The seventh round of the Turkish Super League saw Beşiktaş go into the international break as leaders; an impressive feat considering the Black Eagles have been without two key central midfielders Tolgay Arslan and Veli Kavlak all season. There was late drama at Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray maintained their winning streak despite talks of crisis.
Trabzonspor 1-2 Konyaspor
The alarm bells have started ringing in Trabzon. The Black Sea Storm succumbed to their third consecutive loss this time at the hands of Konyaspor who beat them 2-1 at their traditional fortress that is the Avni Aker stadium. Head coach Shota Arveladze will be under huge pressure over the international break and they are not shy to fire a manager in Trabzon so he will have to start taking home the points or it will be curtains. To make matters worse Erkan Zengin picked up a red card to wrap up an awful few weeks. Konyaspor on the other hand have won three out of their last four games and shot up the table into fourth place.
Sivasspor 2-2 Mersin
Sivasspor just can’t stop drawing. The Yiğidolar have now drawn five consecutive games in the league – great if you are a betting man not so great if you are the manager. Meanwhile last placed Mersin managed to secure their second point of the season.
Gaziantepspor 2-1 Osmanlıspor
Gaziantepspor continue their erratic form with yet another win in one of the most fiery games of the week which saw two sending offs. Uğur Demirok shown a red for Osmanlıspor and Vranjes for Gaziantepspor. On a brighter note Muhammet Demir was impressive yet again and bagged his fourth goal of the season.
Gençlerbirliği 2-0 Kayserispor
Gençlerbirliği returned to winning ways with a convincing 2-0 win over Kayserispor. 20-year-old İrfan Kahveci provided another assist and is proving himself as being one of the hottest young prospects in the league. Newly promoted Kayserispor look in real trouble as they have now lost four consecutive games.
Başakşehir 0-2 Galatasaray
Talk of crisis is over at Galatasaray as the Lions won their third consecutive game and moved into second place. Lukas Podolski scored the controversial opener as he clearly handled the ball before scoring but luckily for him the referee missed the incident.
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Rizespor 2-3 Bursaspor
The resurgence of the Green Crocodile continued as Bursaspor defeated a Rizespor who had been unbeaten in the league 3-2 away from home. Summer signing Necid was the hero scoring a hat-trick and Turkey will have to watch out for the in-form striker as he has been called up for the international game between the Crescent-Stars and Czech Republic.
Eskişehirspor 1-2 Beşiktaş
Super Mario scored yet another brace to take his tally up to six and his team into first place. Mario could find himself back in the Germany national team at this rate. Beşiktaş did however, suffer a late scare when they allowed a game they were in total control of to descend into an edgy last 10 minutes when Eskişehirspor equalised and hit the post late on.
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Antalyaspor 0-0 Kasımpaşa
The leagues best performing defence Kasımpaşa kept their fourth clean sheet of the season and have only conceded three goals all season.
Fenerbahçe 2-2 Akhisar
All is not well in the Fenerbahçe defence. The Yellow Canaries have no problems scoring especially with Fernandao in red hot form. The Brazilian scored has eight goals already this season. Former Manchester United winger Luis Nani was influential as ever and provided his fourth assist of the season. The other former United star Robin van Persie did not start again and was not particularly effective when he was eventually brought on. Fenerbahçe took a two goal lead in the first half but their lead in the second half with yet more poor defending. The Yellow Canaries went into the week as leaders and ended it in third place.
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