What happened in Turkish football today? 29/11/2017

Fenerbahce has shown top performance against Adana Demirspor. 

Fenerbahce has carried on trend at Turkish Cup 5th round 1st leg games of big "4" teams of the clubs as it has won against Adana Demirspor where possibly apart of 1st 20 minutes it has dominated game in high level and has shown high level focus at the game.

Even through as it was stated several times during this Turkish Cup 5th round overview and previous at our blog on those days it is hard to put Adana Demirspor as serious opponent to Fenerbahce, to all respect to them, and are not opponent as reference point for Fenerbahce but it was important for them to get such an important win for its target to end calendar year of 2017 at the high note. One of the top players and main role for today's win has been Alper Potuk who has provided hat-trick at the game and has been very hungry for finding goals and to win game. In fact, today's squad has shown very good concentration towards game showing during whole game that it has wanted to win game taking account that Adana Demirspor especially in start of the game has shown with its performance that it did come to Istanbul to win game. Fenerbahce has shown good concentration and does show that team is getting into right mood for upcoming games including against Kasimpasa at Super League.

Adana Demirspor has provided some willingness to compete with Fenerbahce at the start of the game but quality factor has become visible as did most of the games during Super League teams against its lower divisions opponents. Adana Demirspor still got valuable experience at this 1st leg and was unlucky that Fenerbahce wanted to win today a lot.

Fenerbahce has also surely set its ticket for last 16 to the Turkish Cup and would now also focus into Super League into upcoming weeks especially this weekend when its main opponents playing this week.

Besiktas has recieved too comfortable win against Manisaspor at Turkish Cup.

Besiktas has started this season Turkish Cup campaign with a very comfortable win against
Manisaspor during 5th round 1st leg with eye-catching 9:0 win at the empty stadium where Jeremain Lens and Negredo has dominated game from start to end.

It expected for Besiktas to get an comfortable win during this game as it was having very good season and was playing against team which was in division below them and in addition is having very bad season so far. Therefore, Besiktas which was coming out to gain high level of motivation prior to this week derby game against Galatasaray has provided an attacking game against them with finding 9 goals without many doubt. It needs to be mentioned that by some this scoreline led for some criticism towards Besiktas as their had shown such game against poor conditioned opponent. Of course, this could be taking at different stance either to show high level performance or get into economical football after one point showing some envy to the point. It needs to be stated that with Besiktas with substitutes and also Manisaspor, sadly, not being at the level of Super League its hard to state that Besiktas would hence come out at derby game as more favourite solely from this game but certainly as team it would in high motivation.

With this scoreline it is visible that 2nd leg game which would be played after 2 weeks is game for purely formality and in fact Besiktas might even play wholely with reserve team with such scoreline.

Galatasaray has won Sivas Belediyespor with economical football.

Galatasaray as was expected in similar manner did recieve pretty comfortable result during Turkish Cup 5th round 1st leg game against 3rd division team Sivas Belediyespor with 5:1 scoreline even through it did take them 64 minutes to find 2nd goal.

Galatasaray during 1st half didnt manage to provide fast-game which has been also been noted by team head coach Igor Tudor and has to some extend put game into risking moments with leading 1:0 scoreline but to some extend this could be also with realisation that their would be able to win game easily or at worst whole tie as became clear as it has found 4 goals in last 20 minutes even through it also has managed to concede 1. It did play an economical football against weak opponents which to some extend has allowed some players, who might get some playing time against  Besiktas not to get tired too much. Galatasaray in similar manner needed this comfortable win prior to Besiktas and would now focus into that game entirely and also aim to enter mid-season break with high motivation and performance. Meanwhile, Yasin Oztekin following good performance against Alanyaspor at the league has carried on top performance at the Turkish Cup finding 2 goals and being one of the most active players of the field.

Right now Galatasaray would focus against Besiktas which would be able to identify the aims and psychology at the league until mid-season break.

Results:
Turkish Cup, 5th round 1st leg:
Batman Petrolspor 0:3 Konyaspor
Kasimpasa 1:3 Boluspor
Sivasspor 2:1 Bucaspor
Adanaspor 0:2 Bursaspor
Fenerbahce 6:0 Adana Demirspor

Schedule:
Turkish Cup, 5th round 1st leg:
13:30 Orhangazi Belediyespor - Antalyaspor
15:30 Giresunspor - Alanyaspor
16:30 Kahramanaraspor - Basaksehirspor
17:30 Erzurumspor - Trabzonspor
19:30 Kayserispor - Eyupspor

In other news:

- Sivasspor: Post-game statement of Trabzonspor player Onur Kivrak following our game at Super League is not suitable for player in that calibre. It is focussed to use tension and we would start lawful following. It is not allowed to give this comments after decision which happened long time ago and are seen by us as statements which are total antisportmanship. TFF and other bodies decisions made should be respected. We asking TFF to take respectable measures of those actions by Onur Kivrak

- Clubs Union had a meeting with Turkish Sports and Youth Minister Orhan Askin Bak to discuss about future of VAR and of Turkish football in general.

- Vodafone Park has won an award as Years Project at the Stadium Design and Developmen tAwards 2007 in Barcelona.

- Turkish National Team ex-coach Fatih Terim has open compensation case against TFF of 13,000,000 TL for not recieving his compensation set at contract.

- Fenerbahce player Mehmet Ekici has become injured during Turkish Cup 5th round 1st leg game against Adana Demirspor.

- Besiktas players Pepe and Dusko Tosic has resumed training sessions after recovering from injury.

- Arsenal are interested to transfer Trabzonspor player Yusuf Yazici.

- Besiktas are interested to transfer Shanghai Shenhua player Carlos Tevez.

- Fenerbahce are interested to transfer Santos player Jean Mota.

- Fenerbahce player Josef De Souza has declined transfer offer from West Bromwich Albion

- Trabzonspor player Yusuf Yazici has become injured during today's training session.

