Tottenham Hotspur made the daunting trip to Turkey to take on Galatasaray in the Europa League, and came away empty-handed as they suffered their first defeat in the competition. Let’s take a look at our player ratings.
Galatasaray 3-2 Tottenham
In a hostile environment at RAMS Park, Tottenham looked nervous and were second best for much of the game.
Ange Postecoglou‘s men went in 3-1 down at half-time, and started the second half by gifting the home side countless chances, but none of them were taken.
Despite being down to ten men after Will Lankshear‘s foolish red card, Spurs got a goal back thanks to Dominic Solanke and the game was well and truly on for the final 20 minutes.
Unfortunately, our player ratings may not be happy reading for some Tottenham players after that 3-2 defeat to Galatasaray.
Tottenham player ratings at full-time vs Galatasaray
Fraser Forster: Made a number of mistakes throughout the game, including an absolute howler when gathering a ball from a set-piece, but he also made a handful of top-quality saves to limit the damage, too. 5.
Pedro Porro: No player in the Spurs backline can hold their head high tonight, but Porro at least registered an assist to make his outing somewhat productive. 5.
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Radu Dragusin: An absolute horror show from the Romanian defender, who gave away possession all night through sloppy passes and miskicks. Dragusin could not deal with the Galatasaray attacks and looked like an amateur impersonating a professional footballer at times. 2.
Ben Davies: A fairly steady display from the calm and experienced head of Ben Davies, with some well-timed tackles and composed ball-carrying. 6.
Archie Gray: Another night where the youngster has played out of position and looked completely overawed. Gray looked shaky on the ball, took too long to release the ball in dangerous areas, and was outmuscled numerous times. He did play a big part in the opening goal, though. 5.
Yves Bissouma: Failed to control the midfield areas in the first-half, but did grow into the game and started to show some composure to help Spurs get a handle on things with progressive carries and neat passing through the lines. 6.
James Maddison: Went missing for large portions of the game and never looked like making an impact on the night. 3.
Lucas Bergvall: Looked totally out of his depth in a feisty game. Found himself with the ball in dangerous areas a couple of times, but his reluctance to use his left foot saw those opportunities squandered. 3.
Brennan Johnson: Picked up a nice assist with his cross for Lankshear’s goal. Did very little other than that and was hooked off at half-time. 5.
Heung-min Son: Did not look himself at all, perhaps due to his fitness levels. Was unable to carry the ball with pace and flair like we are used to seeing him do, and was taken off at half-time, most likely to preserve him for the weekend. 5.
Will Lankshear: What could have been a special night for Lankshear, who scored his first senior goal for the club to bring the scores level in the first half, was ruined when the youngster picked up two yellow cards in the second half. 6.
Substitutes
Rodrigo Bentancur: On at half-time for Heung-min Son. Really helped Spurs win the midfield battle and turned the tide in their favour with some neat footwork, but more than anything, Bentancur did the simple things really well. 7.
Dejan Kulusevski: On at half-time for Brennan Johnson. Another player who changed the rhythm of the game, offering his usual intense pressing and clever movement to find pockets of space and cause Galatasaray’s defenders problems. Had a golden opportunity to level the scores in injury time but fluffed it. 7.
Dominic Solanke: Replaced Lucas Bergvall with 25 minutes of normal time to go. Scored almost immediately, with a neat finish to continue his goalscoring form. Changed the game for Tottenham with his hold-up play. 8.