Inside Futbol

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Galatasaray star Kaan Ayhan has insisted that his side played better than Tottenham Hotspur and consider themselves to be every bit as much favourites in the Europa League as Spurs do.

Spurs made a perfect start to their Europa League campaign as they won their opening three games until they faced Galatasaray in Turkey.

They faced the Cimbom at Rams Park on Thursday night and suffered a 3-2 defeat after Will Lankshear was sent off.

The north Londoners are considered one of the favourites to win the entire Europa League this season and Ayhan also made it clear that his side have the same ambition.

The Cimbom defender stressed they were very comfortably the superior team to Spurs in Turkey.

“We definitely played better than the English team”, Ayhan said via Turkish outlet A Spor after beating Spurs.

“But when it comes to analysis, the last 15 minutes of the match became unnecessarily difficult.

“Just as Tottenham see themselves as Europa League favourites, so do we. So it was good to win.”

The north London side will host Ipswich Town at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this Sunday in the hope of winning back to back Premier League matches.

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Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou believes that teenage forward Will Lankshear will have learnt a lot from his 60 minutes of action against Galatasaray in the Europa League.

In his second outing in the tournament, the 19-year-old scored his first senior goal for the north London side in their 3-2 defeat in Istanbul.

However, Lankshear’s night was soured by a red card that he received on the hour mark, leaving his team with a mountain to climb.

Postecoglou was pleased with what he saw from the young forward and feels Lankshear learnt a lot from just a single game in Istanbul.

“Yes, look Will took his goal well, he worked hard for the team”, Postecoglou said at a press conference.

“Obviously he hasn’t had a lot of experience at senior football so he would have learnt a lot today.

“The red card, it was a bit of overenthusiasm in that moment to give away a foul, but he’ll learn from that.”

Another young player that started the game on the night was Lucas Bergvall.

As far as the 18-year-old was concerned it was about giving him an understanding of the levels of playing in Europe for Postecoglou.

“The same with Lucas here.

“Giving him an understanding of the levels here.

“It is not easy when you are playing away in Europe.

“You can only allow them to learn that by exposing them to it.”

The loss at Galatasaray was Tottenham’s first in the Europa League this season and they will try to bounce back when Roma visit later this month.

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Fixture: Galatasaray vs Tottenham Hotspur

Competition: Europa League

Kick-off: 17:45 UK time

Ange Postecoglou has picked his Tottenham Hotspur team to face Turkish champions Galatasaray in the Europa League this evening.

Spurs have been superb in the Europa League so far, winning all three of their league stage games, and another win tonight would put one foot firmly in the knockout rounds.

Tottenham will also head into the game high on confidence after beating Manchester City and Aston Villa in back to back games.

Opponents Galatasaray are on a run of four consecutive wins and edged out Besiktas 2-1 in their last game.

Fraser Forster is in goal for Spurs tonight, while at the back Postecoglou goes with Pedro Porro, Radu Dragusin, Ben Davies and Archie Gray.

Midfield sees Spurs deploy Lucas Bergvall, Yves Bissouma and James Maddison, while Brennan Johnson, Will Lankshear and Heung-Min Son lead the attacking charge.

Postecoglou has options off the bench if needed, including Dominic Solanke and Destiny Udogie.

Tottenham Hotspur Team vs Galatasaray

Forster, Porro, Dragusin, Davies, Gray, Bergvall, Bissouma, Maddison, Johnson, Lankshear, Son

Substitutes: Vicario, Austin, Udogie, Dorrington, Bentancur, Sarr, Kulusevski, Cassanova, Olusesi, Williams-Barnett, Solanke

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Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou believes that his team will have to work hard defensively to stop a Galatasaray team who are an attacking threat with the players they have in the final third.

An undefeated Tottenham side, currently placed second in the Europa League league phase table, are set to visit Turkey to take on the country’s defending champions on Thursday.

Assessing their opponents for the game, the Tottenham manager insisted that Okan Buruk’s side can be a threat from set pieces and open play given the players they have.