- Fenerbahce health staff has informed to technical staff that Robin van Persie is uncapable even to play 1 half due of physical condition.

- Fenerbahce plans to extend contract with its player Volkan Demirel for 1 more year.

- Bursaspor head coach Paul Le Guen is not interested to transfer Fenerbahce player Fernandao and wants to focus at more faster player.

- Fenerbahce are interested to transfer West Ham United player Marko Arnautovic.

- Trabzonspor are close to transfer Legia Warsaw player Michal Pazdan.

- Barcelona head coach Ernesto Valverde: Arda Turan does have injury which is reason why we dont play him. If he would be recoverred we can consider it.

- Deportivo La Coruna are interested to transfer Galatasaray player Yasin Oztekin.

- Besiktas player Cenk Tosun has informed his manager not to talk about transfer until end of the season.

What happened in Turkish football today? 28/11/2017

Besiktas has dominated with 9:0 win against Manisaspor at Turkish Cup.

Besiktas has dominated their Turkish Cup 5th round 1st leg game against 1st league team Manisaspor and has won game with 9:0 scoreline and as club has regained incredible motivational boost prior to derby game against Galatasaray at Super League 14th week game.

Taking account that Besiktas has played mainly with players who dont get enough of playing time this season with this results is impressive even through it needs to be mentioned that Manisaspor are having a very bad season and hence their did come out with low motivation and even there was any of it present prior to game it went away as goals came from Besiktas. This game has been especially important for Alvaro Negredo who has scored 4 goals and Jeremain Lens who has made hat-trick as their been heavily criticised for their performance this season. Even through the opponent has been weak it was important to find this goals for those players who started season at high hopes. Another main player meanwhile for Besiktas without doubt has been Orkan Cinar who among finding one goal has shown great performance in overall with great assists during most part of the game. This was important win in sense of motivation and without doubt has completed this tie.

Meanwhile, for Manisaspor without doubt it has become game to forget and their wished that there wasnt 2nd leg for this tie as their no reason for them to play. With having poor season it just had become even worser thanks to Besiktas.

Besiktas did what their needed to do in this Turkish Cup tie and now without doubt would be waiting with high motivation Galatasaray game on 2nd December and now would be getting prepared mentally also for Turkish Cup last 16 tie.

Galatasaray has killed game with last 20 minute performance

Even through the win against Sivas Belediyespor by Galatasaray was not as eye-catching and impressive as it was with Besiktas, it needs to be stated that their had managed to get very comfortable scoreline with 5:1 scoreline after 1st half and would be also looking forward for Besiktas derby game on 2nd December.

It needs to be stated that even through Galatasaray did come out with many of the main squad players it would not be also right to call them as reserve team and more like 2nd squad team and their had provided top performance especially during last 20 minutes even through it did concede goal at the same moment. In fact, Galatasaray did start game with a goal as early as on 4th minute but carried on providing more calmer game and it did look like game would be ending with 1:0 scoreline and provide some chance or at least excitement for 2nd leg game. One of the main players has been Sinan Gumus for Galatasaray who has provided 3 assists and those reserve players even through against not very hard opponent has shown that players are in good form. Again it might been argued that one of the negative aspects has been conceding goal but in other side it has responded with 2 goals by Gumus and Derdiyok.

Even through Sivas Belediyespor has lost its chance to get to last 16 even with 2nd leg game it needs to state that its stayed within game for more than hour of playing time against one of the most teams at form. In fact, when it did found goal with 3:1 scoreline it could have some chance for 2nd leg but didnt manage to control game 2nd leg.

With this win Galatasaray can now focus to Besiktas derby game and even more crucial still focus into Super League at least until it will found its opponent at last 16.

Fenerbahce player Robin van Persie would be key player against Adana Demirspor.

Without doubt and even through the gamewise Fenerbahce could still be criticised for their performance at this season, it has gained an important motivation in recent weeks and it would be aiming to carry on this with Turkish Cup game against Adana Demirspor.

As would been expected with all of the big 4 clubs at the Turkish Cup 5th round games it is also expected that Fenerbahce head coach Aykut Kocaman would be using players who dont recieve much playing time and would let his youth players to get some playing time. It is also expected that Robin van Persie after long break would be at starting 11 as he is only attacker left who is not injured right now and it does look team would start with him against Kasimpasa at the league this weekend and hence its good chance for Robin van Persie to show how much he is ready to play 90 minutes to Aykut Kocaman and hence he would become most clear player. Overall, as expected Fenerbahce is expected to come out as favourite and not have much issue at game.

Fenerbahce would see this game as a chance to carry on their recent top performance at the league and keep their motivation and focus set until mid-season break.

Results:
Turkish Cup, 5th round:
Kars 36spor 1:2 Genclerbirligi
Besiktas 9:0 Manisaspor
Ankara Demirspor 0:3 Akhisarspor
Osmanlispor 3:1 Yeni Malatyaspor
Galatasaray 5:1 Sivas Belediyespor

Schedule:
Turkish Cup, 5th round:
13:00 Batman Petrolspor - Konyaspor
14:30 Kasimpasa - Boluspor
16:30 Karabukspor - Istanbulspor
18:45 Adanaspor - Bursaspor
20:30 Fenerbahce - Adana Demirspor

In other news:

- PFDK referrals:
- Osmanlispor has been referred for accepting unallowed fans to game.
- Yeni Malatyaspor and Fenerbahce has been referred for events at the field.
- Besiktas, Trabzonspor and Sivasspor has been referred for events at the field and behaviour of fans.

- Galatasaray player Iasmin Latovlevici will have an operation today due of his ongoing injury.

- Trabzonspor player Onur Kivrak has stated that he intends to end his career at his current club.

- Besiktas considers to sell its player Veli Kavlak during mid-season transfer window.

- Galatasaray player Yasin Oztekin wants to stay at his team during mid-season transfer window.

