The Pot 4 Club – Trabzonspor

The Pot 4 Club continues on Just Football with an analysis of Trabzonspor from the creators of Turkish-Futbol.com:

Club: Trabzonspor

Straight outta’: Turkey

Group: B – with Internazionale, Lille and CSKA Moscow

Brief History

Trabzonspor are a professional sports club based in the city of Trabzon which is located on Turkey’s north east Black Sea coast. The club was founded as the result of a forced merger between rivals İdmanocağı and İdmangücü. The Turkish Football Federation had initially asked for the two teams to combine in 1962 in line with their new directive which asked for regional teams to unite in order to create more organized and professional clubs. However, both clubs refused. The federations patience wore thin and after 5 years of asking, in 1967 they took the decision that unless they cooperate and merge neither team would be allowed to participate in the new league. So in 1967 İdmanocağı and İdmangücü merged together to establish Trabzonspor.

The Black Sea giants went on to become the most successful Turkish club outside of Istanbul winning the league on 6 occasions. They were the first Anatolian club to win the Turkish first division and break the stranglehold Istanbul clubs had over Turkish football.

Trabzonspor finished runners up in last season’s thrilling championship race, missing out on the title only due to goal difference with Fenerbahçe. They actually crashed out of Champions League during their qualification match with Benfica who defeated them 3-1 on aggregate. However, they were later awarded a place in the competition due to Fenerbahçe being denied entry this year by UEFA and the TFF over their suspected involvement in the on-going nationwide match fixing probe.

Stadium / Fans

Trabzonspor have an estimated 3-4 million supporters. They have a fanatical fanbase drawing most of their support from the Trabzon province and surrounding regions. Recent studies have shown that as many as 72% of local residents support their local Trabzon club. Supporting Trabzonspor has become synonymous with being Trabzonlu (a person from Trabzon) and there is a huge sense of city and regional pride in their team.

The team play in the 24,169 capacity Hüseyin Avni Aker Stadium. Opponents can expect every game to be a sellout with the home crowd creating a fiery, electrifying atmosphere. Unlike most Turkish clubs Trabzonspor don’t have a unified ultra group, instead they have many splinter groups and small ultra firms, 61 Gençlik, Çılgınlar, Vira to name a few. There are around 15-20 active groups.

Style of Play / Tactics

The club are renowned for attacking based football, they press and close down the ball well. Manager Şenol Güneş is likely to keep with his attacking minded 4-3-3 formation. New signings Ondrej Celustka and Marek Cech will have little time to settle in defense however, Serkan Balci and Giray Kaçar should be well prepared and comfortable in their roles.

Güneş will be hoping Didier Zokora’s experience and quality shines through as he will have a key role trying to break up opponents attacks. The hardworking Argentinian Colman will continue being used to link the defense and attack.

Adrian Mierzejewski is the biggest unknown in the team, he is new to Turkey and has no previous Champions League experience. However, Güneş has made it clear in previous interviews that he will have a key role in the team. He is likely to be played in an attacking midfielder position and used as a trequartista getting in-between the opponents midfield and defensive lines. He is likely to be rotated with the flamboyant Brazilian Alanzinho

Volkan Şen, Altintop & Burak Yilmaz will form the basis of a wide ‘tridente’ with Vittek, Henrique, Pavel Brozek competing for a space. Volkan Şen is the player to watch, the young winger had a great season at Bursaspor during their Championship winning campaign however, had personal problems with manager Ertuğrul Sağlam last season and underperformed. The new start could be what the talented winger needs to kick start his career again.

Halil Altintop has never played in Turkey before, however, the Bundesliga regular has Turkish national team experience and should be able to settle in without much problem.

Burak Yilmaz is a key player, he has has been in sensational form and was instrumental in Trabzonspor’s league success last season. He has put in some good performances for the national team this season and if he can carry on playing at this level he could turn a few heads in Europe this season. He has good off the ball movement, positioning and gets critical goals in big games.

Manager

Trabzonspor manager Şenol Güneş has a legendary status in Turkey after coaching the Turkish national team through a thrilling World Cup campaign finishing 3rd in 2002, an unprecedented success in Turkish football.

