Game expandable
In his latest piece, columnist Mehmet Demirkol argued that Fenerbahçe coach Vitor Pereira (above) lives in an imaginary world. Decrying Pereira's defensive style, Demirkol said: "I think the Portuguese coach thinks that he is in a different league. If I was the chairman, and somehow I knew that he was going to win the Champions League with this game, I would fire him afterwards immediately. No one would watch this football even if he won three Champions Leagues in a row; there is no way to promote this work."
Many of Demirkol's colleagues harshly criticized Vitor Pereira after the humiliating Shakhtar Donetsk games for choosing a brave and aggressive style. Now, they criticize him for obeying their commands, and focusing on defense rather than offense. However, Demirkol has a point; no one would like to watch the present-day Fenerbahçe, maybe except for Turkish commentator Ömer Üründül. But what Demirkol misses is that chairman Aziz Yıldırım and all the executives who invested money in new and expensive transfers expect good results, not a good game with bad scores. If I was the chairman, I also would not tolerate this game for a second, but seeing as this was not Pereira's original plan, someone must have ordered him to use this style in order to protect their investment.
Milliyet columnist Uğur Meleke compared Fenerbahçe coach Pereira and Galatasaray coach Hamza Hamzaoğlu's performances, saying: "I guess Hamzaoğlu's biggest difference from Pereira is that he never gets satisfied with 1-0. Even though the Galatasaray coach sometimes insists on playing some players and chooses the wrong squads, he always seeks more offensive power."
The most recent counter-example of this argument was the Fenerbahçe-Galatasaray game last week. The team played a pure defensive game and got a lucky goal in the final minutes. Added to that, since Hamza Hamzaoğlu took charge, Galatasaray have shifted toward a more chaotic style of play in order to destroy what was left over from Italian coach Cesare Prandelli's system. Therefore Meleke could be right about durability, given the team's physicality and defensive priorities, but Hamzaoğlu has never implemented a good formation. In fact, he deliberately choses this chaotic game, because it is much easier to implement individual-based strategies.
Both Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray represent the most pragmatic and least enjoyable aspects of Turkish football at the moment. In the long run, the other big gun in town, Beşiktaş, will determine the fate for both Fener and Cimbom. If Beşiktaş and coach Şenol Güneş can manage to maintain their performance until the second half of the season, their rivals will understand that regarding the game as expandable was a huge mistake.
Keeper Review:
I suggested this theory before, and I will suggest it again: Eskişehirspor's goalkeeper Ruud Boffin must have been forced to be a goalkeeper in his childhood because of his height. Otherwise, there is no explanation for his incomprehensible decisions and awful reactions. First of all, he is definitely not working well in training because he sometimes barely throws himself at the ball. Secondly, his positioning and diving technique are horrible. Sometimes there are miles between him and the ball when he makes the jump. However, I guess Eskişehirspor do not have any other goalkeeper to replace Boffin, because the time has already came for him.
Many of Demirkol's colleagues harshly criticized Vitor Pereira after the humiliating Shakhtar Donetsk games for choosing a brave and aggressive style. Now, they criticize him for obeying their commands, and focusing on defense rather than offense. However, Demirkol has a point; no one would like to watch the present-day Fenerbahçe, maybe except for Turkish commentator Ömer Üründül. But what Demirkol misses is that chairman Aziz Yıldırım and all the executives who invested money in new and expensive transfers expect good results, not a good game with bad scores. If I was the chairman, I also would not tolerate this game for a second, but seeing as this was not Pereira's original plan, someone must have ordered him to use this style in order to protect their investment.
Milliyet columnist Uğur Meleke compared Fenerbahçe coach Pereira and Galatasaray coach Hamza Hamzaoğlu's performances, saying: "I guess Hamzaoğlu's biggest difference from Pereira is that he never gets satisfied with 1-0. Even though the Galatasaray coach sometimes insists on playing some players and chooses the wrong squads, he always seeks more offensive power."
The most recent counter-example of this argument was the Fenerbahçe-Galatasaray game last week. The team played a pure defensive game and got a lucky goal in the final minutes. Added to that, since Hamza Hamzaoğlu took charge, Galatasaray have shifted toward a more chaotic style of play in order to destroy what was left over from Italian coach Cesare Prandelli's system. Therefore Meleke could be right about durability, given the team's physicality and defensive priorities, but Hamzaoğlu has never implemented a good formation. In fact, he deliberately choses this chaotic game, because it is much easier to implement individual-based strategies.
Both Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray represent the most pragmatic and least enjoyable aspects of Turkish football at the moment. In the long run, the other big gun in town, Beşiktaş, will determine the fate for both Fener and Cimbom. If Beşiktaş and coach Şenol Güneş can manage to maintain their performance until the second half of the season, their rivals will understand that regarding the game as expandable was a huge mistake.
Keeper Review:
I suggested this theory before, and I will suggest it again: Eskişehirspor's goalkeeper Ruud Boffin must have been forced to be a goalkeeper in his childhood because of his height. Otherwise, there is no explanation for his incomprehensible decisions and awful reactions. First of all, he is definitely not working well in training because he sometimes barely throws himself at the ball. Secondly, his positioning and diving technique are horrible. Sometimes there are miles between him and the ball when he makes the jump. However, I guess Eskişehirspor do not have any other goalkeeper to replace Boffin, because the time has already came for him.