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Super Lig Weekly: Galatasaray and Besiktas march on as Fenerbahce stumble again

Baris Alper Yilmaz celebrates with Rafael Leao after Galatasaray's victory
Baris Alper Yilmaz celebrates with Rafael Leao after Galatasaray's victoryAA/ABACA / Abaca Press / Profimedia / Flashscore

Galatasaray and Besiktas continued to firmly cement themselves as the favourites for the Super Lig title on the weekend, while the struggles continued for their rivals Fenerbahce and Trabzonspor. Meanwhile, there were some really impressive performances from newly promoted teams Corum and Amedspor.

Coming off a brilliant win at Fenerbahce, Besiktas took on Erzurumspor on Friday evening, but were without striker Dusan Vlahovic, who was serving a one-match ban after an incident in last week's derby.

However, there were no issues whatsoever, as they cruised to a comfortable 3-0 victory, once again showing they are real contenders for the Super Lig title this season.

Leandro Trossard, who has been excellent in recent weeks, grabbed his first goal for the club, sandwiched between a header from the underrated Emirhan Topcu and an own goal.

At this moment in time, Besiktas look like a well-rounded, complete outfit from one end of the pitch to the other. They have conceded the fewest number of goals this season (4) and scored the second most (12).

There is a lot of positivity around the club after they have consistently made some smart decisions off the pitch, particularly the appointment of Vincenzo Italiano.

They begin their Europa League campaign this week with an exciting home fixture against Marseille.

Four-time defending champions Galatasaray were in action on Saturday night, as they faced club legend Selcuk Inan's team, Kocaelispor.

Deniz Gul and Rafael Leao started their first games for the club, with the former replacing the injured Victor Osimhen up front.

In the end, despite the scoreline suggesting otherwise, Galatasaray secured a relatively comfortable 1-0 win, thanks to a long-range effort from captain Abdulkerim Bardakci.

Deniz was extremely impressive up front, doing a fantastic job of filling in for their talisman. He hit the post with an excellent effort and had a goal unfortunately ruled out.

Leao was also sharp, but he was clearly lacking fitness, looking knackered towards the end of the match.

Fellow new signings Lesley Ugochukwu and Aleksey Batrakov had bright cameos off the bench, too, and they will be really pleased that their additions are starting to settle. 

Up next for them in the league is a massive trip to Trabzonspor.

Fenerbahce and Trabzonspor flounder

Trabzonspor were the next title contender to take to the pitch, as they paid a visit to bottom-of-the-table Konyaspor, who were, in fact, without a point.

Still managerless, Trabzon has faced a lot of uncertainty, and their performance clearly suffered against Konya. Rajmund Toth's second-minute goal was enough to give the home team a shock 1-0 win, inflicting more misery on Mohamed Salah and his teammates.

Trabzon were toothless throughout, and the team clearly lacks an identity. Even during manager Fatih Tekke's final few weeks in charge, there seemed to be a disconnect between President Ertugrul Dogan and him, and they have to get back on track quickly.

They are reportedly close to appointing Ludogorets Razgrad coach Thomas Reis, who was manager of Samsunspor as recently as February.

The German did a terrific job at the Turkish club, making them a robust, pragmatic side that was hard to beat. He is a good manager, but he will probably need time to build Trabzonspor into his image. 

Could he be appointed in time for the Galatasaray match?

It has been a typically dramatic week in the world of Fenerbahce. After drawing with Roma in their first Champions League match in 18 years, manager Ismail Kartal stunningly handed in his resignation, saying he would never return and claiming he felt upset after a bottle hit him in the head from the stands.

The club turned down his resignation, and after a day of convincing, he eventually returned.

But things continued to go pear-shaped, as they had to settle for a very disappointing 0-0 draw away at Gaziantep on Monday. They are now winless in their last three games in all competitions and have won just two of their first five league games.

Much like Fatih Tekke at Trabzon, who handed in his resignation, did a U-turn, lost his next game, and eventually left the club, Ismail Kartal has undermined himself completely. If a manager needlessly resigns and makes an emotional decision like this, he makes himself a lame duck.

Players and fans will start seeing him differently, and that makes the situation completely doomed.

The Fenerbahce squad has already been left short, and they will seriously struggle to juggle multiple competitions. In addition, they now have a manager who will inevitably crumble after his resignation; it is looking pretty bleak.

Without Marco Asensio, this is a team that lacks any real cutting edge or quality, and they have struggled in his absence.

It is very early days, but they are already six points off Galatasaray in top spot. The champions aren't going to drop many points this season, so they have to be careful not to fall too far behind.

Amedspor and Corum impress

A special mention for two teams making their debuts in the Super Lig. Corum obliterated an awful Samsunspor 5-1 on Saturday, putting them on seven points from their first five games.

Meanwhile, Amedspor also claimed a crushing 5-0 win over Istanbul Basaksehir, moving them up to third in the table!

Both sides have started so well, and there is absolutely no chance that either will have to worry about getting into a relegation scrap.

They have spent a lot of money and brought in a lot of players, with Amedspor signing the likes of Alban Lafont and, remarkably, Gift Orban. Once a highly rated young striker who played for Gent and Lyon, the 24-year-old has scored six goals this season, sitting at the top of the scoring standings alongside countryman Osimhen.

Corum have signed former Dortmund wonderkid Youssoufa Moukoko, Cengiz Under, Mohammed Diomande, Caglar Soyuncu, Alexandros Kyziridis and Jesus Ramirez, among others, cementing themselves as a solid Super Lig outfit.

Team of the Week

Team of the Week
Team of the WeekFlashscore

Amedspor's Orban is the Flashscore Player of the Week, according to our very own internal ratings system, after his hat-trick against Basaksehir.

He is joined by teammates Ermal Krasniqi and Rayan Raveloson, as well as Galatasaray's Abdulkerim and Roland Sallai, and Besiktas' Trossard and Emirhan.

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Tolga Akdeniz is a global senior editor for Flashscore, specialising in football, basketball and tennis. Our resident Turkish football expert, he can often be found devouring the Super Lig. Tolga lives in London - you can follow him on X and YouTube, and read his latest features right here.