The Dutchman's job-sharing duties mean he will not be around during the international break to work on the lapses in concentration which prevented his club side getting within a point of leaders Manchester United.

After stopping briefly in Holland for family reasons, the 62-year-old has World Cup qualifiers against Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein to focus on before he can work on what went wrong against Tottenham.

"Everyone has to do his international duties," he said after the Blues' 1-0 defeat. "Then we'll be back and the two roads are ahead of us.

"We talked to (assistant) Ray Wilkins and the team about this. We have two roads to go and if we want to be a success on those two roads we have to learn a very big lesson."

A suspect vehicle near the stadium delayed kick-off against Spurs, meaning Chelsea knew United were losing at Fulham - but they failed to take advantage of their golden opportunity and were undone by Luka Modric's winner.

"It's not over but they have a game in hand and, when Manchester United are losing, these are key moments," Hiddink said. "We cannot afford to lose two or three points when chasing and coming towards the end of the season.

"That was the ideal moment and when you don't get those moments then you have to blame yourself.

"We do not give up. Everyone in this business knows when you are in the lead and you drop points you get persecuted most of the time. This was an ideal moment to catch them."

There was a touch of Jose Mourinho about Hiddink's explanation of Modric's winner, which came while Chelsea did not look in apparent danger.

"You have to know, when there is a fire in the kitchen, when to flood that fire," he said. "We were playing where we shouldn't have played."

Frank Lampard and Alex hit the woodwork for the visitors and they were also denied a point by Heurelho Gomes, who pulled off a stunning save to deny John Terry.

Gomes has turned his season around after a series of high-profile blunders following his summer move from PSV Eindhoven, where he previously worked with Hiddink.

Spurs boss Harry Redknapp was considering Gomes' future but the Brazilian, helped by goalkeeper coach Tony Parks, has kept Carlo Cudicini out of the team.

"We took him from Brazil to PSV," Hiddink said. "It was the same as in Holland - at first, he had a difficult time. But he's a great athlete."

Redknapp added: "He's come back and done very well. He was outstanding. Tony Parks works with him all the time so I wouldn't take credit for it."

Modric had a similarly tough start to his career in England but is now a player Redknapp wants to build a team around.

His winner was set up by Aaron Lennon, who was celebrating signing a new contract on the eve of the match to keep him at Spurs until 2014.

"It shows their commitment to me and my commitment to them," said Lennon. "Hopefully I'll be here for a long time."

Lennon is targeting seventh place in the table, which should earn a spot in Europe. It would be a remarkable turnaround after two points from eight games before Redknapp took over in October.

"If you look at the way we are playing, teams are coming to play us and fearing us," Lennon said. "You can tell from the way they are setting up against us. Hopefully we can kick on and push for seventh."

Redknapp added: "When you are playing as well as we are you can look to see how high we can finish now."

Victory against Chelsea means Spurs are unbeaten in the league this season against the traditional top four.

"It shows you how good we are," Lennon said. "With the quality we have here, the club has got better and better.

"We are three points behind West Ham and have to play them at home. With the form we are in we could still catch them. With a bit of luck we can catch that seventh spot."