Denizlispor V Galatasaray
Friday 16th August 2019 – 18:30 Kick-Off
Turkish Super Lig
Pick: Denizlispor or Draw (Double Chance)
Odds: 13/10
Bookmaker: Betfair
 |
1 | X | 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 87/20 | 3/1 | 13/20 |
* (All betting odds displayed were correct as of August 14th 2019 at 14:40)
Preview: For your first game back in Turkey’s top league, fixtures don’t come any tougher than this. Denizlispor were promoted as champions from the league below last season but will host a team whose achievements in the past twelve months well and truly trump theirs, as the reigning Super Lig and Turkish Cup champions, Galatasaray, make their way to the Denizli Ataturk Stadium.
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Denizlispor Preview
The distinctive green colours of Denizlispor will be a common sight this season, with the club set to embark on its first league campaign back in the Turkish top-flight for ten years. The team return as champions as well, demonstrating a greater level of consistency to avoid more losses and score more goals to finish top of the second division, two points ahead of Genclerbirligi.
As previously mentioned, Denizlispor weren’t shy in front of goal last season. Their tally of 67 goals were scored at a rate of almost two a game and was seven more than any other team in the second tier could manage. Those goals were evenly shared between their home and away fixtures, though, and it is certainly worth bearing in mind that home games didn’t produce vastly superior numbers.
In fact, it could be argued that Denizlispor are a better team on their travels, winning on twelve occasions as the visiting side (W12 D3 L2) compared to the nine when on hosting duties (W9 D6 L2). However, defensively it is apparent that a team nicknamed Roosters are more adept at limiting the opposition’s offensive threat.
Just one team conceded fewer than their 12 goals from home matches, which was a rate of 0.71 per game and was a figure better to the margin eight goals than was achieved away from home (20). This was in evidence towards the end of the campaign, when Denzlispor were successful in denying four of their final five opponents from scoring at home during an unbeaten sequence (W1 D4).
Galatasaray Preview
With victory in the domestic Super Cup earlier in the month, beating an Akhisarspor side that will spend the forthcoming term in the second division 1-0, Galatasaray essentially consolidated their stranglehold on Turkish football. The club are now in possession of all three major trophies after ending 2018/19 with both the league and cup already tucked away inside their well-stock trophy cabinet. Expectations ahead of this new season are unsurpprisingly sky high.
The defence of a league title they have claimed in each of the past two seasons will begin away at Denizlispor. The fact it is against an opponent to whom they last lost a competitive fixture against way back in 2003 (winning each of the previous eight), has to be a huge positive. That it is away from home, where the statistics point towards them being at their most susceptible, will be of slight concern however.
A stunning nineteen game unbeaten run between December and the end of May (W13 D6) was key to manager Fatih Terim guiding Galatasaray to a second successive league crown, but of the nine that were played on the road only four were converted into victories. The numbers produced from their away matches over the course of the season also highlights a very clear drop-off in productivity: fewer goals scored (25 compared with 47 at home) as well as more of them conceded (12 compared to 24).
All five of their league defeats, meanwhile, were suffered on their travels. Although it should be noted that only one of those occurred in the second half of the campaign – the team nicknamed “The Lions” lost four of their opening seven away fixtures (W2 D1 L4), dire form that improved dramatically from January to only lose one of their remaining ten such matches (W4 D5 L1).
Denizlispor V Galatasaray Key Facts:
- Denizlispor lost only two matches (W9 D6 L2) and conceded just 12 times at home en route to winning the second division in 2018/19.
- All five of Galatasaray‘s league defeats last season occurred when playing away from home (W7 D5 L5).
- The previous eight competitive meetings between these two clubs were won by Galatasaray, although the last of those was back in 2010.
Betting Summary
Facing the champions first time out is no easy task. However, last season’s second division champions seem reasonably well-equipped to potentially hit the ground running. Just one team in the second division could boast stronger defensive numbers on their own turf than Denizlispor, whose total of ten clean sheets and only 12 goals conceded were both very impressive statistics. The team also finished unbeaten in the last five as the home side (W1 D4) in a run which seen them shut out four of their five opponents.
Although there was improvements made, Galatasaray’s performance did noticeably drop-off when playing away from home. All five of their league defeats occurred in away matches, where they scored far less frequently and shipped double the amount of goals they did at home. Manager Fatih Terim is also missing several key individuals behind the team’s success from last season, with top scorer Henry Onyekuru, as well as key midfielders Fernando and Badou N’Diaye, no longer at the club.
Galatasaray have replaced some significant departures with the arrivals of Ryan Babel and Seri from Fulham, among others, but some patience is in order before these new players gel. Which might explain why the team only laboured to a 1-0 win against modest opposition in the recent Turkish Super Cup. This feels as good a time as any for a promoted side to be facing the champions, who were extremely slow out of the blocks away from home last season.
