Headless Lions Need To Regain Composure At Antep

Keeper coach Claudio Taffarel leads the Lions into their Spor Toto Super League week 11 match at Gaziantepspor after the club crashed out of the UEFA Champions League earlier in the week.

Following their defeat at the hands of Belgian side Anderlecht, Galatasaray decided it had finally had enough of coach Cesare Prandelli, the second unsuccessful Italian coach in just over a year. Galatasaray's position at the bottom of the Champions League is set in stone, although the demoralized Lions still have one match to play against Arsenal.

Former coach Roberto Mancini led the club deep into the knockout rounds last year, which means things have only gone downhill since Prandelli took the helm, even though Galatasaray has done reasonably well in the Super League.

Home team injuries

Gaziantep is floating around the middle of the league table at eighth heading into their match with Galatasaray. Gaziantep may have lost its last match to Torku Konyaspor, but it has won the last three on its home turf.

“We need to win to bring that series to four,” Gaziantepspor coach Okan Buruk said at training on Thursday. “Last week we suffered a loss we did not want. We want to perform better, looking at our errors and learning our lessons. Unfortunately there are holes in our squad,” he added.

The middling club is troubled with a string of injuries, including forward Muhammet Demir, Honduran forward Carlo Costly and defender Koray Arslan, plus Guinea forward Aboubacar Demba Camara, who may be fit for Saturday's match. Buruk will also miss the services of suspended German-born defender Elyasa Süme. That leaves the club with a heavily damaged offense.

“Elyasa and Muhammet performed especially well in recent weeks. But the squad and the quality of the players we have in hand is enough to answer to even a big team,” Buruk said. “Even though Galatasaray sometimes experiences turbulence, it is one of the league's good clubs that plays for the championship. For that reason a hard match awaits us,” he added.

Around the top

One thing the Lions have done respectably is to keep in time with the leadership race in the Super League. It is neck and neck and neck between the big İstanbul trio: Galatasaray, archrival Fenerbahçe and current leader Beşiktaş.

But even keeping up has been difficult. Last weekend the Lions lost at home to struggling Trabzonspor and its brand new coach Ersun Yanal. But if the Black Sea Storm turned its fortune around so quickly with a new trainer, then maybe Galatasaray will follow suit with a new coach.

Galatasaray is relatively healthy, despite being headless. The club is trying to bring the national team's Fatih Terim in for a four spell at the Lions, but he has not done well with the Turkey squad, so they might want to rethink their choices.

The match kicks off at 7 p.m. at Kamil Ocak Stadium in Gaziantep on Saturday. Özgür Yankaya will officiate. At 4 p.m. Kayseri Erciyesspor hosts dead-last Balıkesirspor in a battle at the bottom of the standings. Erciyes is hovering just above the relegation zone. Moving ever so slightly up the table in the first match of the day at 1:30 p.m., 14th-placed Çaykur Rizespor visits 11th Kasımpaşa.

Rachel Mollman (Cihan/Today's Zaman)