What Kind Of Derby Were We Expecting?
Hotly-anticipated derby was played at Vodafone Park. Home team Besiktas celebrated winning while Fenerbahce supporters freaked out because of their team’s poor performance.
Talisca and Pepe were suspended, so Besiktas were going to start devoid of the important players. Shortly before the game, Oguzhan Ozyakup was removed from the squad because of his stomach problem. Besides all these, Besiktas suffered defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich in the Champions League. In short, BJK were not good enough psychologically.
And Fenerbahce… Manager Aykut Kocaman preferred to start with Aatif rather than Mathieu Valbuena again. This decision was discussed in social media, but the fans didn’t give up hopes.
The derby started. In the 7th minute, Fernando put FB in front. However, the equalising goal was offside. FB were playing with pressure against BJK until the goal. And then the winds have changed. The home team started to dominate possession. Until the end of the game, they had a large quantity of possession in their opponent’s half.
| Teams | Possession Rates |
| Besiktas | 63% |
| Fenerbahce | 37% |
Ricardo Quaresma was the man of the match. He scored 2 stunning goals. After the game, according to xG rates, it is seen that BJK’s goals (especially Quaresma’s ones) were the product of talent. Also, it is easily understood that FB changed down after Fernandao’s goal. This is because the goal’s xG is nearly 1. FB’s xG is 1,29.
| Teams | xG Rates |
| Besiktas | 0.92 |
| Fenerbahce | 1.29 |
Some Details
FB’s left back Ismail Koybasi was injured, so he had to sub out. Sener Ozbayrakli was substituted on. He is right back, so Mauricio Isla came to the left back. Thus, 3 originally right backs (Dirar, Sener, and Isla) were on the pitch in Fenerbahce. Was it necessary? I don’t think so. What did Dirar do something useful in midfield position?
In the minutes where FB needed to score a goal, Alper Potuk was on the pitch, but the most creative player in the attack phase, Mathieu Valbuena was on the bench. Alper is not a player who can unlock the opponent, but Valbu is! Aykut Kocaman waited to substituted him on till the 78th minute.
End of the Match
In a manner of speaking, FB have served the game on a silver platter. This is just a game. We love the beautiful game because of the competition and unpredictable results. However, it started to divide us. After the game, Twitter was a hate place. Before the internet, there was a discrimination among some groups because the groups did not know and understand each other well. After Internet, the groups can have known and understood each other. Thus, they can have empathised with them. Unfortunately, nothing happened. Discrimination transformed into Digital discrimination or in other words Digi-crimination.
Let’s just cut to the chase. Peace at home, peace on the pitch, peace in the world!