Galatasaray 3-2 Spurs | Ange’s verdict

Ange Postecoglou felt our first half display ultimately cost us as our 10 men fought to the end of a 3-2 loss against Galatasaray in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday night.

The Turkish champions seized on their opportunity in the first half of this MD4 clash in Istanbul, forging ahead 3-1 at half-time thanks to an early wonder strike from Yunus Akgun and a double from Victor Osimhen.

It proved a bitter-sweet night for Academy graduate Will Lankshear, who scored his first senior goal for the Club to equalise Akgun’s opener but was then sent off on the hour after receiving two yellow cards in seven minutes.

Galatasaray missed a host of chances, Fraser Forster made vital saves, and slowly we clawed our way back into it. Dominic Solanke backheeled home for 3-2 on 69 minutes and the comeback looked on as we continued to push forward. The chance finally arrived in added time as home goalkeeper Fernando Muslera rushed out of his box to clear, but only headed to Deki Kulusevski on halfway - he took a touch, but fired wide of the empty net.

Speaking to us straight after the game, Ange reflected: “I’m disappointed with the first half - we were nowhere near the levels we should be, especially with the ball, really wasteful. That played into their hands with the players they’ve got in the front third, giving the ball away in areas we shouldn’t, and they punish you for it.

“That was disappointing… second half, going down to 10 men, it was always going to make things challenging, but I always felt we’d finish stronger, and I thought we did, the 10 guys out there, we probably played our best football down to 10 men, scored a good goal, couple of other chances, and we could have got something out of the game.”

We put to Ange that the 10 men should be commended for pushing Galatasaray back in the final stages. “That’s the disappointing bit,” he said. “In the first half, we didn’t reach the levels with our football, because we know we’re going to be strong, if our football was better in the first half, we’d have a good foothold in the game, stayed in it and then finished as strongly as we did. It’s a lesson learned and I’m sure they’ll grow for it.”

Speaking about lessons learned, what did Ange think of Will’s night? “He took his goal well, he worked hard for the team, I’m sure he’ll learn from it. The same with Lucas (Bergvall), understanding the levels in this game, you have to expose them to that. I thought Archie was great, and it’s great we can expose 18-year-olds to this kind of environment. It’s going to mean they’ll develop quicker, they’ll grow from it and, ultimately, we’ll benefit from that.”