Injury-hit Spurs were forced to make a host of changes for their Europa League trip to Galatasaray, and at times looked certain to suffer a heavy defeat.
The hosts spurned a host of chances, many of which were presented to them on a plate by sloppy Spurs passing.
One bright spark came from youngster Will Lankshear, who scored his first senior goal for the club… then followed it with his first senior red card.
It was only when more of the regular first XI was added to the mix in the second half that Spurs got a real foothold and, in the end, it was the Turkish side clinging on as Ange Postecoglou’s team sought an unlikely equaliser.
The Athletic’s Jay Harris mulls some of the key talking points…
A mixed night for Lankshear
Richarlison’s latest injury is a significant blow to Postecoglou who could finally boast two senior strikers in his squad. The Brazilian’s assist for Dominic Solanke in Sunday’s 4-1 victory over Aston Villa is a prime example of what they are capable of when fielded together.
This latest setback should afford more opportunities to 19-year-old Lankshear and his first senior goal for Spurs was one of the few silver linings to emerge from a difficult first hour in Istanbul — a spell that ended when he was sent off for two yellow card offences. This was only Lankshear’s second senior start, having come close to scoring on his first against Ferencvaros, only to fail to connect properly with Timo Werner’s cross.
Lankshear’s biggest asset is his movement and he always finds a way to peel off defenders to sneak into good positions. That is exactly what happened with Tottenham’s equaliser as he effortlessly slipped away from Abdulkerim Bardakci to volley home Brennan Johnson’s cross. To make things even sweeter, he celebrated directly in front of Galatsaray’s riotous home fans.
The youngster struggled for the rest of the evening — but that is not a reflection on him but the fact that Spurs’ midfield, especially in the first half, failed to support him. Lankshear was coming up against three centre-backs and needed players running off him.
Maybe it shouldn’t have been a surprise that he got sent off. Filled with adrenaline but frustrated his team was playing poorly, Lankshear was booked twice in seven minutes.
The forward’s memories of this game will be decidedly bittersweet, but there were certainly a few glimpses of what he could offer in future.
Dragusin does not yet look like an able deputy…
A couple of weeks ago, Postecoglou said that nobody is guaranteed a place in his starting XI but it is fair to say that Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero are his preferred centre-back partnership. With both players out injured, this was an opportunity for Radu Dragusin to stake his claim for more minutes in the Premier League. He has only made 12 appearances in the top flight since he joined Spurs from Genoa for £30million ($39m) nearly a year ago.
The 22-year-old handled the threat of Ollie Watkins and Jhon Duran well against Aston Villa on Sunday but he struggled against Victor Osimhen, who admittedly is one of the world’s best strikers.
For Osimhen’s first goal, the striker snuck in between Dragusin and Pedro Porro far too easily. And for Osimhen’s second, Dragusin took a heavy touch under pressure and lost the ball in the build-up.
This is one of the issues with Dragusin which causes the most concern. Postecoglou needs his defenders to be calm and composed on the ball, but the way Dragusin threw away possession felt similar to when he got sent off after seven minutes against Qarabag. There was another moment in the first half when his under-hit pass to Johnson resulted in Fraser Forster making a close-range save from Osimhen.
Playing alongside Ben Davies — not a natural centre-back — probably didn’t help the Romania international, but this was not a performance that will have supporters relishing the prospect of Van de Ven and Romero being sidelined for the long term.
Maddison fails to leave his mark
This time a year ago, James Maddison was the creative linchpin for Spurs under Postecoglou but his limelight has been stolen by Dejan Kulusevski this season. Maddison did not feature in last week’s Carabao Cup victory over Manchester City and only came off the bench for the final 10 minutes of the 4-1 win against Aston Villa.
He was supposed to provide creativity against Galatasaray, along with Lucas Bergvall, but they both struggled. In the first few minutes, Lankshear tried to play a quick one-two with Maddison but his more experienced team-mate stopped running. Postecoglou was furious on the touchline and made his feelings towards Maddison clear.
Bergvall was shrugged off the ball too easily throughout and Postecoglou spoke afterwards about how this was a valuable lesson for the 18-year-old, who may just have got a better understanding of what is required to compete at the top level. Yves Bissouma was the only starting midfielder to emerge with any credit as he constantly demanded the ball and made a few crucial interceptions.
Maddison was shifted out to the left wing in the second half but remained ineffective. It tells you everything you need to know about Tottenham’s first-half performance that they looked far better after the break when Kulusevski, Rodrigo Bentancur, Pape Matar Sarr and Dominic Solanke were introduced, even though Spurs had by then been reduced to 10 men.
Postecoglou said their first-half issues were “self-inflicted” and that they needed to keep the ball better.
After missing out on England’s squad for the European Championship in the summer, this was supposed to be a big season for Maddison. There have been some promising moments but this display underlines his struggles for consistency.
What did Ange Postecoglou say after the game?
“Obviously, it’s a disappointing result. The first half wasn’t great; we just didn’t handle things well at all, particularly with the ball, we were just really wasteful and gave it away way too many times, unnecessarily. That allows them to get a foothold in the areas that they’re good at.
“They’ve got some good players in the front third and we just allowed that to happen way too often and ultimately paid a price for it because, I thought, we always finish strongly and I knew we would in the second half.
“Going down to 10 men didn’t help — but even with 10 men, I thought we probably played the best football we did all game and got our second goal, had some opportunities to get a third there, but I thought we were looking the better side.
“So disappointing outcome, unfortunately, brought on by a disappointing first half.”
(Top photo: Burak Kara/Getty Images)