- Galatasaray are interested to transfer Istanbulspor player Kubilay Aktas.

- Besiktas player Gokhan Tore is expected to be recovered from injury entirely in 2nd half of season.

- DinamoKiev player Domagoj Vida is expected to become Besiktas player on 1st January.

- Kazakhstan's team are interested to transfer Besiktas player Aras Ozbiliz

- Besiktas are interested to transfer Jiangsu Suning player Alex Teixeira.

- Genclerbirligi are interested to transfer Besiktas player Mustafa Pektemek.

- 

What happened in Turkish football today? 27/11/2017

Fenerbahce didnt concede goal against Antalyaspor factor which would give motivation for rest of 2017 games.

It does look like Fenerbahce has got into winning mood as it has won back-to-back at the Super League with this time beating Antalyaspor with single goal from Giuliano at the away game which it has trouble to win in recent years.

Despite of all this positive aspects stated at introduction it does need to still state that Fenerbahce did provide a poor performance and did play against an opponent which is having poor season. Still, it needs to be stated that among two teams which has provided poor performance, Fenerbahce has been better side with especially having better organisational game and knowing what it was aiming at. In fact, if Fenerbahce has been more prepared to game mentally it would been able to find at least 1 goal. It is positive note that Fenerbahce didnt also concede goal and Volkan Demirel has provided lots of saves even through does have problems with organisational aspects of its game. Despite of that, it was important in sense of motivation to get 2nd win back-to-back and not concede a goal at the game.

Fenerbahce has set an aim to finish 1st half of the season with best results which also been motivated by bonus set by administration and if it does achieve that until 25th December it could look forward for its fight for league title.

Trabzonspor has capacity to improve their performance.

Trabzonspor it needs to be stated in similar situation as Fenerbahce by looking at last 2 games as their had also won last 2 games and also still are not showing very good performance and hence needs to do lots of the work with a win against Sivasspor with 2:1 scoreline.

Even through Trabzonspor did manage to win game, it is still behind at having that performance which would allow them to show great comeback to the title race as their are 10 points behind league leaders and also not showing high-level performance which could be spread for whole season. Trabzonspor does have some opportunities still as their have number of players who can show high level performance at this season and also it did show some good performance with Riza Calimbay only showing poor performance at his 1st game. Still and Riza Calimbay is aware of that team needs to do lots of works and with aiming to end 1st half of season at best way it can it would be able to find solutions to this issue in more intense works during mid-season break.

Trabzonspor are getting into right set of focus with recent performances and can get at least for Europa League race at the end of the season and if their are lucky even to league title but among playing good football their need good results from 8 teams above them.

Galatasaray are expected to have relaxed game against Sivas Belediyespor. 

What are known are big 3 Istanbul teams would be starting their Turkish Cup journey during this week as Besiktas and Galatasaray would be meeting with their opponents at 5th leg 1st leg games prior to derby game against them.

Galatasaray would be meeting with Sivas Belediyespor where as would been expected it would be coming out as strong favourites among other big 4 teams fixture at the Turkish Cup. It would aim for certain to get a good result with what would been expected with squad without most of the main squad players and keep its high motivation prior to Besiktas game. The fact that it would be playing at home and even through might not have full stadium as in Super League games is likely to get number of its supporters due of their recent good results. In fact, to some extend Sivas Belediyespor would not want to play for one of the teams at form in Super League right now or maybe in other side it would feel lucky as it would be able to meet with such high level of stars.

Hence, Galatasaray is expected to have relaxed game against Sivas Belediyespor and aim to end this tie after 1st leg.

Results:
Turkish Super League, 13th week:
Kayserispor 1:1 Basaksehirspor

Schedule:
Turkish Cup, 5th round, 1st leg:
13:00 Kars 36spor - Genclerbirligi
14:30 Besiktas - Manisaspor
14:45 Ankara Demirspor - Akhisarspor
18:00 Osmanlispor - Yeni Malatyaspor
20:30 Galatasaray - Sivas Belediyespor

In other news:

- TFF administrator Servet Yardimci: We have connected to Senol Gunes for Turkish National Team head coach but club didnt allow him. Our only alternative was Mircea Lucescu.

- Galatasaray players Iasmin Latovlevici and Serdar Aziz recovery from injury could take 3-4 weeks

- Trabzonspor player Ugur Demirok will not be able to play for 2-3 weeks due of injury.

- Galatasaray player Serdar Aziz expected to start against Besiktas during Super League 14th week game with protective mask.

- Fenerbahce CEO Aziz Yildirim has stated that club has been prevented and fighting against FETO for many years now.

- Fenerbahce player Robin van Persie is expected to start against Adana Demirspor during Turkish Cup 5th round 1st leg game

- Besiktas player Pepe expected to start against Galatasaray during Super League 14th week game.

- Olympique Marseille and Milan are interested to transfer Besiktas player Oguzhan Ozyakup.

- Besiktas has declined transfer offer from Crystal Palace of 10 million euro + Alexander Mitrovic for its player Cenk Tosun.

What happened in Turkish football today? 26/11/2017

Fenerbahce has managed to win Antalyaspor despite of showing poor game. 

Fenerbahce has managed to win Super League 13th week game against Antalyaspor with minimal scoreline even through their didnt manage to show very impressive game where their opponents has also provided poor game.

In fact, in overall game has been played in slow tempo with high number of mistakes during passes and as Antalyaspor has shown more mistakes compare to Fenerbahce, it has managed to win game with single goal. It could been stated that its positive note for Fenerbahce not to concede during today's game and hence is likely to affect positively but as been stated Antalyaspor didnt go forward much but still Volkan Demirel did save number of shots. Still it was important for Fenerbahce to carry on winning games as it has won back-to-back and didnt lose for 6 weeks which does show that it can achieve its aim of 100% until midseason break which it can achieve. However, as been mentioned Fenerbahce did show some poor game and has getting too much defensive game during the game and if Antalyaspor has provided much better attacking football it could have conceded goal. Fenerbahce didnt dominate game but did control more compare to opponents which also played role of getting 3 points.

