Postecoglou praises Tottenham duo Gray and Lankshear after Galatasaray loss
Tottenham Hotspur suffered their first defeat of the Europa League season as Galatasaray took all three points off them at the RAMS Arena on Thursday’s matchday four fixture. A number of injuries forced Ange Postecoglou to rotate his squad in several departments and in spite of their reduced strength, it is fair to say that the Lilywhites gave their opponents a tough fight.
The younger players showed particular tenacity across the pitch. Ange Postecoglou was asked about the lesser used bunch in his interaction with the media after the game and the Australian took out some time to give his verdict on Will Lankshear and Archie Gray as well. He was quoted saying the following by The Standard.
“Will took his goal well, he worked hard for the team. The red card, it was a bit of overenthusiasm in that moment to give away a foul. I thought Archie was great. It was a tough game for us defensively at different times but I think we’ll get so much growth out of him because he’s not playing in his position. I think they’ll learn a lot from it and hopefully it helps with their development.”
Lankshear opened Tottenham’s account on Thursday evening as some neat work by Archie Gray and then Brennan Johnson gave the team its equaliser having trailed just eight minutes into the match. In his first meaningful role this season, 19-year-old proved that he can be a reliable back-up for Dominic Solanke as he was able to get into dangerous positions and was proactive towards his defensive commitments when Spurs were without possession.
Having said that, Lankshear’s red card can be forgiven given the physical nature of the match against Galatasaray. As Postecoglou rightly pointed out, his action leading to the sending off was mainly due to a lack of experience in those kind of situations as opposed to any malicious intent on his opponent.
Gray, meanwhile, has been on the scene for a bit longer than his compatriot although every single one of his appearance so far has been on the right side. Admittedly, Pedro Porro is the better right back but given his experience, one could argue that Postecoglou might have chosen him to play on the left side as opposed to Gray, who is still settling into the thick of first-team action.
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In spite of their defeat to Galatasaray, Tottenham remain in a strong position in the Europa League standings with passage very much looking likely to the next round and so it will be interesting to see what Archie Gray and Will Lankshear make of their chances going forward.
