Fenerbahce-Basaksehir and Aykut Kocaman: Let’s Not Do Crazy Things

“This is Kadikoy. There is no way out.”

If you are at a match in Fenerbahce Sukru Saracoglu Stadium, you can hear this cheer and you can see banners in which these words are written. When opponent teams play in here, the stadium would turn into a prison for them. Maybe I should use simple past tense. Good old times…

Last weekend, Saracoglu Stadium hosted Fenerbahce-Basaksehir match, and Fener fans felt hopeful about the win. The opponent was hard. The flash team of the season, Basaksehir was decisive in not losing the match easily.

And the match started.

Fener’s spectators already started to cheer. In the 1st minute, Oh My God! Basaksehir scored a goal. Joseph Attamah headed well the ball from corner. For Fener fans, the match didn’t start. It was an ordeal that started. I won’t write the match highlight in here. Everybody can watch it on the internet. I will try to describe Fenerbahce’s playing style.

There is a famous saying in Turkey. “Enough is as good as a feast.” You can ask yourself what he means. Let’s have a look at the match stats.

	Fenerbahce	Basaksehir
Possession	57,5%	42.5%
Total Shot	19	11
Pass Success	87%	81%
Aerial Wons	12	8
Tackles	18	15

According to the stats, Fenerbahce dominated the match. However, “Statistics are like miniskirts: They give you good ideas but hide the important things.” Fenerbahce retained possession, and they had a large quantity of possession in the opponent’s half. They hit too many crosses into box. In spite of all these things, they were lack of quality. They weren’t effective in box, and there was no attack plan. An average football fan can guess which player will do what. The defensive line was slightly higher. Thus, the new transfer (CB) Luis Neto contributed to build up with passes. At the same time, high defensive line caused Basaksehir’s counter attacks. Mathieu Valbuena was the only man who tried to do something creative for attack phase. Mauricio Isla (Right-back) exploited the right flank and hit crosses. The forward Soldado was ineffective, but it’s not his fault. Fenerbahce are really good at horizontal passes, but they forget to pass vertically!

Enough is as good as a feast.

As you can understand, Fenerbahce is a predictable team for opponents. They don’t do something crazy or creative to be effective in opponents’ third. A tactical analyst can easily analyse Fenerbahce’s tactic and players’ roles.

When Aykut Kocaman holds a press conference, he always looks calm. He speaks calmly. The tone of his voice isn’t high. He approaches matches, issues, conflicts with caution. He is a proper man. His character reflects on his football style and philosophy. He is a defence-based manager. That’s why he was criticised negatively in his previous team Konyaspor and first Fenerbahce career. His teams don’t do something maniacal. Ordinary and cautious football reminds me the saying I told: “Enough is as good as a feast.”

• Know your place.
• Don’t go on new adventures because there is no need to go. If you go, you can lose even what you have.
• Do with less and Don’t fly high.

I think I expressed the reason why Turkish football doesn’t grow revolutionist ideas and managers.

This season he is trying to play attack-based football, and up to now he is not good enough in attack football.

Source for the stats: whoscored.com