Antalyaspor even through does have poor performance at the overall during this season it was still expected to provide much better performance to Antalyaspor and does show some worrying signs both with way its playing and results.

Fenerbahce got an important win and has risen to 3rd place overpassing with average passing Basaksehirspor and are 6 points behind of Galatasaray which is important issue prior to next week derby game against club's main opponents.

Trabzonspor does show improvement with Riza Calimbay

Trabzonspor carries on its recent in-form performance at the Super League as it has won Sivasspor with 2:1 scoreline during 13th week game and even through it didnt show wholly dominated game it does carries on at getting points so far at the league.

Trabzonspor does show improvement with its new head coach Riza Calimbay which has brought without doubt motivation to the team and their players are playing with more focus and self-belief during their games even through it could been argued it could improve their performance. Despite of winning Sivasspor with 2:1 scoreline in deserved matter, it still had some areas to improve at which includes playing more controllable game. One of the highest notes of the game has been goal from Burak Yilmaz who carries on being main player at offensive side as he has found 10 goals at 10 games he has played at the league. It is also important however to solve its issues at the defence as it does concede goals in each game with so many coming from defensive mistakes but the team is going forward and does itself keep to some extend at hopes of getting league title with getting closer to Galatasaray with 10 points but their do need to get wins back-to-back.

Sivasspor which prior to Fenerbahce game has shown a good record at recent games didnt manage to get positive results against big teams during this season but it does have different aims for this season and hence it should stay focussed on that.

Trabzonspor does go on playing an improving football but its not enough and hence it needs to aim to finish 1st half of season at high note and aim for improvements in mid-season break.

Its hard for Besiktas to show top performance at Champions League and Super League in same time. 

Besiktas carries on showing two different performances both at the Champions League and Super League as it has ended 13th week game against Yeni Malatyaspor with goalless draw in similar manner as it did last week against Akhisarspor.

Without doubt its hardly for players to carry on performing high level performance both at the Super League and Champions League and hence comes importance of rotating team which has been failed by Senol Gunes so far during this season. This recent performance at the domestic tournament will not be enough against Galatasaray. But taking account that Besiktas is expected to come out to the Turkish Cup 5th round 1st leg game against Manisaspor on 28th November with 2nd squad, the players would have 1 week to get prepared to this important derby for them which could describe their aims for upcoming season. Therefore, we are expected to see a very strong and improved Besiktas at the derby game as long as their get motivated to the game in right way.

Its hard as been stated before at our blog to get angry to poor performance of Besiktas in domestic league as their had shown good performance at the Champions League but with knowing that it wont have game in that tournament until February will allow them to improve their position.

Results: 
Turkish Super League, 13th week:
Sivasspor 1:2 Trabzonspor
Bursaspor 2:1 Karabukspor
Kasimpasa 2:1 Konyaspor
Antalyaspor 0:1 Fenerbahce

Schedule:
Turkish Super League, 13th week:
20:00 Kayserispor - Basaksehirspor

In other news:

- Galatasaray players Serdar Aziz, Jason Denayer, Tolga Cigerci and Iasmin Latovlevici has become injured during Super League 13th week game against Alanyaspor. All 4 would go through MR test on 27th November.

- Trabzonspor player Onur Kivrak is reported to play with needless in last games as he feels pain in his leg due of injury.

- Fenerbahce player Roberto Soldado has become injured during Super League 13th week game against Antalyaspor.

- Yeni Malatyaspor player Yalcin Ayhan has been taken away from squad due of unrespectful behaviour to team and especially towards CEO Adil Gevrek.

- Fenerbahce are interested to loan Sevilla player Simon Kjaer.

- Basaksehirspor player Eljero Elia will have an operation to recurring pain from last season other operation from injury.

What happened in Turkish football today? 25/11/2017

Galatasaray has got deserved win against one of the toughest opponents in league. 

Galatasaray has shown great response following losing to the Basaksehirspor last week with 5:1 scoreline as it has won Alanyaspor with 2:0 scoreline but it needs to be stated that Alanyaspor did show good opposition with finding good chances and also great saves from goalkeeper.

Galatasaray did come out to the game with an aim to win it as their have shown forward-seeking game with creating high number of the chances. In fact, Alanyaspor goalkepper Haytekin performance especially during 2nd half has played an important role to not lead them to lose game with even more goal difference. It does need to state also that Galatasaray 2nd goal did come a bit late as if it has founded goal earlier it would likely to have more calmer game as Alanyaspor did show high level performance and also seeking for goal for most part of the game. To some extent, it was important for Galatasaray to win like that where it has controlled and dominated game against pretty tough opponent as would get them motivated for Besiktas game next week game. One of the interesting factors was also 1st goal to come from Yasin Oztekin who was included to squad at last minute as Tolga Cigerci has been taken away from squad due of injury.

Alanyaspor despite of losing game did show a very good performance and does show that it is one of the toughest opponents at the league regardless who are opponents and with recent good performance team are showing it is clear that until mid-season break, their are expected to carry on showing high level. In fact, despite of losing game one of the best players of the game has been Hayrettin.

Right now Galatasaray without doubt would be focussing to next week derby game, even through it does have Turkish Cup 5th round game against Sivas Belediyespor in between, as Igor Tudor would be aiming to get his 1st win during derby game.

Besiktas has been observed to be tired after Porto game. 

Super League 13th week game between Yeni Malatyaspor and to some extend tired and rotational squad Besiktas has ended with goalless draw where both teams has aimed to win game but at worst did aim to get draw at least.

