Galatasaray 3-2 Spurs: A mixed night for Lankshear as Maddison and Dragusin struggle

The injury-plagued Spurs had to make numerous changes ahead of their Europa League game against Galatasaray and at times appeared to be expecting a heavy defeat.

The hosts missed a number of chances, many of which came to their advantage due to Spurs' sloppy passing.

A bright spark came from youngster Will Lankshear, who scored his first senior goal for the club… and subsequently received his first red card for the senior team.

It was only when more regular first team players joined in the second half that Spurs were able to really find their footing and in the end it was the Turkish side who held on as Ange Postecoglou's team sought an unlikely equaliser.

The athleteJay Harris addresses some of the key talking points…

A mixed evening for Lankshear

Richarlison's latest injury is a huge blow for Postecoglou, who was finally able to have two experienced strikers in his squad. The Brazilian's assist for Dominic Solanke in Sunday's 4-1 win over Aston Villa is a prime example of what they are capable of when playing together.

This latest setback should provide further opportunities for the 19-year-old Lankshear, and his first goal for Spurs at senior level was one of the few bright spots to emerge from a difficult first hour in Istanbul – a spell that ended with a sending off for two Yellow ended card offenses. This was only Lankshear's second senior start, having almost scored in his first against Ferencvaros, only to miss a cross from Timo Werner.

Lankshear's greatest asset is his mobility and he always finds a way to shake off defenders to sneak into good positions. That's exactly what happened with Tottenham's equalizer, as he effortlessly evaded Abdulkerim Bardakci and volleyed Brennan Johnson's cross home. To make things even sweeter, he celebrated right in front of the boisterous Galatsaray home fans.

The youngster struggled for the rest of the evening – but that's not his fault, but the fact that Spurs' midfield failed to support him, particularly in the first half. Lankshear faced three center backs and needed players who could get away from him.

Perhaps it shouldn't have been a surprise that he was sent off. Full of adrenaline but also frustrated by his team's poor performance, Lankshear was booked twice in seven minutes.

The striker's memories of that game will be decidedly bittersweet, but there were certainly some glimpses of what he could offer in the future.

(Ahmad Mora/Getty Images)

Dragusin doesn't look like a capable deputy yet…

A few weeks ago Postecoglou said that no one was guaranteed a place in his starting XI, but it's fair to say that Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero are his preferred centre-back partnership. With both players out injured, this was an opportunity for Radu Dragusin to stake his claim for more minutes of action in the Premier League. He has made just 12 top-flight appearances since joining Spurs from Genoa for £30 million ($39 million) almost a year ago.

The 22-year-old dealt well with the threat of Ollie Watkins and Jhon Duran against Aston Villa on Sunday, but struggled against Victor Osimhen, who is admittedly one of the best strikers in the world.

For Osimhen's first goal, the striker slipped far too easily between Dragusin and Pedro Porro. And on Osimhen's second shot, Dragusin took a heavy touch of the ball under pressure and lost the ball in the build-up.

This is one of the most concerning issues with Dragusin. Postecoglou needs his defenders to be calm and composed on the ball, but the way Dragusin threw the ball away felt similar to when he was sent off against Qarabag after seven minutes. There was another moment in the first half when his under-hit pass to Johnson led to Fraser Forster Osimhen's save from close range.

Playing alongside Ben Davies – who isn't a natural centre-back – probably didn't help the Romania international, but it wasn't a performance that will have fans rejoicing at the prospect of Van de Ven and Romero being sidelined long-term.

Maddison leaves no trace

This time, James Maddison was Spurs' creative fulcrum under Postecoglou a year ago, but this season the spotlight has been stolen from him by Dejan Kulusevski. Maddison did not feature in last week's Carabao Cup win over Manchester City and was only substituted for the final ten minutes of the 4-1 win over Aston Villa.

He was expected to provide creativity alongside Lucas Bergvall against Galatasaray, but both struggled. In the opening minutes, Lankshear tried to play a quick one-two with Maddison, but his more experienced teammate stopped running. Postecoglou was furious on the touchline and made his feelings towards Maddison clear.

(Ahmad Mora/Getty Images)

Bergvall was denied the ball too easily throughout, and Postecoglou spoke afterwards about how it was a valuable lesson for the 18-year-old, who may have simply had a better understanding of what was required to compete at the highest level. Yves Bissouma was the only midfielder in the starting XI to make a name for himself as he constantly demanded the ball and made some crucial interceptions.

Maddison was moved to the left wing in the second half but was ineffective. Here's everything you need to know about Tottenham's first-half performance: They looked much better after the break with the introduction of Kulusevski, Rodrigo Bentancur, Pape Matar Sarr and Dominic Solanke, although Spurs were reduced to ten men by then had been.

Postecoglou said their problems in the first half were “self-inflicted” and they needed to keep the ball better.

After being left out of England's European Championship squad in the summer, this was set to be a big season for Maddison. There were some promising moments, but this performance underlines his struggle for consistency.

What did Ange Postecoglou say after the game?

“Of course this is a disappointing result. The first half wasn't great; We just didn't handle things well, especially with the ball, we were just very wasteful and gave it away far too often, which was unnecessary. This allows them to gain a foothold in the areas they are good at.

“They have some good players in the front third and we just let that happen far too often and ended up paying a price for it because I thought we always finished strong and I knew we would do the same in the second half.

“Reducing it to 10 men didn't help – but even with 10 men I thought we probably played the best football we've played in all the games and scored our second goal, had a few opportunities to score a third there score, but I thought we were looking for the better side.

“Unfortunately a disappointing result, caused by a disappointing first half.”

(Top photo: Burak Kara/Getty Images)