The new Tottenham leader emerging at the club and Jose Mourinho's inadvertent role in Spurs defeat

If ever a game showcased one side with a point to prove and another with an eye on their next match, this clash in Istanbul was it.

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.

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

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"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.

In all, Galatasaray had 28 shots on the visitors' goal with 10 on target. Spurs had just five shots with three on target.

Then Spurs lost Lankshear, the teenager aggrieved at not getting a foul and overeagerly sliding in on Gabriel Sara in an attempt to win the ball back. The moment Sara went rolling and the crowd bellowed, the referee was only going to brandish a second yellow card for the young striker

Galatasaray could not take further chances with their numerical advantage and instead it was 10-man Tottenham who did when substitute Dominic Solanke executed a lovely dragged back flick to score from Pedro Porro's low driven cross.

Kulusevski had a late chance to lob the goalkeeper, who had charged out to head a ball, but sent his effort wide. It would have been just reward for the hard-working 10 men, but not so much for Tottenham on the night.

"Obviously disappointing result. First half wasn't great, we just didn't handle things well at all, particularly with the ball, 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," Postecoglou told football.london.

"They 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 you know we always finish strongly and I knew we would in the second half.

"Obviously 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."

Tottenham defender Ben Davies echoed those thoughts in his club interview after the game.

"It was a tough game, especially in the first half our mistakes were our biggest downfall," said the experienced Wales international. "We need to handle the atmosphere a bit better than we did in the first half because by the end of the game, even with ten men, we were probably the only team really pushing for it.

"We always felt we had a pretty good chance if we kept pushing but we probably left ourselves a little bit too much to do."

The reality is that if there was a game to lose this week, this was the one thanks to Spurs' start to Europa League campaign, but that won't make the performance any easier to swallow for those Tottenham fans who made the trip to Istanbul.

A tale of three teenagers

Postecoglou continued with his theme of giving his teenage summer signings plenty of game time in the Europa League.

Both 18-year-olds Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall started again and were joined by 19-year-old academy striker Will Lankshear, in order to give Dominic Solanke a much-needed rest.

Of the trio, Gray was the pick of the bunch. Aside from that delightful, pinpoint curling ball for Johnson in the build-up to Tottenham's first half equaliser, the former Leeds man was one of the few who did not look intimidated by the atmosphere.

Whether that was because he's already used to big play-off matches and a final at Wembley, the noise and expectations of the Elland Road crowd or simply because it's in the blood thanks to the Gray football dynasty, the teenager put in an all-action display.

His adaptability has been a huge bonus to Postecoglou with the Australian having used him as a right-back, left-back, centre-back and as a midfielder since he joined in the summer in that £40million deal.

While it would be great to see Gray in the midfield role he will eventually become a star in, it's at least a huge pat on the back for him that Postecoglou trusts him enough to adapt to any new role and that he's keen to get him minutes wherever he can, despite Tottenham's packed midfield, in order to continue his development.

Gray is not a natural full-back, it's only the start of his second season spent attempting it, but he works hard in the role and times his runs well. He's going to get beaten by wingers at times, particularly on his unnatural left side, because that's where the experience in the role is required.

He is one of the Spurs players with the technical ability to handle playing out from the back under pressure or dribbling through with the ball.

The difference that a year makes spent playing in a fast and physically demanding league like the Championship is clear when you look at Gray and the similarly-aged Bergvall.

The young Swede has bundles of talent but he's physically nowhere near the level of his fellow summer arrival. He bounces off opposition players because he does not have the muscular frame yet to match his height and he tires both physically and mentally before others do around him.

That will all come to him, as will the pace of the game which appears to be a step or more above the Allsvenskan and there are too many times when the young Sweden international takes an extra touch or hesitates before playing a pass. It's something that's being worked on in training and again it's just another little wrinkle to be ironed out with experience and time.

It was on display for Galatasaray's second goal as he turned away from a simple pass to the wide open Maddison, leaving the vice-captain visibly frustrated, and instead Bergvall turned back into trouble.

It said everything about Postecoglou's thoughts on the game's importance that instead of taking Bergvall off at half-time and strengthening the midfield, he left him on and took off Son and Johnson, with Maddison pushing into a higher role.

The minutes will benefit Bergvall in the long run, even if the result likely suffered from the decision.

The third teenager of the trio was Lankshear. What was set to be a day of pride for him turned into one of despair as his first goal for the club in the first half was followed by his first red card in the second.

