The Turkish league returned after a lengthy holiday with the new big four Galatasaray, Besiktas, Fenerbahce and Basaksehir.
The big four used to include Trabzonspor and they were on a tear heading into the winter break but have shown signs of slowing down.
The Black Sea Storm were held to their second successive draw away to Konyaspor. Trabzonspor will be disappointed with dropping points to the relegation battlers.
Burak Yilmaz bagged a brace to take the Black Sea based outfit ahead. The Turkey international now has an incredible 16 goals in 15 games.
What made the draw even more difficult to stomach for Trabzonspor was that Konyaspor drew level with a last-gasp goal from Orkan Cinar.
Luckily for Trabzonspor the two sides immediately above them, Goztepe and Kayserispor both lost. The bad news was that they suffered defeats against title challengers Fenerbahce and Galatasaray, respectively.
Fenerbahce have now won 10 of their last 11 games in all competitions. The record sounds great on paper but the football on display has not exactly been exhilarating. It has been lacking a certain ‘Je ne sais quoi’. Aykut Kocaman’s style is not pretty on the eye but it sure is effective. The problem is fans of the Yellow Canaries demand flair and attacking football so there is a clash in cultures that is ongoing.
As has so often been the case with Fenerbahce recently, they did not dominate or blow their opposition off the pitch. In fact it took a last-minute own goal to snatch three points from the visitors and close the gap with leaders Basaksehir to three points.
Goztepe have lost their last two games but they were away to Galatasaray and Fenerbahce. The Izmir based side have been the surprise package this season and I do not see them dropping off the pace. Expect them to rebound next week.
Kayserispor will feel a little hard done by against Galatasaray. Decisions didn’t really go their way. The Lions struggled at times as has come to be expected now against the Anatolian Stars but came out on top winning 3-1.
Garry Rodrigues wraps up Galatasaray’s 3-1 Kayserispor wine with the third and final goal pic.twitter.com/TtJohcyU44
— Turkish Football (@Turkish_Futbol1) January 22, 2018
Fatih Terim has now won back to back games, he’s brought back a few of the old boys like Claudio Taffarrel and Hasan Sas to his coaching staff. There is a great mood in the Galatasaray camp and they are just one point behind the leaders.
Besiktas meanwhile entered the new year with a bang beating Antalyaspor 2-1 away from home. Anderson Talisca was the star of the show scoring a brace taking his season tally to nine.
The 1.91m tall attacking midfielder was lights and bounds above his opposition. On his day Talisca is simply unplayable. Besiktas look strong but will need to find a replacement for Cenk Tosun before the end of the window with Champions League and the title race campaigns still on.
Anderson Talisca bags a brace! Beşiktaş come from behind to take the lead vs Antalyaspor.
Talisca – 9 ⚽️@lbertozzipic.twitter.com/44h2R8HgJI— Turkish Football (@Turkish_Futbol1) January 21, 2018
The real talking point was not Besiktas, Galatasaray or Fenerbahce. It was Basaksehir crushing Bursaspor on the road.
Make no mistake, beating Bursaspor away is never an easy task but Abdullah Avci’s boys made it look like a walk in the park. And the icing on the cake was Arda Turan scoring on his debut after joining on loan from Barcelona.
This is how you do a debut ?
Arda Turan puts the icing on the cake as Başakşehir crush Bursaspor away pic.twitter.com/qkQvfxD2bx— Turkish Football (@Turkish_Futbol1) January 21, 2018