The substitutions of Tayyip Talha and Zaynutdinov caused Besiktas to fall back. After the high-energy and dominant performance against Eintracht Frankfurt, it was clear that the Gaziantep away match would not be an easy test for Besiktas. Giovanni Van Bronckhorst did not make changes to the starting eleven, keeping Ersin, Mert, Rashica, and Joao Mario, while opting to play Rafa Silva in a semi-free role on the right flank.
The first 45 minutes resembled the second half of the Trabzonspor match, where they played with ten men. Besiktas struggled to break through a compact opponent that had dropped its defensive line back. It is also necessary to mention the weaknesses created by Ndour’s positioning on the field.
IF SEMIH KILICSOY WAS THERE
The ball wasn’t circulating quickly, making the center more penetrable, and especially with Joao Mario also playing in the middle, there was excessive clustering in that area. If Semih Kilicsoy had been on the field, a different setup could have been possible, but the young player evidently did not convince the Dutch coach. Gio’s students, who could not dictate the rhythm of the game as desired, were moving toward a more concerning performance with the injury of Gabriel Paulista and the presence of a fast forward like Okereke, when Immobile entered the scene. He first earned a penalty with his position tracking and then converted it into a goal.
MAXIM GAVE A LESSON
In the third minute of the second half, just like in the same minute of the first half, Mert, who closed his goal to Okereke’s shot, prevented his team from entering the last part of the match with more anxiety. Besides the momentary dangers that Selcuk Inan’s students faced, the last half hour actually went as Van Bronckhorst wanted.
Just as it seemed that the match would end this way, the Dutch coach’s substitutions of Tayyip Talha and Zaynutdinov led to his team falling back even more in the final minutes and not being able to hold the ball upfront. It is not true that having more defenders results in better defense. Indeed, in the last minutes, Maxim taught this lesson by taking 2 points from Besiktas and bringing his team to a draw.