Lankshear worked hard, mostly battling away against the strong, former Tottenham man Davinson Sanchez, and he took his goal well. The teenager had another chance in the second half when he managed to dig out a shot in the box but it was comfortable enough for the goalkeeper to fall upon.

Lankshear's goal was a testament to all of the hard work he has put in over the past couple of years and the academy staff who have worked with him since he arrived from Sheffield United.

It was a proud night for the academy as a whole and U21s boss Wayne Burnett and Under-18s coach Stuart Lewis, as they also had Alfie Dorrington, Dante Cassanova, Callum Olusesi and Luca Williams-Barnett representing the youth set-up on the bench, the latter having only turned 16 last month and requiring days off school in order to make the trip to Turkey.

Even Lankshear's red card will not have soured the pride of the academy, even if he looked devastated by it. It was the kind of challenge that many a player far older than him will go in for, the classic lunge of the aggrieved.

Yves Bissouma was furious with the referee for missing the initial foul on the teenager and sprinted over to unload his anger on the official as Lankshear processed what was happening.

As the teenager walked off sadly down the tunnel, Pedro Porro made a point of running over to catch him before he disappeared and slapped him on the back, a little gesture of support for the youngster.

"Unfortunately for Will it is tough and these things happen but he'll learn from that. Look, he's pretty devastated in there but it's up to us to help him through it now. It was a valiant fight in the end but not quite enough," said Davies after the final whistle.

"He's gutted in there, he feels like he's probably let the team down. It's just part and parcel of football. Every game is different, every circumstance is different and tonight when he went off we went down to ten men and we had to work hard. It's one of those things. The game is done now and he will learn from that for sure."

Postecoglou believes that all three of the teenagers on the pitch will learn from their differing experiences.

"Will took his goal well, he worked hard for the team. Obviously he hasn't had a lot of experience at senior football so he would have learnt a lot today. The red card, it was a bit of overenthusiasm in that moment to give away a foul, but he'll learn from that," he said.

"The same with Lucas here. Giving him an understanding of the levels here. It is not easy when you are playing away in Europe. You can only allow them to learn that by exposing them to it.

"I thought Archie was great. It was a tough game for us defensively at different times but I think we'll get so much growth out of him because he's not playing in his position. I guess for three teenagers in the starting line-up, I think they'll learn a lot from it and hopefully it helps with their development."

It was an educational night for the trio, and the young subs watching on, in such a hostile environment and Postecoglou could get away with it on this occasions in the context of the long league phase.

For Gray now in particular, the clamour will grow in the weeks ahead to see exactly what he can do in his favoured midfield role after a number of top drawer displays there last season, particularly against Chelsea in the cup. He's adding plenty of strings to his bow at Tottenham and he's going to become a force to be reckoned with when he's truly let loose.

Difficult night for Dragusin

Radu Dragusin is also relatively young, still only 22-years-old, and this was a night that the Romanian will also need to learn from.

The big centre-back has looked solid and reliable in recent performances in filling in for the injured Micky van de Ven in the games against Manchester City and Aston Villa.

However, in RAMS Park, Dragusin looked nervy and his previously growing confidence with the ball in facing a press evapourated in the red-hot atmosphere. He has experience of big games, having excelled for his country at the Euros against some top attackers.

Yet his messy moment for the second goal showed a lack of awareness and then he and Porro allowed Osimhen to drift in between them to meet Mertens' pinpoint deep cross from the right.

There is plenty to like about Dragusin's game. He's big and strong and he's not slow, even if everyone looks leaden-footed compared to Van de Ven. Very little gets past him in the air but as with all young defenders, his awareness and anticipation will improve with experience.

His technique will continue to be refined, as the ability to play quickly and bravely out from the back is not something he was required to do as much at Genoa.

Alongside Dragusin, Ben Davies was the more solid of the duo, using his experience of such arenas. The Wales international is going to get beaten by pace at times but not too much on the night got down his side, which he marshalled with Gray.

The only real complaint against him could be the decision to pass to Dragusin before the hosts' second goal, with two Spurs players free on his left.

Pedro Porro had a mixed game, struggling defensively in moments and in getting forward effectively, before finally grabbing an assist with his driven cross to Solanke after being picked out by Kulusevski.

Behind them all was Fraser Forster. The experienced former England international was in good form in the previous Europa League victory against AZ Alkmaar but this latest outing was a more mixed affair.

The 36-year-old definitely deserves credit for keeping the scoreline below an NFL one, handing Spurs a chance to get close to level terms.

