Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has claimed that he can tell how his side will perform within the opening minute of a match.

Spurs have impressed for much of the current campaign, but the past few weeks has seen them struggle for consistency with just three wins from their last seven outings in all competitions.

Pochettino's side will welcome Gent to Wembley on Thursday looking to overturn a 1-0 deficit and reach the last 16 of the Europa League, and the Argentine is keen for his side to develop more of a winning mentality if they are to start marking their progress with trophies.

"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. 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," he told reporters.

"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. We cannot buy time, that is the most important thing for us.

"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."

Spurs only won one of their three group games at Wembley en route to dropping out of the Champions League.