Turkish League hit hard by goal drought
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Hurriyet Daily News
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Kasım 25, 2008 00:00
ISTANBUL - An incredible scoring drought over the weekend winds up in the Turkcell Super League, as 13 out of 18 teams failed to score.
The total number of 13 teams failing to score is a new league low, as the previous all-time low was 11 teams on the 19th week in the 2006/2007 season.
This week also renewed the previous weekend’s record of season-low goals. There were 12 goals this week and last week that number was 15. That was still better than the league’s all-time low of nine goals recorded in last season’s 24th week.
Beşiktaş was the only team from the league’s top seven to have managed to score goals as it beat Eskişehirspor 2-0. While the other title contenders were held to goalless draws, Beşiktaş benefited from the advantage to climb to the second spot.
If it was not for the extraordinary score of 4-3 in the Denizlispor-Bursaspor game on Sunday, the outcome of the week would have been even more disastrous, with five goals from eight games.
Gaziantepspor, which beat Gençlerbirliği 2-0, and Istanbul Municipality, which won over Hacettepe by a single goal, were the other teams that closed out the week with victories. Five other games ended in a draw.
Galatasaray coach Michael Skibbe, who saw his team held to a goalless draw at Ankaraspor on Saturday, blamed the opposition’s heavy defense, when he was asked why the Lions were so shy on shooting.
"Our opponents were too crowded in defense," said the German. For Luis Aragones, whose Fenerbahçe also failed to score against Ankaragücü, it was the defenses as well. "There were not much goal chances," he said, "while two side’s defenses played that well."
This week also renewed the previous weekend’s record of season-low goals. There were 12 goals this week and last week that number was 15. That was still better than the league’s all-time low of nine goals recorded in last season’s 24th week.
Beşiktaş was the only team from the league’s top seven to have managed to score goals as it beat Eskişehirspor 2-0. While the other title contenders were held to goalless draws, Beşiktaş benefited from the advantage to climb to the second spot.
If it was not for the extraordinary score of 4-3 in the Denizlispor-Bursaspor game on Sunday, the outcome of the week would have been even more disastrous, with five goals from eight games.
Gaziantepspor, which beat Gençlerbirliği 2-0, and Istanbul Municipality, which won over Hacettepe by a single goal, were the other teams that closed out the week with victories. Five other games ended in a draw.
Galatasaray coach Michael Skibbe, who saw his team held to a goalless draw at Ankaraspor on Saturday, blamed the opposition’s heavy defense, when he was asked why the Lions were so shy on shooting.
"Our opponents were too crowded in defense," said the German. For Luis Aragones, whose Fenerbahçe also failed to score against Ankaragücü, it was the defenses as well. "There were not much goal chances," he said, "while two side’s defenses played that well."