Tottenham Hotspur were architects of their own downfall for long periods against a Galatasaray team that had more than enough quality to put them to the sword in response, not least on-loan Napoli striker Victor Osimhen who should have scored many more than his two goals on the night.
Spurs came into the game in a comfortable position in second place in the big Europa League group table thanks to their three straight wins in the competition. Despite his desire to win every match and he was still furious at times on the touchline, if there was one game Ange Postecoglou might not lose as much sleep over falling to defeat in it was this one.
He had made seven changes to his starting line-up. That’s because just two-and-a-half days after touching back down in the UK on Friday morning, Spurs have to go again against Ipswich in the Premier League on Sunday and Postecoglou’s men need to start racking up the points in that competition, having only put together back-to-back wins in the league once this campaign.
Postecoglou’s half-time substitutions showed where his head was at. They were not tactical but more to protect Son Heung-min and Brennan Johnson from getting injured or tired, the duo operating on a timeshare agreement with Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski.
Had Timo Werner and Mikey Moore been fit, the likelihood is that one or both would have started in place of Johnson and/or Son.
“Of course the Tottenham team is one of best teams in Premier League, they have certain players on their side and when we take a look at it, they didn’t play with their best squad they could have created, but very important players they have and we have seen this,” admitted Galatasaray boss Okan Buruk after the game.
That’s not to take anything away from Galatasaray or their support. RAMS Park was a cauldron of noise and in the first half Spurs wilted in the atmosphere.
The Galatasaray fans set the Guinness World Record back in 2011 for the loudest crowd roar at a sports stadium and they brought a consistent thrumming din throughout on Thursday evening.
There was the added impetus for the hosts in it being their first game since the boss of their rivals Fenerbahce – and former Spurs manager – Jose Mourinho launched into a rant about the country’s football with the stinger “nobody abroad wants to watch the Turkish league”.
After dismissing Mourinho’s claims about the Turkish football system, Buruk responded: “We are representing Turkish football. We need to be competing very well, we have to show ourselves very well in Europe and also we need to compete in Turkey.
“We cannot reduce the value of Turkish football. We cannot gain anything from that but winning this type of game, we are adding value to Turkish football and we have seen this clearly.”
With that all in mind, Tottenham needed to match Galatasaray’s intensity and pick them off as they flew forward. There were enough gaps to profit from, shown by Will Lankshear’s equaliser and how Spurs would later play with 10 men.
However, so poor was the visitors’ passing that they simply kept inviting Galatasaray back on to them. Too many players panicked amid the hostile environment and few of the leaders played their part in calming everyone down and taking charge.
The opening goal though was one there was little to no blame attached to as Yunus Akgun struck a magnificent half-volley from outside the box which flew into the top right corner of Tottenham’s net.
Spurs did manage to find a leveller on 18 minutes through their first real bit of quality. Eighteen-year-old Archie Gray was one of the few players seemingly unfazed by the atmosphere and when he picked up a loose ball in the Galatasaray half, he curled an exquisite ball into the path of Johnson.
The Wales international expertly cushioned a first-time volleyed pass across to 19-year-old Will Lankshear who gleefully smashed in his first goal for the club.
However, that parity did not last long when Spurs messed about with the ball in their own half. The hesitant Lucas Bergvall turned away from an open pass to James Maddison and instead sent the ball back under pressure to Ben Davies, who in turn knocked it across to Radu Dragusin when there were better options on.
The young Romanian continued the mess by turning into trouble and he lost the ball, which was worked to Victor Osimhen to poke home. The on-loan Napoli striker bagged another goal five minutes before the break when he side-footed a perfect, curling deep cross from Dries Mertens into the net.
The home side continued to heap the pressure on Spurs, who were indebted to saves from Fraser Forster, denying Osimhen a number of times in one vs one situations and also a fierce volley from Akgun.
