The player who consoled Lankshear after red card – 5 things spotted in Galatasaray vs Tottenham
Tottenham’s 100% start to their Europa League campaign came to an end on Thursday evening following a 3-2 defeat against Galatasaray. Fresh from last Sunday’s 4-1 win over Aston Villa, Ange Postecoglou made a total of seven changes to his Spurs team as players such as Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall, Yves Bissouma and James Maddison came in for a start.
Will Lankshear was also named in the team as he led the line in place of first-choice striker Dominic Solanke. Six minutes were on the clock when Yunus Akgun opened the scoring for the hosts with an unstoppable volley from 25 yards that flew into the top corner of Fraser Forster’s goal.
Galatasaray would only lead for a total of 12 minutes as Lankshear levelled things up from close range to register his first senior goal for the club. Moments after having a goal chalked off for offside, Victor Osimhen’s next attempt counted as he took advantage of some sloppy play from Spurs to put the Turkish giants ahead for the second time in the encounter.
The Nigerian was to add another goal to his tally seven minutes later as he got between Pedro Porro and Radu Dragusin to convert Dries Mertens’ cross. Spurs’ evening was to go from bad to worse on the hour mark as Lankshear, not long after seeing a chance saved, was given his marching orders for his second bookable offence.
Tottenham did give themselves some hope going into the final 20 minutes as substitute Solanke pulled one back with a lovely flick from Porro’s driven cross but they were unable to get a third and leave with a point. Here are five things we spotted in what was a crazy match in Istanbul:
Light in attack
Postecoglou took the opportunity to rotate his Tottenham stars in Istanbul but he didn’t have the option to rest some players he may have liked. to Already short in attack heading into the game due to Wilson Odobert and Richarlison’s respective injuries, Spurs were dealt further bad news on the injury front on the eve of the showdown with another two players missing out.
Postecoglou revealed in his pre-match press conference that Timo Werner was not available due to a “groin complaint” and Mikey Moore would also not make the trip after picking up a virus. That meant Brennan Johnson and Son Heung-min had to start on the right and left flanks respectively, with Lankshear the man up top instead of Solanke.
Already having to deal with some injuries to key players, Tottenham really cannot afford to pick up any more issues right now. That probably explained why Johnson and Son made way at the break ahead of Sunday’s game against Ipswich Town.
