Alanyaspor vs Galatasaray
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Today’s free tip is in the Turkish Super Lig encounter between Alanyaspor and Galatasaray.
Opposing Galatasaray is something I want to do more and more every time I see them play. The way Trabzonspor dismantled them last time out was just unbelievable. The scoreline made it look more lucky than anything but the league leaders absolutely crucified Galatasaray for the vast majority of that encounter – in Istanbul!
Today’s visitors don’t seem to grasp that they’re now actually in a relegation battle, and they don’t look to have the mentalities in their squad to cope with that. I mean, say what you like about Rizespor and their weaknesses, for example, but they’re natural fighters which is why they always have a chance to avoid the drop, no matter what their situation is. Galatasaray don’t have that fight though, and they sure as hell don’t have the quality to bail themselves out. It’s a really precarious position that they find themselves in.
When a team is far down the table, I tend to find that it’s more about bad luck or bad planning than anything, and it can be rectified with the appropriate action. Galatasaray are in this position because they’re dreadful, however. I don’t want to lay all this at Muslera’s door, who is a club legend for them by now, but when he plays badly, so does the team – and he’s been playing badly this season, enough so for them to loan Pena from Barcelona. Well, he’s injured too!
Pulgar and Gomis have joined too, which seems more desperate than brilliant. I loved Gomis when he was last at Galatasaray because he was brilliant, but he’s thirty-six now, you know? There’s still no Mohamed – he’s with Egypt in Cameroon. Diagne and Babel don’t seem to want to be at the club anymore, and Dervisoglu just isn’t that good so there are no goal-scorers in this squad. Feghouli, the Romanian duo, and Kilinc are decent creators when they want to be, although I think it speaks volumes that Akturktoglu has been their best midfielder this season.
As for Galatasaray’s defence – well, the less said, the better. They don’t know their goalkeeper their full-backs are only good at attacking, and their centre-backs just aren’t that good. Nelsson has progressed well in recent years, to be fair to him, but he’s fighting the Alamo at this club. Can you blame him for struggling? When Pena debutises, it’ll be the fourth(!) goalkeeper Galatasaray have used this season, which is insane. They’re simply a joke now, Galatasaray. At no point do they look like they’re in control, can contain a team, or can hurt opponents.
The bookies don’t seem to have cottoned on to how grave Galatasaray’s situation is just yet, which is nice – suits me just fine. Alanyaspor are just as capable of beating Galatasaray as anybody else in the Super Lig, and don’t forget the additional incentive of beating one of the biggest clubs in the country. Furthermore, Alanyaspor are playing quite well at the moment, even with Awaziem not yet back from his post-AFCON rest. This is a good, fast, and hard-working team whose individuals consistently ask questions of their opponents, and I like that. Keeping Galatasaray on the back foot is crucial when it comes to beating them nowadays.
Karaca, Candeias, Novais, Akbaba (formerly of Galatasaray) – they’re not going to be lightly dealt with here. The team does miss Diedhiou but Davidson is enough for a game like this in which Galatasaray must attack. They always look like they’ll make something happen, Alanyaspor, and they’ve got good threats from set pieces too. I just can’t see why they’d struggle in this game because Galatasaray are literally just a name nowadays; they’re not a team worth fearing anymore. I appreciate that Karaca may not be in the best place mentally after his Fenerbahce transfer failed to materialise but it’s a minor issue compared to those that face Galatasaray.
Reports in Turkey already suggest that new Spanish boss Torrent is living on borrowed time. I am not surprised by that; appointing him was one hell of a risk, given the club’s situation, and Galatasaray is not a patient club. I think he might end up losing his job after this one because there’s no reason to believe Alanyaspor should lose it. Indeed, the hosts are playing well enough to win it, hence my interest.
Verdict: Alanyaspor to win with draw no bet at 4/5.
Sunday’s Thoughts
As ever, if there are any explanations required then please feel free to post a comment! For the remainder of my thoughts on today’s games, see below, although I feel compelled to write that the below are not necessarily my tips but merely my thoughts. For confidence ratings, you’ll need to go to the members section here.
FIFA World Club Cup:
Al Hilal vs Monterrey
Australian A-League:
Wellington Phoenix vs Macarthur FC
Austrian Cup:
Salzburg vs LASK
Belgian Eerste Klasse:
Club Brugge vs AA Gent
KV Mechelen vs Germinal Beerschot
RSC Anderlecht vs AS Eupen
Racing Genk vs Zulte-Waregem
Croatian Prva Liga:
Hrvatski Dragovoljac vs NK Osijek
Istra 1961 vs Dinamo Zagreb
Czechia Liga 1:
Mlada Boleslav vs Banik Ostrava
Viktoria Plzen vs Hradec Kralove
English FA Cup:
Liverpool vs Cardiff City
Nottingham Forest vs Leicester City
French Ligue 1:
Lorient vs Racing Club Lens
OGC Nice vs Clermont Foot 38
Stade de Reims vs Girondins de Bordeaux
Racing Club Strasbourg vs FC Nantes Atlantique
Troyes vs Metz
Stade Rennais vs Stade Brestois
Lille OSC vs Paris Saint-Germain
German Bundesliga:
Bv09 Borussia Dortmund vs Bayer 04 Leverkusen
VfL Wolfsburg vs Greuther Furth
German Bundesliga 2:
Holstein Kiel vs Fortuna Dusseldorf
Darmstadt 98 vs Hamburger SV
Dynamo Dresden vs Hansa Rostock
Hungarian Liga 1:
Mezokovesd-Zsory vs Puskas FC
Ferencvaros vs Paksi SE
Israeli Ligat Ha’al:
Hapoel Hadera vs Hapoel Haifa
Beitar Jerusalem vs Hapoel Nof HaGalil
Italian Serie A:
Atalanta Bergamo vs Cagliari
Bologna vs Empoli
Sampdoria vs Sassuolo
Venezia vs SSC Napoli
Udinese vs Torino
Juventus vs Hellas Verona
Italian Serie B:
Cremonese vs Monza
Pordenone vs SPAL
Dutch Eredivisie:
Feyenoord Rotterdam vs Sparta Rotterdam
FC Groningen vs Go Ahead Eagles
Willem II vs RKC Waalwijk
AFC Ajax Amsterdam vs Heracles Almelo
Portuguese Liga 1:
Gil Vicente vs Santa Clara
Boavista vs Vizela
Arouca vs FC Porto
Sporting Clube de Portugal vs Famalicao
Portuguese Liga 2:
Leixoes Matosinhos vs Rio Ave
Vilafranquense vs Mafra
Romanian Liga 1:
Arges vs Academica Clinceni
FCSB vs U Craiova 1948
Spanish Primera Liga:
Valencia vs Real Sociedad
Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid
Real Betis Balompie vs Villarreal
Real Madrid vs Granada
Swiss Super League:
FC Basel vs FC Sion
Lugano vs Luzern
St. Gallen vs Young Boys Bern
Turkish Super Lig:
Alanyaspor vs Galatasaray
Rizespor vs Adana Demirspor
Besiktas JK vs Antalyaspor
Goztepe vs Altay
Enjoy your free betting tips!