2002-2003 1.Süper Lig

Week 10 - Analysis by Serbülent Şengün

"The Ballet" - from Samsunspor-Denizli game

The week started off with a devastating loss of Galatasaray against Club Brugge on Wednesday. The Belgian side crushed Galatasaray with three on the score table and many on the missed chances notebook. This week’s game against Lokomotiv Moscow is of crucial importance in Galatasaray’s campaign in the UCL. If they can not manage to win all the three points, qualification to the second round will be incredibly difficult.

The regular league fixtures started on Friday with Beşiktaş hosting Malatyaspor. This week like some previous ones, the amount of energy on the fields showed no parallelism with the amount of goals scored. A total of 17 goals were scored in total, of which 6 were by the visiting teams and 11 were from the home sides. 3 games were won by the home sides, 2 games were won by the visitors and 4 games were tied. Diyarbakırspor and Kocaelispor who had no wins in the first nine weeks got their first three points this weekend.

Games :

Beşiktaş – Malatyaspor : Beşiktaş with their increasing form look like they are the biggest candidate to end the first half of the season as league leaders. Every week the team work seems to get better, and with the deadly attack force they posses nobody is spared. Malatyaspor who has been a great attacking oriented team in the first nine weeks, stepped up on the field with no doubts. They wanted to play their kind of ball game. So the game yielded some good football, with both sides contesting to score. However it was the home side that managed to score. With two late first half goals they controlled the rest of the game. A penalty goal in the last ten minutes sealed things off for Beşiktaş. Good game for football fans. (3-0)

İstanbulspor – Trabzonspor : Trabzonspor is getting better every week, whereas İstanbulspor is continuing to play their continental defending game but the aged defensive players are not keeping up with the rest of the team, and they are having a difficult time. The first half of the game Trabzonspor dominated the field. Scored two organized goals, then İstanbulspor answered back with one. However Trabzonspor did not leave things to chance as they took control once again. Trabzonspor’s Aurelio who has been playing great the past couple of weeks were once again in charge, ironically however he missed a penalty shot in the second half. Overall the Trabzon side is getting better every week and if they can keep their consistency, they are a top three candidate. (1-2)

Altay - Galatasaray : Things do not look good for the league leaders, however they find a way to win afterall. Altay on the other hand has lost their fourth consecutive game. The İzmir side’s economic turbulence and management crisis obviously is effecting the youngsters on the field. However they keep on playing with dignity. Galatasaray’s defense showed lack of progress, and they look extremely vulnerable to long balls from the midfield. A problem that caused them the Club Brugge game. Altay’s U-21 starlet Sinan also caused tons of problems for them, with his accelerating dribbles on the left flank. Overall the leaders won once again, but if this performance continues, a defeat looks inevitable in the coming weeks. (1-2)

Kocaelispor – Ankaragücü: At last, three points for Kocaelispor. With a new head coach on the bench, the Kocaeli side needed something like this to start rebuilding their confidence, which has definitely been crushed in the last nine weeks. Ankaragücü on the other side, showed the typical characteristic of Turkish teams, namely inconsistency. Last weeks superior ball movement team was nowhere to be found this week. The home side earned a well deserved victory, and hopefully they will build up on this one. (3-0)

Samsunspor - Denizli : One of the two games that ended without any goals this week. This game however was absolutely boring. Neither team had any intention of doing anything, or so it seemed. Denizli obviously had the UEFA Cup game against Sparta Prague on their mind, but what on earth was Samsunspor thinking? Consider this, the only yellow card came in the 88th minute. In the end there was nothing for the fans, no football, no goals, nothing but boredom for their money. (0-0)

Adanaspor - Elazığspor: The second goalless draw of the week, but unlike the other one, one with everything but goal scoring. The goalkeeping on both sides was nothing less than magnificent. And if there is anyone to be blamed for no goals being scored, it is the goalkeepers. Both sides had their chances with Adanaspor getting more both in quantity and quality, but not managed to score. Balls that hit the posts, balls that were cleared on the goal line, balls that were saved.... It is a pity the game ended the way it started. (0-0)

Bursaspor - Gaziantepspor: Once again like last week: “football without fans is absolutely not football”. This time due to Bursaspor’s ban, the game was played in an empty stadium, and this obviously demotivated the players on the pitch. Bursaspor looked a little more eager to do something, but could not manage it. Gaziantepspor, as usual, looked for the counteroffensive but were not very persistent on it. A draw looked like the proper score and so it ended. The score, just like the empty stadium game last week, one for each. (1-1)

Diyarbakırspor – Göztepe: Another first three points of the week goes to Diyarbakırspor. The game had competition from the first minute to the last and this time the home side managed to grab what it had been so eagerly waiting. Saffet, the Diyarbakırspor striker, continued his run of missing incredibly easy goals at this game too. Sometime soon, I’m expecting a hat trick from this veteran former national team forward. But for the time being he looks like he is looking to break the record of goal missing. All in all, Diyarbakırspor deserved the win. (1-0)

Gençlerbirliği – Fenerbahçe: Another up-tempo game, in which no team managed to win. The way the game was played, it looked like anything was possible. Both teams had crowded their offensive line, leaving the midfield quite vacant, which led to easy lay-ups on long balls. Both goals were scored in the first half, and neither team managed to change the score in the second. Both Gençlerbirliği and Fenerbahçe looked like they got their will power back, and both teams should be watched out in the coming weeks. (1-1)

Goals of the week :

It is usually hard to pick three goals in a week with less than 20 goals, but this week it got even worse, as the goals scored were not spectacular in any sense but more goals of team work. There is only two that cought my attention among the seventeen.
1. İlhan (Beşiktaş) : A goal in which three passes within ten seconds left the whole Malatyaspor defense helpless and put İlhan in front of the empty net. Superior teamwork.
2. Alexandrov (Kocaelispor) : A looping header from Alexandrov with his back against the goal heading the ball after a right wing cross. Great timing and a great finishing to open the doors for the first win of his team.

Team of the week : Kocaelispor K İzmit

This team looked so desperate in the previous weeks, but this week something had bitterly changed. The energy of Volkan combined with the technical superiority of Lazarov in the midfield, and that coupled up with the finishing of Alexandrov gave the Kocaelispor fans good moments of football. Just a reminder Ankaragücü, last week played the best football of the week, and Kocaelispor's football on the field just finished the in-form Ankara side.

Player of the week : Aurelio (Trabzonspor)

Trabzonspor is getting better every week, and one of the key men behind this on the pitch is the Brazilian Marco Aurelio. His vision on the pitch is not only essential for his team but also lethal for the opponents. His passing, his organizing abilities has helped his team turn out to be one of the most consistent system teams in the league. And oh yes, by the way the guy missed a penalty. So? Pleasure to watch, and I would assume pleasure to play with.