Europa League round of 32, second leg: Tottenham (0) v Gent (1),
Venue: Wembley, 8.05pm
TV: BT Sport 2, Eir Sport 1
Spurs host Gent at Wembley in the Europa League on Thursday looking to overturn a 1-0 deficit and Mauricio Pochettino has said he will knows within 50 seconds whether Tottenham are off their game.
A 3-0 thrashing of Fulham in the FA Cup on Sunday offered signs that Tottenham are regaining top form, but inconsistency has plagued them in recent weeks.
They have won three out of their last seven in all competitions and Pochettino believes his side often set the tone at the start.
“When we start a game, if you only watch 50 seconds, you don’t need to be a genius to know we may struggle and have some problems in that game,” Pochettino said.
“In that moment, it’s too difficult to change. We changed the formation at half-time to try and lift them but it was impossible.
“The problem is when you start not in a good way, it’s too difficult to change that perception and then you give a very good signal to the opponent that you are not focused on the game.
“You need to change that mentality.”
Tottenham are still favourites to progress but Gent know if they can score one away goal, their opponents will need three.
Bigger blow
Crashing out of the Europa League would come as a bigger blow than in previous seasons, given Spurs have a genuine chance of winning the competition and appear unlikely to catch Chelsea in the Premier League.
The club have not won a European trophy since 1984 – or any silverware since lifting the League Cup in 2008 – but Pochettino says there is no short-cut for a club in Tottenham’s financial position.
“We cannot buy time, that is the most important thing for us,” Pochettino said.
“You never know in football, but in a short period you cannot do it – only if you have money enough to buy the best players in the world. Then you maybe don’t need much time.
“But the process we are in and with our philosophy we need time. We are showing a good basis but now it’s time to develop the winning mentality.”
Tottenham youngsters Marcus Edwards and Kyle Walker-Peters both trained with the first team on Wednesday although Pochettino is not expected to make many changes.
Erik Lamela has begun running again as he continues his recovery from a hip problem but the club said Danny Rose remains "a number of weeks away from full training".
