Postecoglou laments first half display as Tottenham are beaten by Galatasaray

Tottenham Hotspur‘s first defeat of the Europa League came against Galatasaray by a 3-2 margin on Thursday evening. After four successive wins in the league phase of the competition, a goal by Yunus Akgun and a brace by Victor Osimhen sank the Lilywhites, who remain in a strong position on the continental stage nonetheless.

Ange Postecoglou spoke to the media after the game and was quizzed regarding his side’s poor display. The manager opined on what cost Spurs the game as Reuters quoted him saying the following.

“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. I think that first half ultimately cost us the game and disappointing for us.”

Tottenham conceded thrice in the first half, including twice in 10 minutes after the half-hour mark to Victor Osimhen. The Nigerian’s quick-fire double eventually put the game past the north Londoners. The team started the second half on the front foot but were handed a backseat just 15 minutes in as Will Lankshear’s red card reduced them to 10 men.

Dominic Solanke came off the bench to score a goal with 20 minutes remaining but the home side held its nerve to pick up its third win of the Europa League. The man advantage obviously worked well in Galatasaray’s favour but their ability to bury chances proved to be the turning point in a match that Spurs could have salvaged a point out of, at the very least.

An amazing period of seven or eight days did not end on the best note for Tottenham as they failed to back up wins against Manchester City and Aston Villa win another difficult one away from home, but they will soon have the opportunity to hit back against Ipswich Town on matchday 11 of the Premier League in Sunday’s clash.

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• Tottenham now in position to hijack Chelsea deal for Serie A ace

Indeed, they will look for three crucial points in the English top flight in their hunt of a top four finish.