It was expected for Besiktas to show top performance against Yeni Malatyaspor as it has secured its Champions League spot with 1-week in hand at group stage but due of physical and likely psychological tiredness from Porto game it has been observed to be tired at the game. Stating that Besiktas did show some attacking football with Alvaro Negredo looking for chances and in fact has created number of them during game but has lacked last touches. This draw it needs to be stated is not very good for Besiktas either as it didnt manage to get closer both to Galatasaray and Basaksehirspor however it would be surely aiming to reduce this point difference in last 4 games including against derby game against Galatasaray next week. But it needs to be stated that Besiktas is very likely to end this calendar year in better form with Super Cup and Turkish Cup as it doesnt need to worry about Champions League until February.

Yeni Malatyaspor has come to the game in high focus and taking their quality did show a good game looking for a chances and in fact has created them in 2nd half and wanted to win with using tired Besiktas who has shown some rotation from their squad for game.

It is hard to criticise Besiktas as it has shown good performance at Champions League and has been tired physically and psychologically to the game but it does look like it does have issue at balancing its performance between two tournaments.

Fenerbahce aims to carry on its top performance against Antalyaspor

Fenerbahce would be aiming to carry on its top performance which it has shown last week against Sivasspor during Super League 13th week game against Antalyaspor and get into winning mood with two comfortable wins back-to-back.

Even through Antalyaspor is not having a good season and Fenerbahce does come out as strong favourite especially following 4:1 win against Sivasspor, it needs to be stated that Antalyaspor does have a quality factor with Samuel Eto'o. In addition to that Antalyaspor head coach Leonardo Araujo would be started getting top results at his new club and the quesiton is only when this would be taking place. So, its tough opponent to Fenerbahce. In Fenerbahce front, it is still not 100% clear if the team would start both with Vincent Janssen and Roberto Soldado at starting 11 as both of them being at field has shown top performance but it is known Aykut Kocaman has worries about this system. As it is remembered Fenerbahce CEO did set bonus to the team to win all of the games until mid-season also and it affected positevely in Sivasspor lets see if it would provide similar effect tomorrow.

In overall, Fenerbahce does look to be favourite but its not as clear as would been expected in this game as Antalyaspor still dangerous opponent even on bad days.

Results:
Turkish Super League, 13th week:
Goztepe 2:0 Akhisarspor
Yeni Malatyaspor 0:0 Besiktas
Galatasaray 2:0 Alanyaspor

Schedule:
Turkish Super League, 13th week:
14:00 Sivasspor - Trabzonspor
14:00 Bursaspor - Karabukspor
16:30 Kasimpasa - Konyaspor
19:30 Antalyaspor - Fenerbahce

In other news:

- Fenerbahce players Vincent Janssen and Mathieu Valbuena are included at squad for Super League 13th week game against Antalyaspor.

- Basaksehirspor CEO Goksel Gumusdag: We are having talks with Chinese company but its for partnership rather than we selling club to them. We would continue talks in 4th January during fair in Shanghai.

- Besiktas are interested to transfer Shanghai Shenhua player Carlos Tevez.

- Galatasaray are interested to transfer Chelsea player Robert Kenedy, Crotone player Bruno Martella, Bursaspor player Aziz Behich and Kayserispor player Atilla Turan.

- Bursaspor are interested to transfer Trabzonspor player Dame N'doye.

- Monaco are interested to transfer Barcelona player Arda Turan.

- Galatasaray considers to start with Jason Denayer during Super League 13th week game against Alanyaspor.

- Galatasaray plans to offer 6 million euro for Freiburg player Caglar Soyuncu and 1.5 million euro loan fee to Celta Vigo player Emre Mor.

What happened in Turkish football today? 24/11/2017

Basaksehirspor has gained some hope to get to the last 32 but it still tough for them

Even through chances for Basaksehirspor to get to the next stage of Europa League are still totally related to luck, their had got an important win against Ludogorets as their are now 2 points behind Bulgarian side who are in 2nd place at group with one game in hand.

When Ludogorets was coming out to the game, it has without doubt aiming to quarentee its last 32 spot at the group and carry on defeatless record at the group but Basaksehirspor from start of the game has shown that it has other plans for a game. With very impressive attacking performance shown both by Edin Visca and Kerim Frei during first 30 minutes the team has managed to get 2:0 leadership as Frei first assisted to Visca and then vice versa during 2nd goal. Without doubt 5:1 win against Galatasaray has provided an enormous motivation for them as it has managed to win best team at the group at their own ground even through it could been argued Ludogorets were not at their best on this game. Now, Basaksehirspor would aim for a win for current leaders Braga and hope for Hoffenheim to upset Ludogorets.

The situation is tough as Hoffenheim arleady eliminated from a group but Basaksehirspor needs to forget about other game and focus to its battle with Braga.

Konyaspor has lost golden opportunity for 2nd place but still can get to knockout stage if lucky. 

Call it however you want it, either bad luck or huge mistake, but Mane own goal at 90+3' minute against Olympique Marseille which turned game into 1:1 scoreline could cost huge opportunity for Konyaspor to get to the last 32 stage.

It needs to be stated that Konyaspor didnt provide a very good performance during game as it had difficulty to control game especially during 1st half but it did show a great performance to not allow their French opponents to control game. In fact, whatever it could be commented about Konyaspor lack of quality, which does exist, it showed good performance so far at the Europa League compare to last season as it gained 5 points against 1 point it had last season. Its more forward-seeking performance at 2nd half did turn out pretty good as their got penalty kick which was converted by Skubic on 82nd minute. However, that mistake by Mane has put Konyaspor into difficult chances even through their win against Vitoria, only team which their won so far at this group stage, and possible loss from Marseille from Salzburg who would aim to end group as leaders could be enough for Konyaspor historically to get to next stage.

Konyaspor player and fans should be satisfied with team performance and look positively for next game as their could make history on 7th December.

Galatasaray head coach Igor Tudor is in huge pressure against Alanyaspor. 

