Tottenham player concedes that maybe there’s been a distraction, subconsciously anyway

 

Jan Vertonghen has been receiving much praise over the past few days, not least from his Tottenham teammate Toby Alderweireld. Therefore, it was written in the stars that something was about to go wrong, and Vertonghen gave a penalty away in Belgium’s match against the Netherlands.

Belgium certainly weren’t impressive, despite having much of the ball. During the first half they struggled to create anything really dangerous, although it got a little better during the second period. The Netherlands, who are not used to being the underdogs against Belgium, took the chance of the penalty and went ahead, with Belgium eventually drawing level.

After the match, criticism once again went the way of Belgium, and Tottenham defender Vertonghen suggested the team may have been distracted, with one eye on Sunday’s World Cup Qualifier against Estonia.

Quoted by Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad, Vertonghen said: “I’m disappointed with the result and the way… Maybe we all had the important qualifying match on Sunday subconsciously in our heads.”

Perhaps that’s giving Belgium a little too much of an excuse, they suffered similar problems to which they have in previous matches and, just like Marc Wilmots, Roberto Martinez has a job on his hands to get the very best out of a talented group of players.