Turkey and England are not in the same league for now
by Arda Alan Işık
ISTANBULMay 24, 2016 - 12:00 am GMT+3
by Arda Alan Işık
May 24, 2016 12:00 am
Turkey finally scored their first goal against England on Sunday night, after 10 games and 31 years. It was an important psychological barrier; the Turkish national team assured themselves that they can score against any team regardless of their power. Nevertheless, the team's physical condition was clearly insufficient and the English players were considerably fitter, stronger and faster than the Turkish players. Thus, the national team never gained control of the game and merely responded to England's style.
First of all, England's coach Roy Hodgson has a very athletic squad, where almost every player can pose a danger if they have enough space and time. Added to that, he has the best strikers in the Premier League, Jamie Vardy and Harry Kane, who are great in swift counter-attacks. However, England still struggle between their traditional style and modern football, given Roy Hodgson implements both of them in a pragmatic sense. But at least the English national team is physically ready, they press their opponents in their half and patiently circulate the ball, which are the basic requirements of modern football. Turkey, on the other hand, are a more complex case compared to England. Coach Fatih Terim's players are obviously tired, too slow and weak for EURO 2016 and dangerous opponents. The team first has to make sure that they will be able to compete physically with the top teams in Europe otherwise all strategies and tactics will be irrelevant and unimportant. But what is also important here is that Terim should not cross the physical limits of his players and let the crisis in 2008 happen again, where almost all the players were injured because of the intense training regime before the tournament.
Furthermore, Fatih Terim also has to make sure that his team will have a better plan than sitting deep in defense, preventing the opponent from playing football. As modern football demands, Turkey needs to do pressing in the opponent's half and should not let their opponent get to the Turkish penalty box without resistance. Strong European teams have enough offensive creativity to punish opponents who leave enough space and time for them and Turkey should not be one of them. Fatih Terim's strategy, which is to create quick counters and to catch the opponent off-guard, cannot be successful without a decent pressing game. Considering Terim's style, the right way to do it would be doing shock presses with three or four men in the opponent's half, and reinforcing this press with a slightly forward defensive position. This will not only lead to lethal counters given intercepting the ball in the opponents half would be easier, but also decrease the opponent's offensive power by keeping them at bay. On the bright side, Terim's decision to give the keys to the attack to Oğuzhan Özyakup was right, given the young playmaker organized some dangerous attacks against England. Nevertheless, without creating the sufficient habitat for decent attacks, no one can be sure that Turkey can consistently score in the tournament. This game should be a warning for Terim and his players, they were clearly not good enough to be confident of success in the summer.
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