At dawn, look to Beşiktaş

Cem Dizdar from Fanatik perfectly sums up the football media's point of view about the Beşiktaş-Trabzonspor game: "Beşiktaş's glorious victory against Mersin İdman Yurdu last week not only heightened the expectations on Beşiktaş, but also forced Trabzonspor coach Shota Arveladze to take precautions. Especially the press that Trabzonspor midfield implemented on Oğuzhan Özyakup and Atiba Hutchinson was a game changer, because they both intercepted the ball in midfield quickly and prevented Beşiktaş from using the wings and thus protected their penalty box. Quick counter-attacks were the main goal for Trabzon and made one of them count in the 53rd minute by Yusuf Erdoğan."

It must be shocking for Beşiktaş fans to see their team praised and criticized so radically in just one week. Seven days ago, Beşiktaş were already declared the team that plays the best football, but now they are only pushing the limits of "tiki taka" according to the media. Nevertheless, the reality is, Beşiktaş played more or less the same game against Trabzonspor and Mersin İdman Yurdu, but they were just more clumsy and unlucky against the Black Sea region team. Şenol Güneş's team was dominant and eager to push the game to the opponent's half, thus in the first half, possession was 83 percent to 17 percent for a while. Therefore, Güneş was basically able to play the game that he wanted to play.

However, Trabzonspor's main strategy was actually as simple as Cem Dizdar explained to us. Some columnists even congratulated coach Shota Arveladze for being able to implement "a strategy" in such short period of time, but just look what Şenol Güneş was able to do in this period of time. Trabzonspor simply covered their penalty box with 10 men and pressed both the middle of the pitch and the wings with at least four men. Thus, Shota Arveladze's only hope was, as actually happened, to use long balls in order to catch Beşiktaş short. They managed to do it, but as the game shows us, Trabzonspor's game was extraordinarily efficient, and Beşiktaş's game was extraordinarily inefficient. Thus, how are Trabzonspor going to build a dominant and self-sufficient game without even possessing the ball? Given that chaotic counter-attacking game plans failed to deliver the success Turkish teams sought in the European arena, is Arveladze's plan to beat some Turkish teams extraordinary?

In conclusion, there is no need to exaggerate this game and its score more than it deserves, just like Beşiktaş's "glorious" victory against Mersin İdman Yurdu. The only thing that matters is the revolutionary strategies of Şenol Güneş, regardless of scores and success because Güneş is trying to open a new page in Turkish football, which was never opened before. Beşiktaş fans need to be patient, the sun will shine.

Keeper Review:

I guess Onur Kıvrak conceded one of the most unfortunate goals in history. Quaresma's luck and the powerful wind left him no chance. On the other hand, Tolga Zengin's positioning was poor for Trabzonspor's second goal. The ball actually went in the same place as where Beşiktaş winger Olcay Şahan hit struck in the opposite goal but Trabzon goalie Onur Kıvrak was equal to it. Onur was in the right position, but Tolga was lost.