“Yes, they have scored a lot of goals from set pieces. They are a threat”, the Tottenham manager said at a press conference after reaching Istanbul.

“I think they are an attacking threat with the players they have, especially in the front third.

“So again we’re going to have to work hard defensively tomorrow at different times.

“I think you always do when you play away in Europe. We will be ready for that.”

The match will also give Postecoglou the chance to catch up with one of his old players in the form of Davinson Sanchez.

When discussing that meeting, the manager added: “Davinson Sanchez, yes, it will be good to see him again.

“He was at the club when I first arrived.

“Very good professional, always trying very hard.

“Good guy and looking forward to seeing him tomorrow.”

The Turkish champions are also one of teams yet to lose any match in the competition, though they have drawn one of their three games.

Tottenham will hope to carry forward their form from the Aston Villa game at the weekend into the match in Istanbul.

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Tottenham Hotspur are one of the clubs to have started the process of trying to sign a teenage attacker from Argentine powerhouses River Plate.

The Spurs hierarchy backed Ange Postecoglou during the summer transfer window and the Australian swooped to bring in several young talents.

The north London side brought in the likes of Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall and Wilson Odobert, while 18-year-old South Korean attacker Min-hyeok Yang will join the club in January.

The January transfer window is inching closer and the Spurs are set to follow the same transfer approach as they are looking to bring in more highly thought of youngsters.

According to Catalan outlet El Nacional, Spurs are involved in the scrap to sign 16-year-old River Plate talent Felipe Esquivel.

He has not played for the River Plate senior team yet but his performances for Argentina at youth levels so far have European teams excited.

It has been suggested that Barcelona sporting director Deco is already in negotiations with the Argentine outfit as the Spanish giants believe in his potential.

Spurs are also trying to sign him and are joined by a host of other European sides.

The likes of RB Leipzig, PSV Eindhoven, Benfica and FC Porto are in the race for the 16-year-old Argentine.

He is under contract until the end of 2026 and has a €30m release clause in his deal.

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Former Fenerbahce assistant Onder Ozen feels Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou would not turn down the chance to swap Richarlison for any one of two Galatasaray stars.

The north Londoners have won their all three opening Europa League matches and are set to face Galatasaray in Turkey on Thursday night in their next game in the competition.

Heung-min Son’s availability for the match is still not clear and that could could see Richarlison get the vote to play against the Turks.

Ex-Fenerbahce assistant Ozen insisted that the Cimbom are not an inferior side to Spurs and he noted that the bookmakers currently make them the favourites.

And to back that up, he is of the view the Spurs boss would not turn down the chance to have either Victor Osimhen or Mauro Icardi instead of Richarlison.

“When you put the two squads on the same level, Galatasaray is definitely not a team inferior to Tottenham”, Ozen said via Turkish outlet GS Gazete.

“The odds already show Galatasaray as the favourite.

“If you made an offer to Tottenham’s coach Postecoglou to give him Richarlison and take Icardi or Osimhen, he would jump at it.

“If you said, let’s have [Michy] Batshuayi on the bench, he would accept that too.”

Spurs will be looking to continue their flawless run in the Europa League in Turkey against the Super Lig giants at Rams Park.

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Swindon Town boss Ian Holloway has hailed the Tottenham Hotspur Under-21s and insisted that their style of play is inspired by Ange Postecoglou.

On Tuesday night, Spurs Under-21s played Swindon Town in EFL Trophy where they lost the match 2-1 after taking the lead in the first half.

Tyrese Hall scored Tottenham’s goal against the Robins and he is considered a top prospect for the first team in the future.

Holloway did not keep any secrets about Spurs Under-21s’ performance and he admitted that he has not seen such movement from any team before.

Even though he feels the young Spurs side could not do it exactly like Postecoglou’s side, he feels that the youth team’s style of play is definitely coming from the Spurs first team boss.

