Spurs succumbed 1-0 at the Ghelamco Arena, with Jeremy Perbet scoring the only goal just before the hour. Whereas Mauricio Pochettino made a point of praising his players’ attitude and fight post-match, Dembélé’s assessment was rather more scathing as their hopes of making an immediate recovery from Saturday’s damaging loss at Liverpool in the Premier League were dashed.
“We knew it wouldn’t be an easy game but they were much sharper than us,” said Dembélé, whose side will aspire to overturn that narrow deficit in next week’s return at Wembley. “I think we underestimated Gent. Generally, I think they wanted it more than us. They were sharper, more motivated than us. I hope this game has opened our eyes. I hope we show double our attitude next week. And that we really want it.”
Tottenham will on Friday assess the slight knee injury sustained by Harry Kane in Belgium, with Pochettino’s squad to undertake a gentle warm-down at their base in Enfield before Sunday’s FA Cup fifth round tie at Fulham. Kane will sit that game out with Pochettino having made clear he will make a number of changes to his lineup as he seeks to jolt Spurs out of their recent sluggish form. His team’s only goal in four matches, since Wycombe were beaten in the fourth round, was Kane’s winning penalty against Middlesbrough.
Christian Eriksen, Heung-Min Son, Kieran Trippier and Michel Vorm, substitutes in Ghent, are expected to feature at Craven Cottage. “We need to assess some players,” said Pochettino. “Harry Kane got a knock on his knee, different players too … we need to refresh the team, and we’ll do that. ‘Tottenham Hotspur’ will play in Fulham on Sunday. It’s not about the names of the players, it’s the club. We’ll see, but we’ll put out a team with aims to win and be ready again to compete.”
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