Photo courtesy of Galatasaray’s official Facebook page
Galatasaray have a huge derby match set for this Sunday away to league-leading Besiktas. This is going to be a game where they can either cut the six-point deficit down to three, or go down by as many as nine. After the horrible result in midweek against Real Madrid at home, Gala have no choice except to win that match.
By fielding a somewhat different group of starters, this can happen. Fatih Terim‘s projected starting 11 for Besiktas are:
Keeper: Fernando Muslera
Defense: Sabri Sarioglu, Semih Kaya, Gokhan Zan, Hakan Balta
Midfield: Engin Baytar, Selcuk Inan, Felipe Melo, Wesley Sneijder, Bruma
Attack: Umut Bulut
Judging by the fact that only one striker will be fielded, the formation chosen will be none other than the 4-2-3-1 which has brought Real Madrid so much success in recent times.
Sarioglu starts in place of Eboue, who was almost a disaster against Madrid in midweek. Sabri has more pace, more physical ability and is completely fearless. He will be a huge asset for this match. Kaya and Zan are Turkish international center-backs who are not easily intimidated and almost never make errors compared to Chedjou and Nounkeu, who practically took the game off against Madrid.
Inan, Baytar, Sneijder and Melo all had pretty decent games in midweek, so Terim is trusting them to do the same against their Istanbul rivals. Bruma is a decent addition who gets the start due to his decent minutes off the bench. Starting as an 18-year-old can only boost up his confidence, since this will be his first as a GS player.
Bulut scored against Madrid off the bench to give the home side a late consolation. He is a more disciplined striker than Burak Yilmaz, and definitely deserves to start over him.
One absence from the starting 11 is the man who caused Madrid problems, especially when he assisted Bulut’s goal: Nordin Amrabat. He should definitely get some minutes off the bench. Then again, maybe he should start for Baytar down the right flank as he is more of a winger with Bruma ruling down the left hand side.