Galatasaray would be getting back to Super League with 13th week game against Alanyaspor to gain some motivation prior to Besiktas derby game next week and also aim to forget about 5:1 loss to Basaksehirspor last week.

One of the important factors meanwhile is also fact that following game could be decider for future of Igor Tudor and even through Tudor doesnt seem to have big issues with teams like Alanyaspor, as his trouble are big teams, it is certain that he is under big pressure which he would be feeling during whole game or until Galatasaray would get 2 goal difference at any moment of the game. Alanyaspor who needs to state occasionally does get an impresive results in recent weeks could see this situation at Galatasaray to its own advantage but it might turn also against them as it happend with Genclerbirligi during 12th week so their should be focussed to the game and aim for good result but play very carefully at defense. It is crucial how Galatasaray would respond following Basaksehirspor game and especially reaction of Igor Tudor.

Hence, this game is very important for race for league title and even more for Igor Tudor future at Galatasaray and would be viewed by many with such a view.

Results:
Turkish Super League, 13th week:
Osmanlispor 2:0 Genclerbirligi

Schedule: 
Turkish Super League, 13th week:
14:00 Goztepe - Akhisarspor
16:30 Yeni Malatyaspor - Besiktas
19:30 Galatasaray - Alanyaspor

In other news:

- Trabzonspor will have general meeting on 15th December.

- Karabukspor ex- administrator Ziya Unsal would take role of CEO of club until CEO election on 4th December.

- Fenerbahce player Roberto Soldado is expected to start against Antalyaspor during Super League 13th week game.

- Galatasaray project development administrator Ali Fatinoglu has stated that club has full trust to Galatasaray CEO Dursun Ozbek.

- Goztepe are interested to transfer Besiktas player Necip Uysal.

- Fenerbahce are interested to transfer Manchester United player Daley Blind.

-Fenerbahce player Robin van Persie has attended training session after recovering from injury and announced of bonus to play if their win all games left until midseason break.

- Fenerbahce administrator Hasan Cetinkaya plans to travel to England for one-on-one transfer negotiations with Swansea player Luciano Narsingh in upcoming days.

- Fenerbahce player Ismail Koybasi is expected to start at starting 11 during Super League 13th week game against Antalyaspor

- Besiktas head coach Senol Gunes decided not to provide additional fines to its player Caner Erkin due of 6-game ban.

What happened in Turkish football today? 23/11/2017

Basaksehirspor raises hopes for last 32 with win against Ludogorets.

Basaksehirspor has got an important win against Bulgarian side Ludogorets during Europa League Group H 5th week game which has turned out to be their 1st win at the competition and also carried on their chances to get to the last 32 prior to last game with 5 points.

It was important for Basaksehirspor to win game tonight as it would have catch up to Ludogorets who were 5 points ahead of them and hence has aimed to reduce point difference to 2 points and carry on its chances at the tournament. Basaksehirspor has started game in high note as it has found 2 goals within 30 minutes with help of the Edin Visca and Kerim Frei as their win against Galatasaray at Super League during 12th week has affected positively to them. It needs to be stated that bad news for them is that Hoffenheim has its lost chance to get to last 32 which means that it would not need to meet against Ludogorets who it needs to win for Basaksehirspor to end 2nd place. Still the fact that it has some chances for last 32 with pretty poor start at the tournament does provide and hope to Istanbul side.

Ludogorets who did have point advantage over Basaksehirspor and has shown good performance at the tournament so far wasnt able to stop an attacking opponent even through it did improve during 2nd half. Ludogorets however as stated above still has advantage our Basaksehirspor in group.
Basaksehirspor right now need to focus to win Braga who are group leaders and hope that Hoffenheim would bring them some good news.

Konyaspor has lost its opportunity to get the last 32 stage at Europa League. 

Last minute own goal scored by Konyaspor player Mane could be leading them to be eliminated from Europa League as it has lost an important advantage at the group which was gained at 80th minute by goal from Skubic and has put its chance for last 32 stage into difficulty prior to last game at group.
In fact, if Konyaspor has managed to win Marseille today it would be very close to get to the last 32 as it would been playing against weakest team Vitoria which doesnt any chances to get to the next stage. It needs to be stated still that Konyaspor has provided a very good football right now and has created good chances to win game especially taking account that it was playing against very in-form Olympique Marseille which are currently are at good form right now. What it makes it even more tragic that Konyaspor was playing with an extra man as Marseille player Jordan Amavi has recieved red card and did look like Konyaspor task even became easier as that position has been followed with Skubic goal in fact. If Konyaspor has been more careful during game without doubt it would get a very important advantage prior to last game.

Olympique Marseille in other hand was lucky to get one point from own goal of Mane as it was close to lose game with having one player less and Konyaspor controlling game however right now its enough for them to even draw against Salzburg at last week.

Konyaspor are still having chances to get into next stage as long as it wins Vitoria and Marselle loses to Salzburg. Konyaspor can achieve that as their win has come from that fixture but other game is open to any result.

Fenerbahce could start with both Soldado and Janssen against Antalyaspor.

One of the most discussed issues prior to Super League 13th week games is would Fenerbahce start a game with two attackers: Roberto Soldado and Vincent Janssen or choose both for the game against Antalyaspor.

This discussion about formation change for Fenerbahce head coach Aykut Kocaman has been given due of very good performance both players has shown during Sivasspor game last week which led team to win game comfortably at the end. Both Soldado and Janssen are high level players who can also get a good understanding with each other as been seen from game last weekend. However, Galatasaray did lose many points during this formation of 4-4-2 including against Antalyaspor which kinds stops to make this formation decision by Aykut Kocaman but in our view this a risk which could be taken during the game and could lead to very good results. The final decision would be make by Kocaman but it is clear that many media analysts and supporters would be looking for this formation as its important to use this effective attackers and their were transferred with this style in mind.

Meanwhile, it needless to say that Fenerbahce are aiming to win and hence making correct formation would provide good advantage to a team prior to game so its need to be thinked about by Kocaman.

