Tottenham Match Report: 3-2 Aggregate Loss to Gent

Tottenham conspired to make the seemingly impossible happen on Thursday: they lost a knockout match on aggregate to a mid-table team from a third-tier league.

The club’s struggles in Europe perhaps should have undercut whatever hopes came when the Europa League Round of 32 tie against Gent was announced. Tottenham’s history in the competition was far from rosy.

Their confidence was evident as they took to the pitch in Belgium last week. By the end of the 90 minutes, though, they were flailing as they struggled to come back from a second half Gent goal. The match would end 1-0 in the host’s favor.

A weekend FA Cup win over Fulham was, in theory, set to bolster Tottenham’s hopes for the second leg on Thursday. After a Christian Eriksen goal in the 10th minute seemed to suggest that Pochettino’s side might just coast through to the Round of 16 after all.

Fissures began to form ten minutes later however. After Toby Alderweireld stripped the ball from the feet of a Gent attacker, the resulting corner glanced off of Harry Kane’s head and into Hugo Lloris’ goal. Gent had the away goal they needed to see out the tie if they needed to.

Tottenham would need two goals to win now, but that seemed far from impossible. They sustained the pressure that gave them Eriksen’s early goal and seemed to be getting closer by the end of half-time.

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Unfortunately, a goal was not what came from Spurs’ newly impassioned play. In an attempt to reclaim the ball, Dele Alli managed to miss and land hard on the lower leg of Gent defende Brecht Dejaeghere. It was an egregious foul, one that could have severely injured the Gent man. The subsequent red card was well deserved.

Mauricio Pochettino retired to the dressing room before the half-time whistle even blew. Tottenham were the better team for the duration of the first half, with Eriksen and Kyle Walker in particularly standing out. They needed to find a way to sustain that quality without Dele on the pitch.

With Gent sitting on a lead, perhaps it wasn’t too shocking that Tottenham’s chances did not dry up after the interval. With the visitors rarely attacking in number, Pochettino could afford to continue pressing his men forward.

The problem was that Gent were relentless in their defending, both in terms of positioning and aggression. Several of their tackles were, put politely, risky, but they almost invariably got some touch on the ball. By the standards of the referee on the night, these hardly merited a second look much less a whistle blown or a card shown.

Victor Wanyama pulled one back in the 61st minute and it once again looked as if Tottenham would pick up another to seal the tie. Gent’s challenges kept coming though, and Spurs’ chances kept coming up short.

It was somehow hardly a surprise when Jeremy Perbet — scorer of last week’s winning goal — broke through Tottenham’s lines in the 82nd minute and scored the decisive winner for Gent. Spurs, now needing two goals to come away with a win, once again flailed through the final, limp minute.

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Though the Europa League never ranked high on Tottenham’s priorities, to exit the competition like this is a gut punch. Pochettino burned through starters to get a result here, players that will be needed for Stoke’s visit to White Hart Lane on Sunday. Walker, Jan Vertonghen and Mousa Dembélé played their heart out and could only watch as Tottenham failed to progress in what should have been an easy tie.

If there’s some hope to be found here, it’s that Tottenham are now free of midweek concerns through the ripe end of the Premier League season. With morale potentially in tatters, Pochettino will need every advantage he can get to keep the club in contention for a top four finish.

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