Ange Postecoglou insists Tottenham can cope with the intimidating atmosphere in store for them in Thursday’s Europa League clash at Galatasaray.
Postecoglou’s side will be without a host of key players in Turkey including injured forwards Timo Werner, Richarlison, Wilson Odobert and Mikey Moore.
Centre-backs Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero are also sidelined, leaving Postecoglou to field a makeshift team in one of Europe’s most daunting arenas.
Galatasaray’s ferocious support, who memorably welcomed Manchester United in 1993 with a ‘Welcome to Hell’ sign, will pounce on any signs of Tottenham weakness.
But Postecoglou expects his players to handle the occasion.
“I’m sure that they’re all looking forward to it. That’s why you play football,” the Australian told reporters on Wednesday.
“Especially with this generation, a lot of them have experienced what football is like without supporters. You certainly don’t like that when we went through Covid.
“We’re looking forward to it. It’s a fantastic stadium, the supporters create an unbelievable atmosphere here, they love the big European nights.
“They’re a very, very good team. It’s exactly the kind of game you want to be involved in, whether you’re young, you’re old, irrespective of the role you have, you look forward to it.
“Galatasaray at their home stadium, with the fans behind them, there is a great energy in all their games so it’s a great test for us and one we’re looking forward to.”
Tottenham have won nine of their last 11 matches in all competitions, which includes three victories in the Europa League.
Postecoglou has shuffled his pack for each group fixture and plans to do the same again in Istanbul.
“Through the Europa league we’ve rotated the team,” Postecoglou said.
“We are playing three games a week at the moment, have been since the start of the year and we’ve used pretty much all our squad, but that’s worked well because players have come in and been fit.
“We’ll make changes tomorrow night but again it’s about making sure we have a team out there we believe can match the opposition and get a result for us.”
