to score but we couldn’t.
“It was very frustrating. The tie is open now. It’s not only 90 minutes but two games and that was the first leg.
“We tried to find a way to win the game and go to Wembley in a better position but now we need to fight from the beginning next week and try to turn the tie in our favour and go to the next round.”
England midfielder Eric Dier, who slotted in at centre-half alongside Toby Alderweireld shared his manager’s confidence that Spurs are more than capable of rectifying matters in the second leg.
Asked whether Tottenham could turn it around, Dier said: “I don’t see why not. It’s always difficult coming away to these European grounds. Gent gave everything and we had to match that. I think we did that but we were just lacking a bit of quality at times.
“Maybe we were a little bit erratic [in searching for an equaliser] and could have been a bit calmer and waited for the right time to get our chance, but it’s a natural reaction to try and get a goal back.
”We’ve got another game at home now in the second leg and I’m sure we’ll be ready for it and be better.”
Spurs had failed to win any of their previous four fixtures in Belgium but had the opening chance of the match on 12 minutes as a low, skiddy 30-yard effort from former MK Dons midfielder Dele Alli whistled narrowly past the post.
Gent mounted several attacks but failed to overly trouble Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, while Mousa Dembele engineered a cross following a penetrative run, only for Alli’s effort to be blocked.
Clear-cut chances were very much at a premium, although Spurs striker Harry Kane rattled the woodwork moments into the second period after spinning into space to evade the attention of two Gent defenders.
The hosts took a surprise lead shortly before the hour mark as Danijel Milicevic’s run saw him ghost beyond the Spurs backline and pick out Perbet, who stroked beyond Lloris into the far corner.
Gent, who are eighth in the Belgian top flight, scented a more comfortable cushion ahead of next week’s second leg and Tottenham were indebted to Lloris inside the final 15 minutes as the Frenchman turned a Milicevic shot onto his left-hand post.