Tottenham Hotspur’s performance against Galatasaray in the Europa League last night might just have been their strangest of the season so far.
We say strange, as for moments here and there, especially once Dominic Solanke had been introduced in the second half, they looked quite dangerous, but for most of the game, the North Londoners were dismal.
There was a positive in the fact that Will Lankshear scored his first goal in Spurs colours but his red card ultimately meant it was a rather sour evening not just for the club but the young striker, in particular.
Ange Postecoglou’s side were wasteful in attack and utterly hopeless at the back, and while there were several genuinely dire performances on the night, two of the worst came at the back, between Radu Dragusin and Ben Davies.
Dragusin & Davies' performance in numbers
Playing Galatasaray away from home in European competition will always be exceedingly tricky.
The atmosphere will be fierce, and the fans will be on you from minute one, so visiting defenders must remain composed and do the basics right, which is the complete opposite of what Davies and Dragusin did.
The latter was crashing into the back of the attackers, constantly out of position, a constant source of problems his teammates had to deal with and was directly responsible for Victor Osimhen’s goal as he gifted the Nigerian the ball with a dreadful touch.
Davies was only marginally better than his Romanian teammate as he seemed less intent on getting himself sent off, but like the former Genoa ace, he too was easily bypassed by the Turkish giants with seemingly every attack, and was at least partially to blame for their second goal, as his pass to Bucharest-born defender was poorly timed.
This might all sound quite harsh, but it’s an opinion shared by the press, as the Express’ Sam Smith awarded Dragusin just a 3/10 on the night, writing that he ‘must just want this Europa League campaign to end’ and gave the Welshman a 4/10.
In short, it was a horror showing from the centre-back pairing, although they weren’t the only ones who seriously let down Postecoglou.
James Maddison's performance in numbers
Yes, it was Spurs’ co-vice-captain, James Maddison, who was one of the other starters who seriously let down the Australian last night, as he put in what might just be his worst performance of the season.
The former Leicester City star failed to make anything positive happen for his side from the middle of the park, and when he was shifted out wide in the second half, he was somehow even more ineffective.
In fact, the only impact the Englishman had on the encounter was consistently giving the ball away in dangerous areas and giving away the free-kick that led to the opening goal.
Minutes
66
Expected Assists
0.01
Crosses (Accurate)
1 (0)
Long Balls (Accurate)
1 (0)
Shots
0
Dribbles (Successful)
4 (1)
Ground Duels (Successful)
12 (6)
Lost Possession
11
Dribbled Past
1
Unsurprisingly, the Express’ Smith was equally unimpressed with the Coventry-born star and awarded him just 3/10 on the night, writing that he ‘was wholly anonymous in Turkey’ and that he ‘must step up more often when Spurs’ backs are against the wall.’
This scathing appraisal of the 27-year-old is backed up by his statistics, as in his 66 minutes of action, he produced an expected assists figure of 0.01, misplaced 100% of his crosses and long balls, failed to take a single shot, failed in 75% of his dribbles, lost 50% of his duels, lost the ball 11 times and was dribbled past once as well.
Ultimately, it was a terrible day at the office for Spurs last night, but it’s hard not to look at Dragusin, Davies and Maddison as three of the worst offenders.
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