Would Jose really be Jose if he didn’t complain about something? Of course not. And we love him for it!
We are two months in to Mourinho’s adventures in Turkey now, and whilst there has only been one official match to witness and see how the Special One’s influence on the Fenerbahce players has translated onto the pitch, it certainly has been an interesting start for the Portuguese. A couple weeks in and the contract of midfielder Mert Hakan Yandaş was renewed by the club (he made 23 appearances last season, so although not one of the top players he clearly had done enough to be kept around). On the same day, German midfielder Levent Mercan joined from Fatih Karagümrük, another deal which was likely agreed to before Mourinho signed, but would’ve surely needed his sign-off on before being ratified. Over a dozen players returned to the club having been out on loan the previous season, as well as Rade Krunic’s loan deal from Milan being made permanent. There was also the arrival of renowned Turkish international, striker Cenk Tosun… who despite being somewhat of a flop in the Premier League for Everton, found his feet again back in Turkey with Besiktas. He on July 16th crossed the Istanbul border to join Fener, whilst another veteran striker made an even more controversial move out of the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium…
Belgian striker Michy Batshuayi became the 11th player to have played for each of Turkey’s ‘big 3’, having left Fenerbahce on a free despite scoring 24 goals in his second season after 20 the season before. But off he went to the enemy, and Fenerbahce needed another maverick to fill the void left…
I would be remise if I didn’t give a mention to Çağlar Söyüncü. The former Leicester City FA Cup winning defender joined the club permanently following a successful loan spell the previous season. He’s a ball playing defender, but he can defend as well, just needs a manager to believe in him and give him the right tools around him to play at his best. I can’t pretend it wouldn’t give me huge joy to see him and Mourinho finding success this season together.
If central defenders with… something about them… is one classic in a Jose Mourinho team, then he too is synonymous for his goalkeepers. The question now is how will Victor Baia, Petr Cech, Julio Cesar, Iker Casillas (or Diego Lopez of course), Thibaut Courtois, David De Gea, Higo Lloris and Rui Patricio be compared in years to come, to Jose’s current number 1… Croatia national team goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic.
After a great run of performances in Qatar, as his national team made it to the semi finals, he earned himself a move to Fenerbahçe (whom paid his former club Dinamo Zagreb 6.65 million euros for his services) as well as a nomination for the 2023 Yashin Trophy that crowns the world’s best goalkeeper. Now, after a season in Turkey as a number 1 his future is in question again. There have been links to Ipswich Town, and serious talk of a bid having been accepted from Scottish champions Celtic, but with the later having now signed Danish legend Kasper Schmeichel perhaps Mourinho will get to keep hold of his goalkeeper after all. We shall see…
Fener’s post-euros pre season saw them take a trip to Austria, where they played 4 friendly matches with mixed results. This was followed by a 5-1 win over Hull City (who’s owners are Turkish, hence the seemingly random match being made) back in Turkey that set them up for their first match of the season PROPER, yes in July… don’t finish second in the league I guess…
One thing you can mark down as a certainty with Mourinho is you will never be stuck on things to talk about when his team plays, even if he has them execute a classic Jose ‘borefest’ gameplan, his first match in charge of Fenerbahce was no different as the Mourinho-era began with quite the affair…
An Edin Dzeko (who is a classic Jose forward if ever I did see one by the way) hat trick was not enough to have Jose smiling and content after the game. He bemoaned the fact the match was played on a synthetic pitch, and sticking to form, he criticised his old friends UEFA, saying…
“We tried not to make excuses before the match, but playing quality football on a synthetic pitch is a challenge… The ball doesn’t move as it should, players struggle to dribble, and the game’s pace slows significantly. I can’t fathom why UEFA permits Champions League matches on synthetic surfaces.”
The opposing team weren’t immune from taking a verbal hit from Jose either, with him adding that is was perplexing to him why a good team like Lugano would choose to play on such a pitch, and that it “wasn’t ideal for the game”. I am in no doubt though that it would’ve been a relief for him to be back in a dugout, not such positive thoughts about the hectic game his side were the victors of mind you .
