There were a few treats in store for Turkish football enthusiasts this week as Beşiktaş midfielder Oğuzhan Özyakup and Fenerbahçe star Nani competed for best free-kick of the week. Gençlerbirliği youngster Irfan Can and Konyaspor midfielder Meha Alban also scored directly from free-kicks to match the record set last season.
Hopf: Gençlerbirliği – The Ankara based side a bizarre week. Newly appointed manager Stuart Baxter was sacked after just two games in charge for losing back-to-back matches but they still managed to defeat Kasımpaşa who went into the game without a loss all season. Hopf deserves a lot of praise for his heroics in goal which helped his side keep their first clean sheet of the league campaign.
Çalık: Gençlerbirliği – The young defender put in a solid performance and contributed towards his side keeping a clean sheet in the 1-0 win over Kasımpaşa.
Sabri: Galatasaray – The Turkish international right-back gets a lot of stick from his own fans and lets face it quite a lot of it is warranted. Despite his obvious defensive shortcomings Sabri managed to provide two assists and provide Galatasaray an attacking outfit down the flanks in their 4-1 win over Konyaspor.
Rhodolfo: Beşiktaş – The Brazilian defender put in his best performance yet since joining the Black Eagles over the summer helping his side keep their first clean sheet of the season in their 4-0 win over Gaziantepspor. Rhodolfo was sturdy defensively making two tackles, two interceptions and his positioning was excellent. The powerful defender towered above his opponents at 1.93m and won all four of his aerial duals.
Visca: Başakşehir – The Bosnia international played a key role in the Istanbul minnows recording their first win of the season. Visca scored a brace to help his side gain all three points.
Nani: Fenerbahçe – Nani setup Robin van Persie for the first time in 598 days last week. The Dutch star reciprocated the favour and provided an assist to his former Manchester United teammate for the opening goal. The Portuguese international scored his first goal since leaving Manchester United in the summer to put Fenerbahçe ahead but Antalyaspor managed to equalise and the game looked destined for a draw going into additional time. The Yellow Canaries were given a glimmer of hope when referee Bülent Yıldırım awarded a free-kick in the 90+5th minute and Nani took the roof off the stadium when he scored director from the set-piece.
https://vine.co/v/eIHMLP3tgpu
Wesley Sneijder: Galatasaray – Cometh the moment cometh the man. The Lions went into the game under huge pressure after only managing to secure a point from their first two games. Up stepped Sneijder to lead the Lions through the storm with two classy goals and an all round outstanding performance.
https://vine.co/v/eIe5zVdYMJw
Olcay Şahan: Beşiktaş – The assidious winger divides Beşiktaş fans. Sure he may not be the most technically gifted player but he is perhaps the most hard working player on the team and on the defensive front he made the highest number of successful tackles on the team (3). Şahan also has an eye for goal and scored his second goal of the season.
Oğuzhan Özyakup: Beşiktaş – It is still very early in the league campaign but the former Arsenal youth player is looking that this may be the season he lives up to his billing. The 22-year-old looks transformed in comparison to last season and his free-kick goal to open the scoring was of the highest order. Özyakup now has three assists and a goal to his name this season which has earned him a call-up to the Turkish national team and a potential game against his country of birth the Netherlands.
https://vine.co/v/eIWM9juTbIX
Gökhan Töre: Beşiktaş – The former Chelsea man literally tore the Gaziantep defence to shreds on the counter-attack and setup two goals in the 4-0 mauling against the Falcons.
Burak Yilmaz: Galatasaray – Yılmaz repaid manager Hamza Hamzaoğlu for giving him a spot in the starting line-up with the opening goal – and his second of the season.