He denied Osimhen a couple of times with quick, low saves in one-vs-one duels, and then showed great reflexes to bat away a rocket of a volley from Akgun. He could do nothing about that same player's wonderful early half-volley.

However, the downside to Forster's game was some shaky moments, including dropping one cross in his box and being bailed out by Rodrigo Bentancur blocking the resulting shot on his goal line. He also palmed a couple of saves back into his own six-yard box with others having to mop up for him.

Forster was also slow to get out on a couple of occasions and his kicking was wildly inconsistent, sometimes excellent and fast under pressure and in other moments wayward and nervy.

Spurs have got themselves into a familiar situation with their goalkeepers. They have a clear first choice in Guglielmo Vicario, an ageing back-up who does not fit the high line Postecoglou plays yet was given a new contract last season, and two 25-year-old academy products in Brandon Austin and Alfie Whiteman who look about as likely to get a game as a fan would.

Austin signed a new five-year deal at the end of last season and it's difficult to tell why either party bothered at this point.

Tottenham are more than likely to sign a new goalkeeper in the summer to provide competition for Vicario, perhaps moving in January if the opportunity is there.

The winter window could be a time for defensive reinforcements, but those Europa League squad rules may not allow for much change in that competition unless players head out the door, with Djed Spence also waiting for his chance.

A different set of leaders

This was another one of those games where Tottenham had to find leadership away from those wearing the armband.

Vice-captains Cristian Romero, James Maddison and skipper Son Heung-min have all stepped up at moments this season, either collectively or individually, but at times there have been performances like this when you wonder who is providing that leadership on the pitch.

Romero is excused because he was out injured while the fourth member of the leadership group, Vicario, was on the bench, even if he did jump from his seat at times to bellow encouragement from the dugout towards the defence, including in the aftermath of the early wondergoal.

However, Maddison was completely off the pace, often getting caught in possession attempting telegraphed twists and turns in his own half. Son provided a fruitless first half similar to his opening 45 minutes against Villa before he came alive after the break.

This time there was no second half for Son as he was taken off but Maddison continued to offer little before he was removed by Postecoglou.

Maddison is now struggling to earn a starting spot for Spurs, let alone the England recall he craves. He's had some good games this season and scored a wonderful free-kick on Sunday, but he's not making any real case for ousting either Kulusevski or Pape Matar Sarr from the Premier League starting line-up.

On Thursday night, Tottenham's leaders were mostly to be found coming off the bench. Rodrigo Bentancur was excellent in the second half and much of the visitors' improvement with 10 men came through the driving role he played in the centre of the park.

Alongside him, Yves Bissouma also stepped up as the game wore on. His first half brought a frustrating propensity to do something important with the ball or without it, only to then hand it back to Galatasaray with a heavy second or third touch.

In the second half, the Mali international was far better with his and Bentancur's energy in the engine room making up for the away side's numerical disadvantage.

Kulusevski has been captaining Sweden recently and his confidence in his form makes him someone to drive on the team. The number of times he used his body and strength to receive a ball in a tight position, turn and create something out of nothing, helped Spurs almost rescue an unlikely point. He could have done it himself with that late lofted effort that sailed well wide.

Sarr also provided legs and energy in a later cameo with the goalscoring Solanke, who Postecoglou believes has already become a bit of a leader in the dressing room, both men covering plenty of ground in the final third together.

"We're really happy with Dom. Not just his goals but his general play. The way he's come into the club, he's become a bit of a leader on the field. Great for us, and I certainly believe there's more in him," he said on Friday.

Postecoglou was asked the previous night why Spurs struggled to control the first half compared to how they played with 10 men in the second and whether it was the atmosphere playing a part, his decision to make seven changes of whether Galatasaray were just too good.

"No I don’t think so. It was probably a combination of all those things. I just felt it was self-inflicted. We had real simple solutions out there to keep the ball and as we showed with 10 men it wasn’t that difficult to do. We just didn’t," he said.

"Individuals within needed to be stronger on the ball and make sure we play the kind of football we try to do every week and we didn't do that. Maybe it was a little bit the changes I made and the environment or the atmosphere or whatever you want to call it, the opposition. The moments that stick out to me are when there was no pressure on us and we are still giving the ball away.

"I think we need to be better in those moments because if we are better in those moments then you minimise the threat the opposition has but also we get a foothold in the game in the areas we want to. We did it with 10 men. We were playing through them quite easily with 10 men but with 11 we just didn’t have anywhere near the conviction we needed to so it’s disappointing."

