S
omehow, Tottenham Hotspur always find a way to make Arsenal fans feel better. Last year, they allowed their north-London rivals to steal second spot and finish above them, and now they have given them something to smile about following the thrashing in Munich.
While this was no Arsenal-style meltdown from Tottenham, Mauricio Pochettino’s men are suffering their own European nightmare having already been dumped out of the Champions League.
The Europa League was viewed as a competition they could win, but Spurs are now fighting to reach the last 16 after a Jérémy Perbet goal gave Gent a valuable advantage to take to Wembley next week.
Trying to juggle three competitions and a congested fixture list, Pochettino has a real quandary on his hands for the second leg. He must decide whether to let the Europa League go or make his jaded looking stars try to turn the last-32 tie around.
On this evidence, Pochettino might be better to send out the reserves because Harry Kane, Dele Alli and co could not get out of first gear.
The Gent fans celebrated by singing “Que sera sera, we’re going to Wembley” in perfect English and manager Hein Vanhaezebrouck confirmed that his players are relishing the chance to try to finish the job at the national stadium, rather than at White Hart Lane.
“I like White Hart Lane, but going to Wembley is mythical,” said Vanhaezebrouck. “That history in that stadium. The most important thing for us was to make it a game. Avoid losing 4-0. We made the return game a very interesting game next week.”
Despite another below-par display, Pochettino remains optimistic Tottenham can still progress. He said: “The tie is open. We cannot be worried about the result today. The attitude was good. Now we go to Wembley next Thursday and try and make Wembley a home, feel good and put pressure on them to try and win a game.”
Other than keeping faith in his team to stage a Wembley comeback, Pochettino must also hope that Kane did not suffer a knee injury.
Asked how he would rotate over the next three games, against Fulham in the FA Cup, Gent and Stoke City in the Premier League, Pochettino replied: “We need to assess some players. Harry Kane got a knock on his knee, different players too.”
Tottenham’s stars had told Pochettino that they wanted the chance to right the wrongs of the Liverpool defeat by starting in Gent, despite the club’s busy fixture list. But this was not much better.
Two moments summed up Tottenham’s sloppy first-half performance: Alli miscontrolled the ball straight out of play and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris sliced a straightforward kick out for a corner.
Spurs had been grateful to see Samuel Gigot shoot wide in the 20th minute, while a Kenneth Sayef effort was blocked after Kyle Walker had gifted him possession.
For all their misplaced passes and lethargy, Tottenham produced a couple of moments in the opening period from which they could have taken an undeserved lead. Alli fired a low drive just wide with Lovre Kalinic beaten and Kane and Mousa Dembélé shot straight at the goalkeeper from promising positions.
Pochettino switched to a back three at the break with Ben Davies slotting in beside Toby Alderweireld and Eric Dier, and Moussa Sissoko moving to left wing-back.
Tottenham certainly started the second half brighter and it took only four minutes for Kane to hit the outside of a post after Alli had burst into the area.
Kane then teed up Dembélé, but the midfielder could not find the target. But just as Spurs had got on top, they were hit by a sucker-punch on the hour. Gent sprung the offside trap and Danijel Milicevic crossed for Perbert, who scuffed his first touch, but then managed to find the back of the net as Davies slid to the ground.
Milicevic hit a post after a mistake from the normally reliable Alderweireld, and Gent held on – much to the satisfaction of Arsenal’s beleaguered supporters in England.