Will Lankshear battles during Tottenham's clash against Galatasaray(Image: Ahmad Mora/Getty Images)

Tottenham player ratings vs Galatasaray - Joy and despair for Will Lankshear, pain for Dragusin

07 Nov 2024, 19:53 by Alasdair Gold · football.london

Tottenham Hotspur fell to a 3-2 defeat at Galatasaray in the Europa League on Thursday night and here are our Spurs player ratings from the game.

Spurs travelled to Turkey for a tough game in a hostile atmosphere at RAMS Park in Istanbul against a Galatasaray side with a host of stars in their squad including striker Victor Osimhen and former Tottenham man Davinson Sanchez. They sit top of the Turkish top flight with an unbeaten record and came into the game fifth in the big Europa League group table.

The visitors were second in that table after three straight wins and Ange Postecoglou made seven changes to his team from the one that beat Aston Villa 4-1 on Sunday, despite having six players unavailable. Spurs welcome Ipswich Town in the Premier League just two-and-a-half days after they land back in the UK on Friday morning and Postecoglou will need fresh legs.

The hosts took the lead six minutes in thanks to a terrific half-volley from Yunus Akgun from outside the box which flew into the top right corner of Tottenham's net.

Spurs levelled though when 18-year-old Archie Gray picked out Brennan Johnson's run with a wonderful pass and he cushioned the ball across to 19-year-old Will Lankshear to smash home his first goal for the club on 18 minutes.

Galatasaray found another goal when Spurs messed about with the ball in their own half, first Lucas Bergvall turning away from an open pass to James Maddison and then Radu Dragusin letting the ball run across him and it was worked to Osimhen to poke home. The on-loan Napoli striker bagged another goal five minutes before the break when he side-footed a deep cross into the net.

Postecoglou made a couple of half-time changes with Sunday in mind with Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski coming on for Son Heung-min and Brennan Johnson.

Galatasaray continued to heap the pressure on Spurs, who lost Lankshear to a second yellow card before the hour mark for a late challenge.

The 10-man visitors did grab a goal back when substitute Dominic Solanke executed a lovely dragged back flick to score from Pedro Porro's low cross, but despite some late openings could not find a leveller.

Here are our Tottenham player ratings:

Fraser Forster

Couldn't do much about Akgun's great early strike but made a great save low down to deny Osimhen in the first half. The same player then hit a clinical low shot into the corner to beat him later in the half. Forster saved from Osimhen again in the box but was beaten by his side-footed effort moments later from a dangerous curling deep cross from Dries Mertens. Dropped a ball into the box early in the second half but was rescued by a Bentancur block on the line. Made a good save from Akgun's powerful effort but got worse and worse with his feet as the game wore on. Made a number of good saves but was just shaky in other moments and parried a couple of efforts back into the six-yard box. 5

Pedro Porro

Osimhen got in between him and Dragusin for the third goal. His defending was sloppy at times, like the rest of the backline, but he did grab an assist with a low cross for Solanke to score. 5

Radu Dragusin

Made a mess of taking Davies' ball, turning into trouble for Galatasaray's second goal, and then let Osimhen get in behind him for the next. Looked affected by the atmosphere with his passing at times and positioning. 3

Ben Davies

Didn't need to play the pass to Dragusin that resulted in the Romanian making a mess with it. Otherwise he was by far the better of the two centre-backs on the night. 5

Archie Gray

Played a fantastic ball into the path of Johnson for Lankshear's leveller. Worked hard down the left but struggled to get up the pitch as he would have wanted. 6

Lucas Bergvall

Really off the pace in the first half with loose touches and passes and him turning away from a simple pass to the open Maddison and playing the ball back to his defenders began the problems for the hosts' second goal. Was given more time in the second half but never really found the pace of the game. 3

Yves Bissouma

Combined some good moments with an ability to overhit every second or third touch of the ball, but was still one of Spurs' better players, especially when they went down to 10 men thanks to his workrate. 7

James Maddison

Barely any better than Bergvall. This wasn't the performance to show that he should be starting on Sunday as he struggled to make anything happen. 4

Brennan Johnson

Grabbed an early assist with his cushioned ball to Lankshear. Didn't get the chance to do much else before coming off at half-time with Sunday in mind. 5

Will Lankshear

What a moment for the 19-year-old on 18 minutes as he smashed home his first goal for the club. He had another chance in the second half which Muslera saved but he then ended his night prematurely after lunging in for a challenge when on a yellow card and duly got another one to see red. 5

Son Heung-min

Didn't see much of the ball in the first half and struggled to make things happen when he did. 4

Subs

Dejan Kulusevski

Brought some strength to Spurs' attacking play and was involved in the build-up to Solanke's goal. Worked really hard for the other nine men of Tottenham during his time on the pitch. 7

Rodrigo Bentancur

Spurs' best player with an excellent performance in the centre of the park when he came on, driving the team forward. 8

Dominic Solanke

Scored a lovely dragged backheel of a goal for the 10-man visitors to give them some hope. 7

Pape Matar Sarr

Another who injected energy into the ten men on the pitch late on. 6

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