Fenerbahçe could have beaten Krasnodar easily, if they had developed a sophisticated strategy beforehand
by Arda Alan Işık
ISTANBULFeb 25, 2017 - 12:00 am GMT+3
by Arda Alan Işık
Feb 25, 2017 12:00 am
Isn't it strange that a team like Krasnodar conceded no chances to Fenerbahçe in both games of the Europa League last 32? The Russian side lost three crucial players in the winter break, and their coach joined the team after the sixth week of the league; a month after Dick Advocaat became Fenerbahçe's manager. Today, people justify Fenerbahçe's frustrating exit from the Europa League by pointing to their inadequate squad, but is that really the case? If a team like Krasnodar can create a strategy that totally destroyed the strategy of a team like Fenerbahçe, why are they not also affected by the same problem either?
Let me tell you the ugly truth: Almost no Turkish club has the ability to develop their tactical and individual quality, period. All they know how to do is to buy new players and coaches to bring development via importing quality people; however, without learning how to develop quality people here in Turkey, teams like Krasnodar will always surprise Turkish teams.
First of all, those who say Fenerbahçe have an inadequate squad should rethink their way of analyzing strategies because this kind of argument suggests that only by buying the best players for each and every position can you achieve. Nevertheless, what these people ignore in the first place is that football can be played much easier than what individualistic approaches preach every day, which means you do not need to have Leo Messi in your squad to organize brilliant attacking moves, you can do it by organizing your players and creating a sophisticated circulation model. Thus, Fenerbahçe players, regardless of their specific talents, have basic football skills; it is within Advocaat's power and talent to produce a good system.
Secondly, even though you may find my first point far too radical, you have to admit that Fenerbahçe's squad is individually enough to compete for prizes in the Europa League. Robin Van Persie, Jeremain Lens, Moussa Sow, Martin Skrtel and Simon Kjaer are all top quality players that only need a proper way of organizing their collective action to flourish. However, if your most sophisticated plan is to sit deep with six men and to wait for a counter-attack with the other four, you won't win. I must say that this is a pretty old and expired version of counter-attacking. Even Jose Mourinho's Inter in 2010 had a more sophisticated version of counter-attacking where defensive blocks moved collectively and properly. Thus, the tragedy of Fenerbahçe against Krasnodar was not that their opponent had much better players than them, but simply they knew how to create space and time, unlike Fenerbahçe, who collapsed when they had to be creative rather than reactionary.
If I had the squad Advocaat has, the very first thing I would do would be to bring in two completely separated blocks, defense and attack ,together because right now almost every team has solved Fenerbahçe's game, and they cripple it by blocking Fenerbahçe's fast transition game. I would also centralize the game around defensive midfielders Mehmet Topal and Josef de Souza, while assigning more offensive duties to them. And finally, the full backs and the center backs should be a part of the attack because without their presence in midfield, Topal and de Souza have to control a very large portion of the field, which is both strategically and physically illogical. This year seems to be another frustrating one for Fenerbahçe, but it is up to them to turn this into an opportunity to develop. If they can learn how to improve their play without relying on imports, Fenerbahçe can return to the throne.
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