Güneş who is Trabzon born and bred, played as goalkeeper of Trabzonspor for 15 years from 1972-1987. He played 424 times for the ‘Bordo-mavililer’ (Claret-Blues) and holds the longest clean sheet record in Turkish football history going 1112 minutes without conceding a goal.

He briefly managed Trabzonspor from 1993-97 however, his managing career really kicked off after his World Cup success. Coached South Korean side FC Seoul for two seasons from 2005-2007. Güneş then joined Trabzon again in 2009 for his third stint as manager of the club. He built one of Turkey’s most potent attacking teams during this brief period and the foundations he lay in the first year began to pay dividends last season, the team finishing runner up in the league and missing out on the championship only by goal difference.

Unfortunately Güneş lost key members of his squad during the summer transfer window, the most critical being the departures in midfield. Selçuk İnan, Ceyhun Gülselam, Jaja, Yattara and Umut Bulut were key players in the midfield and attack.

They have bought in replacements and strengthened the squad bringing in Slovakian internationals Robert Vittek plus Marek Sapara, Marek Cech from West Bromwich, Ondrej Celustka from Slavia Prag, Adrian Mierzejewski from Polonia Warsaw, Brazilian Paulo Henrique, Didier Zokora from Sevilla, Volkan Şen from Bursaspor and Halil Altintop from Schalke 04.

They have bought in some quality prospects, especially in Zokora, Şen and Altintop and much is expected from their Polish duo. Whether the new signings can settle in time for the Champions League campaign remains to be seen. They looked rusty in their Champions League qualifier and in recent friendlies. Güneş will need to enforce all his managerial wisdom to get this team prepared in time for the competition.

Key Players

Onur Kivrak: Kivrak is one of Turkey’s most promising goalkeeper’s. Possesses great reflexes, a strong physical presence, deals well with aerial balls and is an excellent shot-stopper. Trabzonspor’s defence are prone to errors so Kivrak often has chances to shine. Under the guidance of Güneş who himself was one of Turkey’s greatest goalkeepers, he has made drastic improvements and has experience to match the potential despite only being 23.

Burak Yilmaz: Has been in sensational form and was instrumental in Trabzonspor’s league success last season. He has put in some good performances for the national team and if he can carry on playing at this level he could turn a few heads in Europe this season. He is the best off-the-ball player in Turkey according to manager Guus Hiddink, has great movement, positioning and gets critical goals in big games.

One to Watch

Volkan Şen

Şen is the player to watch. The young winger had a great season at Bursaspor during their Championship winning campaign, but had personal problems with manager Ertuğrul Sağlam last season and underperformed. The new start could be what the talented winger needs to restart his career. Already has Champions League experience from Bursaspor’s campaign.

You may not know

When at a Trabzonspor game don’t be alarmed by the 61st minute festivities, you may be fooled into thinking the game is over and the celebrations have started early with all the fireworks, confetti and jubilant crowd going absolutely crazy. However, this is a Trabzonspor tradition – 61 is their city code and in the 61st minute of every home game the supporters go nuts and the atmosphere really livens up. Expect the atmosphere to reach fever pitch for the duration of the game thereafter.

Outlook / Prediction

Trabzonspor are quite frankly in for a rough ride. This will be most of these players’ first time in the Champions League and more worryingly many of them have hardly any experience playing together. Their only hope is that Şenol Güneş pulls something out the hat; he has experience of exceeding expectations with underdogs in cup competitions and is a good motivator. There is depth in midfield and attack, but unfortunately the defense is error prone and lacks quality replacements should any of them get injured or suspended.

The quality of opposition will be hard for Trabzonspor to deal with and it’s difficult seeing them pick up points away against any of their opponents. CSKA Moscow has been in fantastic form in the Russian league, the champions of France, Lille have a quality side and the lack of experience could show in the San Siro against Internazionale. Their biggest hope for points will be at home; Trabzon will be new to most these teams and they will be in for a shock when they come face to face with the local support. Trabzonspor will realistically be hoping to clinch the 3rd spot and make it to the Europa League at best. It will take a monumental effort for them to make it to the next stages of the competition.

Eren and Emre are the brains behind the excellent Turkish-Football.com . Also on Twitter @Turkish_Futbol

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Champions League, The Pot 4 Club, Trabzonspor, Turkey, Turkish Super Lig