Upbeat Trabzon takes on hapless Bursaspor

Trabzonspor will face the intimidating but out-of-form Bursaspor on Sunday, hoping to extend its Turkcell Super League lead.

Sitting three points clear of its closest trailer, Sivasspor, Trabzonspor wants to finish the first part of the season atop and with three games left and to do so it will need the best possible result against Bursaspor.

Trabzonspor extended its unbeaten run to seven games with a 2-1 victory over Kocaelispor last Sunday, much to the relief of its fans, who were upset about consecutive draws against Kayserispor and Sivasspor. According to striker Umut Bulut, it was down to making the most of the goal chances.

"We have too many goal chances but we can’t use them well," said Umut. "We play every game for a win, but sometimes we just can’t do what we want."

Young defender Tayfun Cora, who scored the winning goal against Kocaelispor, rued two missed chances as well.

"I hope we can use our chances better in next games and start a winning streak," he said.

Umut has scored five goals this year and tied with attacking partner Gökhan Ünal on the top of the team’s scorers list.

"As the weeks go by, our understanding gets better," Umut said of Gökhan. He added that Trabzonspor will take each game seriously. "We want to win the title very much," he said. "We will play each game in the best way we can."

High morale
While morale is high at Trabzonspor, the situation is almost the opposite with Bursaspor. Making a flashy start to the season with five wins in six games, the Crocs could add little to that early form. With four draws and four losses in the following eight matches, Bursaspor passed two months without a win after the 2-1 result against Galatasaray on Dec. 5.

However, Bursaspor is a potent performer when it comes to big games and sneaked a point from Beşiktaş apart from the Galatasaray victory. "We are preparing well for that game," said coach Güvenç Kurtar. "We will win this match with the full support of our fans."

Bursaspor misses its midfield maestro Yusuf Şimşek to injury, but Kurtar has no excuses.

"This game will be our jumping point," said the coach. "We have injured players but the remaining ones are psychologically and physically ready."

Good news for Bursaspor is that it welcomes back wonder boy Sercan Yıldırım. The 18-year-old striker is one of the rising stars of the season with six goals for Bursaspor in the campaign.

Just like Bursaspor, Beşiktaş wants to regain its form. After six weeks of unconvincing performances, Beşiktaş hit the bottom in last two games, being crushed by Fenerbahçe and Ankaraspor respectively. The Black Eagles are now six points behind Trabzonspor and look to remember their winning ways Saturday.

An advantage that Beşiktaş has is that Ankaragücü is in complete chaos now. After seven weeks at the helm, coach Ünal Karaman resigned last Sunday, soon to be followed by chairman Cemal Aydın, who had held the position for 11 years. The chairman position has been filled by Serdar Özersin, the former vice president but the coaching job is still vacant.

Another title contender, Fenerbahçe, will take on relegation battler Antalyaspor on Sunday. Fener will be looking to revive some morale after being knocked out of European competition with a loss at Dynamo Kiev, but Antalyaspor, who has not lost in six games after Mehmet Özdilek replaced Joseph Jarabinsky as coach, will be trying to cause an upset there as well.