Results:
UEFA Europa League, Group I, 5th week:
Red Bull Salzburg 3:0 Vitoria
Konyaspor 1:1 Olympie Marseille

UEFA Europa League, Group H, 5th week:
Ludogorets 1:2 Basaksehirspor
Braga 3:1 Hoffenheim

Schedule: 
Turkish Super League, 13th week:
20:00 Osmanlispor - Genclerbirligi

In other news:

PFDK decisions:
- Kayserispor and Trabzonspor has recieved 15,000 TL fine for behaviour of fans
- Osmanlispor head coach Irfan Buz has recieved 1 game ban and 13,000 TL fine for anti-sportmanship statements
- Akhisarspor player Paulo Henrique has recieved 1 game ban and 4,300 TL fine for breaking rule during game

- Turkish National Team has been dropped from 33rd position to 42nd position during FIFA World Ranking for month of November with 735 points.

- Antalyaspor players Salih, Zeki, Sandro and Djourou became injured during today's game.

- Trabzonspor administrator Gokhan Saral has stated that their dont plan to sell Abdulkadir and Yusuf Yazici. He added that their talked about matchfixing with FIFA also.

- Monaco and Sevilla are interested to transfer Trabzonspor player Yusuf Yazici.

- Fenerbahce players Mauricio Isla and Matheiu Valbuena has resumed training session after injury recovery.

- Alanyaspor player Etame Mbilla has become injured during today's training session.

- Bursaspor CEO Ali Ay: We have raised our budget from last season 65-70 million euro to 125-130 million euro. We have much quality players. We also have world-class head coach.There is no talks with Fernandao we would talk about it after 15th December.

- Trabzonspor didnt pay 1 million euro installment to San Lorenzo transfer fee of Emmanuel Mas.

- Galatasaray aims to transfer defender and left back during midseason transfer window.

What happened in Turkish football today? 22/11/2017

Besiktas has marked history as it has ended as group leaders with one game in hand at Champions League. 

Besiktas has managed to get to the last 16 place at the Champions League with getting an important draw against Porto and has quarenteed to end group stage as leaders with one game in hand. Hence, becoming 1st Turkish team to get this kind of result in the history of the competition with showing high level performance in all 5 games so far.

Besiktas was coming to the group which it could have ended at any position from top to last but with showing high level performance during all of the games and with losing any single game has got much needed draw against Porto yesterday. It was actually also close to win game yesterday and has been much better side with also once again top class performance by Anderson Talisca, Cenk Tosun and Pepe among others. In fact, Talisca goal was very important as if their didnt score that goal their could have put their chances at qualifying into difficult position as their would have much more difficult game against Porto during last week. Without doubt everyone involved with this success has played an important role which has also included club's supporters.

Besiktas has written an important history without doubt and would now wait for its opponents at the last 16 after playing formality game against Leipzig on 4th December and would hope it will not get serious opponents.

Konyaspor need to win Marseille if it wants to get to last 32 stage.

Konyaspor would come out to the important game against French club Marseille and would only aim to win the game at its home group as the win could help to at least get a good chances for last 32 stage as the win would mean it would need 1 more point from Marseille.

It needs to state that Konyaspor arleady had showed its better performance from last season as been mentioned severall times by our page but it would have a difficult game against Marseille.To addition to that Marseille has improved its performance from last few games and certainly French side would be aiming to show a high level performance at this game as it has set high aims at Europa League. Taking account that Konyaspor still mainly aiming for experience at the European football and at the tournament it doesnt have much aims as them which could be additional plus for them but again
Konyaspor sadly for them doesnt have as strong squad as their opponents and doesnt have enough strength to show top level performance which by itself could push team performance below than expected. Still it would be believed that team would give their best and try to set their mark as top level club for sure.

Konyaspor needs to have high self-belief and only thing about winning game if it wants to get to the last 32 stage but it wont be an easy task for them.

Basaksehirspor would be aiming to win Ludogorets as it gained motivation from Super League recent performance. 

Basaksehirspor task for last 32 is even more difficult as it has only gained 1 point from Europa League group stage so far with 2 games in hand and even through does have mathematical chances it needs to win 2 games and hope other results would go into their hands.

Their first step during this difficult task would be Bulgarian side Ludogorets which shows very good performance so far at the tournament and without doubt would be aiming to carry on like that with high level performance. Therefore, Basaksehirspor would have difficult game but it needs to be stated that their general performance at Super League and also win against Galatasaray with 5:1 scoreline would provide an additional motivation to them and push them forward at the game. Again as been stated several times at this blog Basaksehirspor can get high level performance at the game and would be hence giving their best to win Ludogorets and find themselves once again at the middle of chances to get to the last 32.

Basaksehirspor can achieve that with good set of mood and performance and will certainly aim to show at least top performance at the game tomorrow.

Schedule:
UEFA Europa League, Group I, 5th week:
21:00 Konyaspor - Marseille
21:00 RB Salzburg - Vitoria

UEFA Europa League, Group H, 5th week:
23:05 Ludogerets - Basaksehirspor
23:05 Braga - Hoffenheim

In other news:

- Antalyaspor CEO election will take place on 7th December.

- Besiktas head coach Senol Gunes would be attending to Champions League 5th week game between Qarabakh and Chelsea in Baku.

-Los Angeles FC are interested to transfer Kasimpasa player Trezeguet.

- Trabzonspor considers to extend contract of its players Pereira and Ugur Demirok.

- Karabukspor player Dany has become injured during training session and will not be able to play for 4 weeks.

- RiverPlate are interested to transfer Galatasaray player Fernando Muslera.

- Besiktas players has recieved 50,000 euro bonuses for ending group stage at Champions League as leaders.

- Monaco has offered 16 million euro to Trabzonspor player Yusuf Yazici.

- Beijing Renhe, Liaoning Whowin and Dalian Yifang are interested to transfer Goztepe player Adis Jahovic.

