Ange Postecoglou pinpoints Tottenham's big flaw after Galatasaray stinker

Ange Postecoglou’s reshuffled defence produced an almighty stinker only for Dejan Kulusevski to come desperately close to snatching the unlikeliest of draws.

The Swedish sub sent a 93rd-minute effort wide with Galatasaray stopper Fernando Muslera off his line – after 10-man Spurs were taught a lesson by opponents who could have threatened double figures.

By the end Turkey’s champions racked up an eye-watering 29 attempts. Were it not for their wasteful finishing, Spurs would have left Istanbul a laughing stock.

Victor Osimhen capitalised on repeated needless errors from the north Londoners to score twice in the first half after Yunus Akgun put Galatasaray in front with a stunning half-volley after six minutes.

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And while teenager Will Lankshear equalised with his first senior goal, before being set off in the 60th minute, Postecoglou’s second-string back-line made it clear that they were not up to the task.

This always looked like ’s most difficult assignment and three opening wins offered a degree of flexibility for a squad weakened by injury and illness.

Yet Postecoglou should be gravely concerned by just how naive his players performed from the start. “It was self-inflicted,” Postecoglou said. “The moments that stick out to me was giving the ball away.”

Osimhen might have had a double hat-trick but was denied by Fraser Forster, the offside flag and a couple of uncharacteristic misses. And he was gifted those chances by defending more suited to a local park than a professional match.

Radu Dragusin was particularly culpable having been pressed into coughing up possession for Osimhen’s first strike.

And the Romania centre-back also allowed Osimhen, a transfer target for last summer, to coast past him to make it 3-1 following a silky Dries Mertens delivery.

“In the first half we gave the ball away too much,” Postecoglou added. “We lacked composure and we allowed Galatasaray to get a foothold in the game and we paid the price for that.”

Forster was the sole player to emerge with credit and a double substitution at half-time, including the removal of captain Heung-min Son, failed to halt their hosts’ charge.

Galatasary went on to dominate the opening 15 minutes of the second half and saw a series of glorious opportunities pass them by – including three for Osimhen and another long-range thunderbolt from Akgun that was deflected wide.

At that point it appeared a case of how much the hosts would win by with Lankshear being shown two avoidable yellow cards in seven minutes.

But when Dominic Solanke produced a clever flick home from Pedro Porro’s cross with a little more than 20 remaining, there was a slight and undeserved glimmer of hope.

Galatasaray continued to miss chances before Kulusevski’s long-range attempt drifted wide after Muslera emerged 25 yards off his line to head away a through ball.

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