Mauricio Pochettino knew within 50 seconds that Tottenham were going to fluff their lines against Gent last Thursday. He expects to know just as quickly at Wembley this Thursday if their Europa League campaign is heading for the rocks.
The legacy of their woeful performance in Belgium is that Pochettino's side need to overcome a one-goal deficit if they are to progress to the last 16, which on the surface should not be too daunting, except there is a real mystery as to which version of this team will turn up.
It has been a curious aspect of Tottenham in the past seven weeks that they have veered so dramatically between excellent and awful, with a defining win against Chelsea in January balanced by a desperately poor loss at Liverpool 12 days ago.