Ben Davies has called on his Tottenham team-mates to rally after their Europa League heartbreak at Galatasaray, urging them to clinch a victory against Ipswich following a 3-2 midweek defeat.
Despite a valiant effort from 10-man Spurs in the second half, their first-half blunders led to them conceding three goals and after they were further hampered by Will Lankshear's red card, a goal from substitute Dominic Solanke was not enough to secure a draw.
The absence of key defenders Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero at Rams Park compounded their woes, with Romero potentially rejoining the team for Sunday’s match with Ipswich.
Nonetheless, Davies is prepared to step up. Reflecting on the game, Davies admitted: "A tough one. I think we were the masters of our downfall in that first half and left ourselves a little bit too much to do in the second.
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"It was something we definitely needed to handle better in the first half because I am sure if we look back on the video and take the atmosphere out of it, there was space to play. We just need to be a lot better on the ball."
Looking ahead, Davies highlighted the importance of the weekend's match: "It’s another big game for us (against Ipswich). It would be nice if we could go into the international break with three more points on the board. That’s the hope."
Despite facing a one-match ban in Europe, Lankshear will be available for Sunday’s home fixture. Davies assured that the team would support the 19-year-old, who scored his first Tottenham goal after 18 minutes but was given two yellow cards in quick succession after half-time.
"Unfortunately for Will it is tough and these things happen but he’ll learn from that. He’s pretty devastated in there but it’s up to us to help him through it now," Davies insisted. Galatasaray’s victory was driven by a two-goal performance from Victor Osimhen.
This was Galatasaray’s first match since Jose Mourinho launched a scathing attack on Turkish football and the "system" his Fenerbahce team are allegedly fighting against.
Galatasaray boss Okan Buruk refuted Mourinho’s claims and Osimhen asserted that the Super Lig champions believe they can go all the way in the Europa League.
Osimhen stated: "This is a big win for us and I think we have the squad to go further and of course try to win the Europa League, but it’s not going to be easy.
"We have also a lot of obstacles and a lot of good teams we are going to face, but we will be prepared for any of them."
