Gent fell 3-1 at home to Union St.Gilloise Thursday and Super Eagles defender Jordan Torunarigha will blame his teammates for taking things for granted.
The previous week, Gent went past hosts Standard Liege 1-0 and according to Torunarigha that win may have got his teammates to be complacent.
Union raced from 1-0 to 3-0 in five minutes of the second half at Gent.
“We wanted to give the fans a nice Christmas present by winning against Union in the last game of the year, especially after the good performance last weekend against Standard,” Torunarigha recounted.
“The first half was also good and we had a big chance, but we didn’t score.
“They did take that chance and then there was a period of laxity on our part.
“How did that happen? We weren’t sharp enough, some people are apparently already on holiday with us. It’s not that Union plays like Barcelona and the goals conceded are indefensible, but you can’t stop everything either.”
He said his team should not be carried away but continue to work hard to be in top reckoning.
“There have been good and bad matches, consistent performance will be the most important thing and not to think that we are champions after one good match”, he insisted.
“It has proven to be a process, especially with a new coach after a few years of (coach) Vanhaezebrouck and the young core that we have.
“Hopefully things will go better after the break, for that we will have to keep working hard.”
Gent are sixth in the standings with 30 points from 20 matches, 12 points adrift of leaders Genk going into 2025.