It may be that new leaders emerge this season as it goes on and one former Tottenham leader has been making his opinions known about the club in his new book and that's Hugo Lloris.

The World Cup winning goalkeeper, now playing across the Atlantic at MLS side LAFC, released an extract from his upcoming autobiography in the Guardian.

It was focused on his disbelief when the Tottenham players were handed a free Aviator luxury watch ahead of the 2019 Champions League final against Liverpool. Lloris was left aghast when he saw that the watches were engraved with 'Champions League finalist' on them.

Lloris was mortified and never wore his watch, believing that it represented everything lacking at the club and that they were simply happy to be involved in their first ever European Cup final.

On paper, it's not the most relatable story for 99.9% of people. Rich man expresses fury at free watch worth thousands because it did not convey the necessary ambition of his employers.

If anything the watch story is probably the least insightful part of the extract in showing that lack of ambition on the pitch, which was particularly prevalent while the new stadium was being build, but it made an eye-catching hook for the text.

The engraving was probably unnecessary and not particularly thought out by non-football people, but the Spurs players were not dreadful in that final in Madrid because of their free expensive watches and the referee did not hand Liverpool that iffy early penalty because he was blinded by a shiny timepiece worn on the bench.

If anything though it shows Lloris' frustration, and in turn Mauricio Pochettino's, as the Frenchman was considered practically part of the Argentine's coaching staff, at the inability of the club to take the next step.

Tottenham's time under Daniel Levy and the current ownership model has brought huge improvements off the pitch, but just that one League Cup to show for it on the pitch. It's not just about trophies though, which are difficult to guarantee, but the lack of challenging at the top of the table over the decades.

Managers over the years have spoken of the club not going the extra mile when it came to securing top transfer targets and instead fitting their profile of building stars rather than buying them.

That only worked once so far under Pochettino in getting them close, but when it came to pushing on, that extra shove was conspicuous by its absence.

Whether that was with the two transfer windows without signings in that season Spurs reached the Champions League final after having challenged for the Premier League title in the one before, or whether it was finally spending some money after the stadium opened only to sign second or third choice targets, who ended up becoming expensive flops.

After Pochettino's exit, the Tottenham model became completely warped, hiring' win now' managers and furnishing them with 'project manager' players. It did not fit and duly failed.

Now in Postecoglou there is a strange balance of trying to do the right thing while also keeping to old ways.

For instance, signing a big new ready-made striker he wanted this summer in the £65million Solanke - the most expensive signing in the Premier League - but spending the rest of the money on teenagers.

Spurs have spent plenty of money over the past three transfer windows, but the signings - as exciting as the young players are - feel more like smart investments than the rocket fuel the club needs.

So while Lloris' watch story is more of a visual aid than one that proves as much as it thinks it does, it is the rest of the extract that gives more insight into a club that has high expectations for the present yet seems always focused on the future.

Levy's search for new investment to ensure further spending on the team could end up transforming how Tottenham operate and in the mean time they will have to rely on Postecoglou to do what Pochettino did and make them challengers with a young talented squad playing with a strong identity.

Lloris' gripes are understandable if you put aside the free expensive watches and backing he got from the club throughout his own difficult times on and off the pitch. That Spurs group in Pochettino's peak years will always feel the pain of coming so close and not being able to push on and the rest of his book could provide more interesting insight.

Postecoglou had his say on the extract on Friday after jetting back to the UK for another press conference.

"I haven’t read what Hugo’s said, it’s been mentioned to me. I think with these things you’ve got to put context around them and understand the broader view and that could have been a very successful period for the club," he said.

"They came very, very close. You’re talking about finishing runners-up in the Premier League and runners-up in the Champions League. It could have been a very different era and maybe in retrospect you'd be looking at those things.

"It’s easy to focus on the negatives when the outcome is not what you want but there’s obviously a lot right at the time, from my perspective I’ve never allowed anyone else to dictate my ambitions, my aims, or what I try and do with everyone around me is you don’t put a limit on what you can achieve because if you do you potentially might miss something that comes along your way.

"From the moment I started there has been a pretty clear brief about what we want to achieve. That’s kind of what we’re working towards."

That challenge now lies with Postecoglou and time will tell whether he can cross the line after so many of his dispensable predecessors tumbled short and whether the club around him will hold off on the watch engraving and instead dare to do.

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