“I thought it was an excellent game”, Holloway told the Robins’ in-house media after Swindon beat the young Spurs side 2-1 in the EFL Trophy.

“First time I have ever seen movement like that from any side, let alone a Tottenham side.

“Obviously, that is coming from their manager, Ange Postecoglou.

“They did not do it quite like him because they had the right-footer on the left-hand side.”

The Australian has been praised for his high-line fluid style of play and the club are trying to instil his philosophy into the upcoming stars at the north London club.

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Galatasaray legend Gokmen Ozdenak has admitted that he does not have much confidence in his former side being able to turn over Tottenham Hotspur.

Spurs have had a mixed start to their Premier League campaign as they are sitting seventh in the table after ten games, but they have started their Europa League journey flawlessly.

Ange Postecoglou’s side have won all three Europa League games so far and next, they are set to play Turkish giants Galatasaray on Thursday.

The Cimbom are currently sitting at the top of the Turkish league and they are yet to be beaten in Europe after three games.

Ex-Cimbom star Ozdenak, though, feels the north Londoners are too strong for Galatasaray and he admitted that he is not very hopeful about his former side getting a positive result against the Premier League outfit.

“Galatasaray should not underestimate such matches. We already know Tottenham’s strength”, Ozdenak said via Turkish outlet GS Gazete.

“I do not have much hope for Galatasaray, especially in that match.

“They could not recover physically and started to fall out of the game early.

“We saw Galatasaray struggling against Elfsborg.

“If they play like that against Tottenham, it will be a big problem.”

Spurs are coming into the clash on the back of an impressive 4-1 victory over Aston Villa at the weekend before they play the Cimbom at Rams Park.

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One of Tottenham Hotspur’s stars has revealed he is ‘working to be even more devastating’ as he bids to continue to be a difference maker for Ange Postecoglou’s side.

Tottenham built on dumping Manchester City out of the EFL Cup by thumping Aston Villa 4-1 in the Premier League on Sunday.

Postecoglou’s side are hoping to put in a strong tilt at finishing in the top four, but they also have involvement in Europe to think about and Galatasaray away is their next assignment in that arena.

Much of Spurs’ good form this term has been powered by attacker Dejan Kulusevski, who has been a consistent difference maker.

The Swede provided two assists against Manchester City and one against Aston Villa, and he wants to continue being in such red hot form.

Kulusevski though feels he can become even better, even more devastating, and is looking to prove the best is yet to come.

“There’s still a long way to go, but I feel like the best is yet to come”, he told Sky Italia.

“There’s still a long way to go, but I feel like the best is yet to come.

“I’m convinced I can do even better than what I’ve shown so far.

“I want to improve in everything and I’m working to be even more devastating and to make the difference in every game.

“The easy ones, the difficult ones, home and away. Always.”

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Oxford United boss Des Buckingham has insisted that Tottenham Hotspur loanee Dane Scarlett just needed time and he feels that the striker has shown that he can perform.

Scarlett is considered a top talent at the north London club but he has not been deemed ready for the first team yet.

Newly promoted Championship side Oxford United have loaned him for a season and recently the hitman has been amongst the goals.

The young striker scored three goals in his last four league games and Buckingham insisted that the Spurs loanee has shown that he can score on a regular basis.

The O’s boss stressed that Scarlett only needed some time to adapt and he feels the 20-year-old has adapted.

“I think it is the same with all young players, they need time to adapt to new environment, which he finds himself in and Dane has certainly done that”, Buckingham told his club’s media about the Spurs loanee.

“Then it is about drip feeding them in game time because it is a high level [competition], on one that he had not played for a while.

“So, we thought we have done that and when he scored his goal, it gave him that bit of confidence to go on and start and to score on his debut.

“Again, which is what he has done then to come on and the impact he had the other day to get his goal, unfortunately, did not result in three points.

“But it was a great moment for him and for us to show that he can and it is not just a one off now.”

Scarlett will be looking to cement a place in the Oxford United team to show his quality to Ange Postecoglou over the rest of the season.