TFT Issue 3312!

I would never, ever call a Turkish Super Lig team ‘good at defending’. It’s just not something that tends to be true, really. Most of them are far keener when it comes to embracing attacking football, often at the expense of tactics, so defending is more of an afterthought than anything.

Having said that, the one team that stands out more than any other at this level for being relatively competent at the back is Konyaspor. This season is not an exception either, with only Galatasaray and Alanyaspor having conceded less goals than they have. It’s fair to say that they’re not an easy watch, Konyaspor, but they do make it hard for themselves to be dragged into a Super Lig relegation battle because they’re able to contain teams for the most part, or at least make it very hard for those teams to find a way through. That’s all I basically expect from them today too.

Until twelve months ago, this style had really irked Galatasaray, who hadn’t beaten Konyaspor in their last three attempts at that point, drawing each game in low-scoring fashion. I would not be at all surprised to see the usual trend continue here, not with Guilherme, Skubic etc. looking solid enough at the back, and plenty of steel in midfield in front of them. They may not embrace the art of attacking all that often, Konyaspor, but you can generally rely upon them being annoying.

I don’t think we’ll see anything different here either. The Konyaspor absentee list may be substantial, but most of them are attack-minded players e.g Miya, Hurtado, Eduok. Both of their main strikers, Cikalleshi and Kravets, have missed a few games lately, and are both listed as doubtful for today’s game too. I honestly don’t think that Konyaspor could put on an attacking display even if they bizarrely wanted to, basically. I expect them to deploy the ol’ hit and run approach, and with their more illustrious opposition missing players, maybe it’s not so far-fetched to consider them getting a positive result today.

I wouldn’t back it myself, mind you. Galatasaray may have only drawn at home against hapless Antalyaspor last time out but they were robbed, really. They were controlling the game perfectly well until Kilinc got a very bizarre red card. On a personal level, I do detest the type of challenge he made because to me, it’s blatant cheating. I’m talking about the shirt pulls or trips to stop opponents on the break that aren’t red card worthy, but definitely should be more than a yellow card; maybe some kind of sin-bin? I don’t know, but a yellow card isn’t enough for them. Anyway, the referee for this game – despite having the help of VAR – decided to send Kilinc off for doing what hundreds of players around the world do daily – stopping a counterattack. It was 100% a yellow card but never a red. Even with ten men though, Galatasaray still looked the more threatening team to me.

So, yeah – despite their absentees, Galatasaray have performed surprisingly well of late. I suppose that’s the benefit of having a lot of depth. With Kilinc’s suspension now added to the injuries of Muslera, Etebo, Babel, Feghouli, and Elabdellaoui though, it’s getting harder and harder for me to trust the Istanbul heavyweights to do what’s expected of them, and this fixture in Konya is one they tend to find rather challenging at the best of times. I agree with the bookies making them favourites to win it, but I can’t say that backing either team here does much for me.

I like how Galatasaray have adjusted to their situation though. They’ve become better at keeping the ball lately, making it harder for opponents to capitalise upon their mistakes. I don’t know about you folks, but I get very nervous when I see that Muslera is still injured, for example. Keeping the ball better in midfield goes some distance as to negating his absence. The only real danger for my tip today is if Galatasaray go gung-ho in Konya, but I’m not sure they can either, not with Kilinc, Babel, and Feghouli all out now. There’s enough quality left for them to edge the win, but I think it’ll be a long, hard slog, especially because of fixture congestion.

Therefore, backing under 2.5 goals makes a whole lot of sense to me here.