Not so fast, Mr Kartal
Do you remember what Fenerbahçe coach İsmail Kartal said when they beat Galatasaray last week? He said, "Fenerbahçe is the best team in the league and whoever rejects that is just malevolent." Furthermore, he claimed that the only thing that Fenerbahçe needs is luck. Nevertheless, Gençlerbirliği showed us Fenerbahçe lack plenty of things, but not luck. After consecutive bad performances, it is obvious that Fenerbahçe have many strategic and tactical problems, and that Kartal incorrectly analyzed the Galatasaray derby and is blind to the truth. The derby had a unique atmosphere and style of play, thus it would be illogical to try to derive a decisive analysis from it. So, I wrote last week that "It will not be a surprise if Fenerbahçe lose next week" and it happened. Gençlerbirliği, which economically represents a different, effective management style in Turkish football, beat Fenerbahçe without difficulty.
First, if you carefully examine Gençlerbirliği, you will see this was no surprise at all. Mesut Bakkal is one of the most traditional coaches in Turkish football and he asks his team to play a simple, traditional counter-attacking game. Moestafa El-Kabir and Guy-Michel Landel, two fast runners, marauded down the wings, completely engaging and defanging Fenerbahçe's wing backs Gökhan Gönül and Caner Erkin. The two playmakers, Radosav Petrovic and Alexander Hleb, found a lot of empty space that was left from the stretched Fenerbahçe defence. Thus, as we saw in the first goal, Gençlerbirliği found many opportunities and Petrovic made one of them count. Of course, they could have found much more than that, if Bakkal had not positioned his defense so far away from the offensive players in order to mark "dangerous" Fenerbahçe strikers.
However, I want to put Radosav Petrovic in a different position than his team-mates. Since his coach, Mesut Bakkal, does not ask his players to employ a pass circulation model, Petrovic is the guy that makes the game flow into the opponent's half. He observes his position before the ball comes to him and then he gives the ball to the right player and does it quickly, most of the time. Added to that, he showed us again on Sunday night that his shooting skills are also remarkable.
However, on the other side, Fenerbahçe and İsmail Kartal, who broadly has the same football mentality as Mesut Bakkal, just could not manage to open Gençlerbirliği's defence in 90 minutes. Emmanuel Emenike, Moussa Sow, Dirk Kuyt and co. are all capable of doing what El Kabir, Landel or Petrovic do. Nonetheless, their performance was not even close to their Gençlerbirliği counterparts. Was that their fault? No, it was their coach who could not utilize them properly. Kartal looks to have his offensive players improvise with their individual skills rather than employ them in a role among a collective organization. Moussa Sow and Dirk Kuyt are players that can be effective in a game that is mostly being played in the opponent's half and especially in the opponent's penalty box. On the other hand, Emmanuel Emenike is lethal when he has plenty of time and space, in other words, when you play a counter-attacking game. Thus, it is awkward to expect these two distinct mentalities to work together, especially if you just let your players play in their own way. Secondly, this game was a great example of what happens when Caner Erkin, Fenerbahçe's main playmaker, is stuck in defense. It is not his fault though, seeing as Emre Belözoğlu cannot organize his team. Fenerbahçe has to find a way to relieve the pressure on Caner Erkin. Next week against Beşiktaş, another dangerous winger, Gökhan Töre, will be his opponent and if he cannot participate in the attack, Fenerbahçe might have a difficult night. However, the mere existence of Alper Topuk might be enough to deal with this situation. Nevertheless, these suggestions are only valid if we accept that there is no hope for a collective and sustainable strategy for Fenerbahçe. Of course, the best solution for these problems would be systematic approach to Fenerbahçe's game from İsmail Kartal.
Keeper Review:
Although, I was right about my assumptions about Fenerbahçe's performance this week, Volkan Demirel deeply disappointed me. He could not do anything in the first goal, but the second goal was a total disaster. First of all, he should have not tried to catch that ball and secondly, if he tried, he should have chased it until the end. Nevertheless, Volkan was a mess on that position.
First, if you carefully examine Gençlerbirliği, you will see this was no surprise at all. Mesut Bakkal is one of the most traditional coaches in Turkish football and he asks his team to play a simple, traditional counter-attacking game. Moestafa El-Kabir and Guy-Michel Landel, two fast runners, marauded down the wings, completely engaging and defanging Fenerbahçe's wing backs Gökhan Gönül and Caner Erkin. The two playmakers, Radosav Petrovic and Alexander Hleb, found a lot of empty space that was left from the stretched Fenerbahçe defence. Thus, as we saw in the first goal, Gençlerbirliği found many opportunities and Petrovic made one of them count. Of course, they could have found much more than that, if Bakkal had not positioned his defense so far away from the offensive players in order to mark "dangerous" Fenerbahçe strikers.
However, I want to put Radosav Petrovic in a different position than his team-mates. Since his coach, Mesut Bakkal, does not ask his players to employ a pass circulation model, Petrovic is the guy that makes the game flow into the opponent's half. He observes his position before the ball comes to him and then he gives the ball to the right player and does it quickly, most of the time. Added to that, he showed us again on Sunday night that his shooting skills are also remarkable.
However, on the other side, Fenerbahçe and İsmail Kartal, who broadly has the same football mentality as Mesut Bakkal, just could not manage to open Gençlerbirliği's defence in 90 minutes. Emmanuel Emenike, Moussa Sow, Dirk Kuyt and co. are all capable of doing what El Kabir, Landel or Petrovic do. Nonetheless, their performance was not even close to their Gençlerbirliği counterparts. Was that their fault? No, it was their coach who could not utilize them properly. Kartal looks to have his offensive players improvise with their individual skills rather than employ them in a role among a collective organization. Moussa Sow and Dirk Kuyt are players that can be effective in a game that is mostly being played in the opponent's half and especially in the opponent's penalty box. On the other hand, Emmanuel Emenike is lethal when he has plenty of time and space, in other words, when you play a counter-attacking game. Thus, it is awkward to expect these two distinct mentalities to work together, especially if you just let your players play in their own way. Secondly, this game was a great example of what happens when Caner Erkin, Fenerbahçe's main playmaker, is stuck in defense. It is not his fault though, seeing as Emre Belözoğlu cannot organize his team. Fenerbahçe has to find a way to relieve the pressure on Caner Erkin. Next week against Beşiktaş, another dangerous winger, Gökhan Töre, will be his opponent and if he cannot participate in the attack, Fenerbahçe might have a difficult night. However, the mere existence of Alper Topuk might be enough to deal with this situation. Nevertheless, these suggestions are only valid if we accept that there is no hope for a collective and sustainable strategy for Fenerbahçe. Of course, the best solution for these problems would be systematic approach to Fenerbahçe's game from İsmail Kartal.
Keeper Review:
Although, I was right about my assumptions about Fenerbahçe's performance this week, Volkan Demirel deeply disappointed me. He could not do anything in the first goal, but the second goal was a total disaster. First of all, he should have not tried to catch that ball and secondly, if he tried, he should have chased it until the end. Nevertheless, Volkan was a mess on that position.
Last Update: March 16, 2015 20:54