- Trabzonspor are interested to transfer Sparta Prague player Lucas Stetina, Napoli player Chirechis, Nice player Dante and Milan player Paletta.

- Fenerbahce are interested to transfer Liverpool player Daniel Sturridge.

What happened in Turkish football today? 21/11/2017

Besiktas made history with Talisca goal which led game to end with 1:1 scoreline. 

Besiktas has marked a history at the Turkish football tonight as it has became 1st ever Turkish team to end Champions League group stage as group winners and this taking account one game has been left at the group.

In overall it has become 3rd team to get to the knockout stage but compare to Galatasaray and Fenerbahce who has achieved this before their would be expected to get an easier opponent as their had ended as group winners, even through there is chance that it might meet with Real Madrid at last 16. Now coming to the game, Besiktas who has recieved minumum result of draw with 1:1 scoreline, didnt actually play for a draw well apart of possibly last 20 minutes. It has dominated game until then creating lots of the chances and looking for a win in some moments even more than Porto who needed to win this game. This time Cenk Tosun has played an important role at finding goal with his assist to the Anderson Talisca who has probably scored the most important goal at the history of Besiktas as it was reason to find goal as if their did lose game their would have difficult game agaisnt Leipzig in the last week. Besiktas has provided top performance at the whole team.

Porto meanwhile has also been affected as other teams at the group from strong supporters of Vodafone Park and had trouble to get full control of game even through their did find winning goal. Now their would fight with Leipzig to the 2nd place as it would be meeting with Monaco last week.

There were high number of times when Turkish clubs has played formality games in the last week but usually knowing that their would end their campaign this time Besiktas would play knowing it has won group, and thats alone shows what big achievement club has achieved.

Umit Ozat has returned to Genclerbirligi as coach after 4 months.

Genclerbirligi has sacked its head coach Mesut Bakkal following to poor performances he has shown including losing this weekend to Antalyaspor and surprisingly has appointed Umit Ozat who it has sacked after 3rd week of this season and has shown pretty unusual tactics which is rarely seen at the footballing world.

Genclerbirligi has provided its reasoning to the factor that it wants to give 2nd chance to its previous head coach Umit Ozat who has provided transfer politics with this side and understands much better what he wants, aims and targets with such an aim. It needs to be reminded that when Mesut Bakkal has been sacked at following day he has made statement that it wasnt his team as he wasnt responsible and he is only one who can build this team to raise from recent poor performance. Even through Genclerbirligi doesnt believe with 2nd part of this statement of Mesut Bakkal it seems to agree with 1st part. Stating that Umit Ozat who has been sacked before-hand did also surprisingly agreed to come back will not have an easy task at all as players are known to be at very low morale and not providing their top performance and also lack high quality players. But again since Umit Ozat was responsible to make this team, he would also know how to raise high level performance from this side.

As been mentioned, return of head coach to same team during same season is very unusual method and does have many risks and time would show if Genclerbirligi will not make a mistake from such decision.

Next 2 games would decide of Igor Tudor at Galatasaray. 

Despite of fact that Galatasaray are still leaders at the Super League and did show very good performance at the start of the season, its head coach Igor Tudor is at very big scrutiny due of recent performance with catalyst being 5:1 loss to Basaksehirspor during 12th week.

Galatasaray CEO Dursun Ozbek and administrator Cenk Ergun are reported to have one-on-one meeting where their had discussed performance of Tudor and his assistant coach Ayhan Akman. One of the main questions are why Galatasaray are performing not as well as their did in start of the season and why their cant perform well against top teams. As it is known, Igor Tudor still didnt manage to win either Fenerbahce, Besiktas, Trabzonspor and Basaksehirspor while being coach of the team. What is most crucial from the meeting is that both administrators still keeping both coaches at their position but would make final decision about future of Tudor after 13th week game against Alanyaspor and more crucial 14th week derby game against Besiktas and poor results from either games could mean end of career of Tudor at Galatasaray.

Hence, Igor Tudor need to get highly focussed and found out how to win those next 2 games if he wants of course to be still Galatasaray coach.

Results:
UEFA Champions League, Group G, 5th week:
Besiktas 1:1 Porto
Monaco 1:4 RB Leipzig

In other news:

- PFDK referalls:
- Akhisarspor player Paulo Henrique has been referred for breaking rules
- Kayserispor and Trabzonspor has been referred for events at the field
- Osmanlispor head coach Irfan Buz has been referred for anti-sportmanship actions.

- UEFA Stadium and Security Conference has been taken place in Istanbul.

- Turkish observer Oguz Sarvan has been appointed to observe Champions League Group C 5th week game between Atletico Madrid and Roma.

- Mehmet Aytekin has announced his candidacy for Karabukspor CEO position for 4th December election.

- Galatasaray academy coordinator Emrah Bayraktar would be assisting head coach Igor Tudor.

- Galatasaray administrators after viewing Youness Belhanda comments to French Bein Sports interview has come to conclusion that it was criticism ot himself and team players rather than to coach Igor Tudor.

- Fenerbahce players Roberto Soldado and Vincent Janssen are expected to start at starting 11 during Super League 13th week game against Antalyaspor.

- Fenerbahce players would get 6 million euro bonus if it manages to win all games until mid-season break.

- Basaksehirspor player Emre Belozoglu will resume training session on 22nd November after recovering from injury

- Trabzonspor player Jose Sosa has become injured during training session and will not be able to play for 2-3 weeks.

- Galatasaray players Eren Derdiyok and Iasmin Latovlevici are not expected to start against Alanyaspor during Super League 13th week game.

- Barcelona has stated that it didnt recieve request from Arda Turan to leave club in midseason transfer window.

- Liverpool player Lazar Markovic wants to return to Fenerbahce where he was loaned during 2015-16 season.

- Trabzonspor are interested to transfer forward during midseason transfer window.