For the Turkish national football team, nothing has improved over the last 6 months. The World Cup qualifiers group consists of six teams on paper, but in terms of strategy, it is divided into two groups of three teams each. This is a mini-tournament where the competing trio (Turkey, Netherlands, and Norway) should not lose points to the remaining trio.
Until Wednesday, Turkey was the only team from the competitive group to have lost points against one of the weaker teams, Latvia. It then lost two crucial points against Montenegro. Now, the team will have to make up for the four points against the Netherlands and Norway, which will not be an easy task.
Montenegro may not be as weak as Gibraltar or Latvia, but its entire squad is valued half of Hakan Çalhanoğlu's market price! In its starting 11, there were only two players, Stefan Savic and Adam Marusic, who play in one of Europe’s five major leagues. Their star player Stevan Jovetic was also out injured. In comparison, nine of Turkey’s 11 players play in the five major leagues.
Furthermore, Montenegro has an older squad. On Wednesday, it fielded five players over the age of 30. Turkey, in contrast, has a very young and dynamic team, with only one player over 27, its 36-year-old captain Burak Yılmaz.
It is strange that despite having a much better and younger squad, Turkey and especially Şenol Güneş managed to waste a two-goal lead.
In fact, in the first half, Turkey battered Montenegro’s old defense with wing attacks led by Cengiz Ünder.
Turkey's strategy of moving the game to the lines with long passes from the center and from there to the penalty box was somewhat effective. I think Güneş could have deployed Kerem Aktürkoğlu on the left, in a similar fashion to Ünder on the right. However, Güneş’s decision to pick Kenan Karaman condemned Turkey to a single wing.
Simple defensive mistakes were also commonplace. Turkey's defense, which is the best part of the team in terms of individual quality, was made up of players yet to feature for their clubs this season. Two full backs Zeki Çelik and Mert Müldür and the defensive midfielder Okay Yokuşlu have played a single match in their leagues this season. Central defender Kaan Ayhan has played only one minute, while his partner Merih Demiral played only a single game for his new team. Their lack of regular game time has significantly increased Turkey's simple mistakes.
At this point, Güneş offers little hope with his narrow 22-man squad, conservatism with the starting 11, and his handling of the national team in general without any proper long-term strategy.
