Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Cristian Romero has admitted that the Lilywhites are lacking "solidity" following their Champions League defeat to AC Milan.
Antonio Conte's men travelled to San Siro off the back of a humbling 4-1 Premier League defeat to Leicester City, which ended a run of three successive wins and clean sheets in all tournaments.
Facing the reigning Italian champions, Spurs were behind with just seven minutes on the clock, as Brahim Diaz made it third time lucky with a close-range header following a smart double save from Fraser Forster.
Tottenham struggled to claw their way back into the match, although Stefano Pioli's side failed to make their dominance count for anything more than a narrow 1-0 triumph in their last-16 first leg.
Spurs have three weeks to mull over Tuesday's loss before welcoming Milan to North London for the second leg on March 8, where a draw or defeat would close off another route to a long-awaited piece of silverware.
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Speaking to TNT Sports after Tuesday's loss, Romero expressed his belief that Tottenham will soon pull themselves out of their sticky patch, but their resilience is in dire need of improvement.
"We're in a tough moment with highs and lows, and we lack solidity as a team. Hope is the last thing that goes. We have a good team and can turn things around at home," Romero said.
The Argentina international completed the full 90 for Conte's side at San Siro, although he was arguably fortunate not to have seen red for a high tackle on Sandro Tonali.
While blessed with options at the back, Conte was forced to work with depleted midfield ranks for Tuesday's game, where Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Yves Bissouma and Rodrigo Bentancur all missed out.
Hojbjerg sat out through suspension, while Bentancur and Bissouma could both miss the rest of the season with severe cruciate ligament and ankle injuries respectively.
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As a result, Conte paired Pape Matar Sarr up with Oliver Skipp, and the youthful duo put in eye-catching displays at San Siro, albeit without a victory to show for their efforts.
Conte admitted that Milan possessed the tools to "kill" his side, but he is hopeful that the raucous Tottenham crowd can help his side overturn the one-goal deficit in the second leg.
"I think it was a battle from the start until the end. I think we played against a team with a high intensity and a lot of pressure and it was very difficult to play for us and difficult to play for them. It was a pity to concede a goal after five minutes because I felt in this specific situation we could have done much better," Conte explained.
"Then we tried. When you play against Milan you have to pay attention when you attack to prevent the counter-attack because they have players like [Rafael] Leao and Theo Hernandez and also a point of reference like [Olivier] Giroud. If they have space they can kill you.
"We are now talking about the first game for the qualification and there are two games. I hope, I'm sure, that in the second game in our stadium I know that our fans will create an important atmosphere to push us to overcome the Milan obstacle."
Tottenham are next in action at home to West Ham United in the Premier League on Sunday before hosting Chelsea in another London derby on February 26.
Ben Knapton
