Postecoglou criticises Spurs players after defeat to Galatasaray

Ange Postecoglou criticised his Spurs players for their carelessness with the ball after they were beaten 3-2 in Istanbul by Galatasaray in the Europa League.

Postecoglou’s side were fortunate not to be on the end of a heavier defeat, facing 28 shots and several big opportunities in the game aside from the three goals the home side scored.

Will Lankshear had equalised following Yunus Akgun’s opener, before Victor Osimhen scored twice to make it 3-1.

Youngster Lankshear was later sent off for a second bookable offence but Dominic Solanke pulled one back to give Tottenham some hope, but Postecoglou admits his side were far from good enough in the defeat.

“I just felt it was self-inflicted,” he said. 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.

“Individuals within that needed that 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.”