14 August/Turkey Super League/ Fenerbahce-Eskisehirspor

Fenerbahce-Eskisehirspor

Fenerbahce starting to season as one of the strongest favourites for winning league title as usual.After a succesful run at friendlies they have played 2 disappointing matches versus Shaktar Donetsk of Ukraine and they were knocked out from champions league qualifiers with 3-0 on aggregate after matches in Istanbul and Lviv.
Their squad quality is certainly a level above superleague and will finish the season at 1st or 2nd position again but this 2 games showed us that if/when an opponent is able to put pressure on Fenerbahce and play the game on their side Fenerbahce doesnt seem capable to answer with counterattacks with their current team structure.Coach Pareira who can be rated as a below-average coach preferring an open 4-4-2 system and since offensive wingers like Nani,Stoch,Diego are not contributing to team defence central midfielders and centerbacks having extra workload which is ending with individual mistakes and heavy critics after matches.
Bruno Alves was under fire by columnists after last Shaktar defeat and this can be Ba for next game,Kjaer for the other one etc.If they want to play this open 4-4-2 at least central midfield must be covered with most phsycal players in squad(seems as Souza and Topal in current roster)
What to expect from Fenerbahce is high scoring and impressive wins especially at home,overish matches,surprising defeats on the road ,serious problems against opponents at same level especially in europa league

Finishing the season at top half of table will be a success for Eskisehir under German coach Skibbe s management but i really doubt about it as they were far from being impressive at TSYD CUP which was played against weak teams of Superleague and current squad+financial conditions not giving very good signs for long-term as well

I expect a high scoring match and a motivated start from Fenerbahce infront of their fans.I will be taking Fenerbahce Ah-1.25 


Fenerbahce AH -1.25@ 1.93 SBOBET

8 August Galatasaray-Bursaspor  Turkey Super Cup(neutral ground)

Bursaspor lost some key players from last seasons squad but also made important signings especially to defence as their main problem last season was conceding a lot .They have talented players at all positions in defence and many alternatives at central midfield but have lack of alternative at forward position after they sold Enes Unal,Batuhan Altintas and Fernandao at transfer season.Last years left winger Bakambu (originally a forward)played as a lone-striker during friendlies.His performance was good but have no back-up at same quality.After they left right winger Volkan Sen out of squad they dont have an offensive rightwinger and if/when Ozan ipek is out of form they dont have a real offensive -left winger.Offensive wing positions being covered by left and right backs ,or central midfielders at the moment such as Emre Tasdemir,Ozan Tufan etc.There will be 2 or 3 new addition to squad to this positions next week.Above comments shouldnt mean that Bursaspor is much weaker compared to last season as i watched their last friendly and seemed like a quiet solid and well balanced team under management of Ertugrul Saglam.I have some question marks about new goalkeeper Mert Gunok since he couldnt show the expected improvement from himself until now.

Galatasaray made an important addition to left wing position Podolski and also a good addition to left central midfield position with Bilal Kisa. His name doesnt seem impressive but im sure will show much better performance than out-of form players Selcuk and Hamit.Central midfielder Melos career was in the beginning of a downtrend so addition of Spanish midfielder Rodriguez is also good for them.I expect Bilal and Rodriguez to cover central midfield position during season and Selcuk will probably need to sit at bench unexpectedly.
Galatasarays main problem is at offensive right-wing position.Yasin will cover there for today.Yasin and Selcuk will be Galatasarays weakest lines for tonights Super Cup game

Galatasaray is favourite but cant see a great value in odds.Galatasaray -0.25 can be tried with small stakes but i will be waiting starting hour to see confirmed line-ups.Fair line for AH -0.25 should be between 1.70-1.80 range

Score prediction 2-1