Could have been worse- Kayserispor 0:0 Galatasaray

By: Musab | August 31st, 2008

The city of Kayseri is known for its spicy sausages, it’s legendary fortress, and of course being the home of the Turkish leagues newest powerhouse, Kayserispor. Galatasaray visited the city today to defeat Kayserispor and maybe to take some of those sausages back home. Coming off a demoralizing loss to Steaua Bucresti, I didn’t really expect the CimBom to actually play good football, let alone actually defeat Kayserispor. Last season Kayseri did not lose at home against Galatasaray, Fenerbahce and Besiktas. Although they’ve lost their star forward Gokhan Unal to Trabzonspor, Kayserispor is still a team to be reckoned with.

KAYSERİSPOR:0 GALATASARAY:0

Stadium: Atatürk Stadyumu
Referees: Bünyamin Gezer, Serdar Diyadin, Yusuf Asım Öz

Kayserispor: Souleymanou, Durmuş, Ali Turan, Toledo, Eren, Saidou, Mehmet Topuz, Olembe (min. Bilal Aziz ), Turgay (min. 56 Escobar ), Abdullah, Aghahowa (min. 90 Puroviç)

Galatasaray: De Sanctis, Linderoth, Hakan Balta, Barış (min. 12 Mehmet Topal ), Servet, Meira, Ayhan, Aydın, Kewell, Arda, Ümit Karan (min. 73 Milan Baros )

Yellow Cards: min. 29 Saidou, min. 58 Olembe, min. 66 Abdullah, min. 81 Ali Tunan (Kayserispor) min. 29 Ayhan (Galatasaray)

Skibbe decided to change the lineup a bit by bringing in young starlet Aydin Yilmaz to the Right flank and playing Harry Kewell right behind Umit Karan as a sort of supporting striker. After his poor showing on wednsday, Lincoln was on the bench (he would not have a part in this match). Linderoth once again served as an emergency rightback while Morgan de Sanctis finally took his place between the posts.

Theres not really much to say about the match. Both teams seemed too afraid to take chances and push forward for the goal. The only real chance for a goal on either side was a close range shot by Olembe for Kayserispor which was saved by an excellent reflex by Morgan de Sanctis and a header from Servet which just missed the mark.

Something a bit more disappointing on the Galatasaray front was the fact that Skibbe seemmed happy with the tie and did not do anything to get the lead. Baris was injured and had to be taken off, Milan Baros made his debut, only to replace fellow striker Umit Karan.

I also have to criticize Skibbe’s tactics. Galatasaray has been playing a single formation for the past 21 years. Ever since the legendary Jupp Derwall arrived to the Ali Sami Yen, Galatasaray as been playing a 4-3-1-2 formation, the so called “Derwall formation”. Here the emphasis is on ATTACK. The wings send crosses to the two strikers while a “number 10″ distributes passes and through balls. Skibbe however has been playing with only a single forward and is instead playing two defensive midfielders. Hmm, why does that sound so familiar??? Oh yea, it was what Fener had been using for the past 4 years!!!

I know it’s early in the season, but I can’t help but wonder as whether Skibbe will make it through the season. The board has been backing him completely in the transfer market and yet we’re out of the champions league, the football is really bad, and we’re two points behind a very impressve Trabzonspor. Let’s hope for his sake that the present situation gets better.