Lugano took a shock lead less than 4 minutes into the game, before the Bosnian Dzeko turned the game around for the Turkish side. Lugano though did equalise, but not long before Dzeko completed his trio of goals. A Ferdi Kadioglu goal look to be enough to give them a decent cushion heading into the second leg, but a goal for the Swiss side just before the end of the game meant that the lead being took back home by the Mourinho-led team was a slender one only.
It surely would’ve been hoped that Mourinho’s first game would’ve been a simpler one result wise, but it was not to be quite. And Jose made mention of his team’s conceding of 3 goals saying “I didn’t like conceding a goal from a set piece, the second goal was an easy shot and the third was not fair play, they should have given us the ball and they didn’t.”. He never could resist a shot at an opponent could he… almost like Mourinho’s own teams have been the pantheons of fair play and integrity down the years…
“A seven-goal game is thrilling for the fans, but from a coaching perspective, conceding three goals is problematic”
I think it is clear already that if this Fenerbahce team under Mourinho are to be successful, their defending simply must improve. Not always will they be able to rely on an aging Edin Dzeko to pull out a result…
If only they had others they could call upon in that sense…
Enter Youssef En-Nesyri. The Moroccan joining the club in a record deal, the biggest in Turkish football history at a fee of 19.5 million euros. 20 goals last season, 18 the season before for a Sevilla side who won that season’s Europa League (beating an AS Roma side in the final coached by… Jose Mourinho…). He also scored 24 goals in season 20-21, and won another Europa League in 2019-20 season. Add all that to a starring performance for a remarkable Morocco side at the 2022 World Cup, and this was certainly a forward with pedigree. A statement of intent by Fenerbahce and a great addition to help supplement the goals of Dzeko.
But that’s not all… Maybe this Fenerbahce team aren’t going to be the ‘boring’ tag that Mourinho sides of the past have been labelled with (wrongly in my opinion)…
A maverick. A magician. A lunatic. You could call him may things as a footballer, and a personality, and it remains to be seen how a year playing in Saudi Arabia has affected his abilities on the pitch (it didn’t seem to have done much to diminish Kante’s skills during the euros), but the Turkish Super league in recent years seems to be a haven for former top European league stars with a bit of magic in their boots (Wilfried Zaha won the title with Gala last season of course). But to get a better informed opinion, I asked someone I know who would know a thing or two about Fenerbahce’s new playmaker. My good friend Stefan, a Newcastle United fan, sent me some thoughts on the French star:
“My thoughts…
Signed in 2019, Newcastle United truly had no idea what they suddenly had at their disposal. A dynamism and raw ability like we hadn’t seen since the days of Hatem Ben Arfa, and only a few times before that in the history of the club with players like Paul Gascoigne, Davide Ginola and Laurent Robert (see a theme?). The most ‘un Newcastle United’ player of the modern era.
For long periods of matches, he was the absolute centre of all things attacking for the team. He had the rare ability to get people on their feet with his first touch, where no one knew what was coming next, including Allan Saint-Maximin himself at times. With only 12 goals in 111 games it is fair to say that he was missing a crucial end product at times, and this might of been what ultimately kept him from joining the absolute elite. But all of that aside, he was the brightest spark in what was one of the darkest periods of the clubs recent history.”
A ‘magic man’ as I like to call them. The sort we all go to football to watch. There’s a certain Ghanaian winger who I watched in the last 12 months, and he’s dazzled to the point I was almost in tears of joy at what I was seeing before me. I remember exactly where I was when Lionel Messi put Jerome Boateng on his arse, and then dinked the ball past Manuel Neuer. Saint-Maximin, whilst not having the natural ability and consistency of a Messi, as Stefan eludes to “He had the rare ability to get people on their feet with his first touch” … and also “he was the brightest spark in what was one of the darkest periods of the clubs recent history”… Imagine the status he could achieve if he brought success to Fenerbahce once again…
Which brings us to achieving the success the club so desperately desires… and their return match with Lugano earlier this week…
Jose’s first home match in charge of a new club was never going to be a dull affair was it? Well how about a comeback win, with a stoppage time winner? Sounds about right! The stats read it as a pretty even game, with the Swiss side actually having more of the ball possession. But I am sure Mourinho was never really in doubt that his side were going to go through. And indeed at no point during the match were Fenerbahce heading out. Another goal from Dzeko was a nice reminder that the striker position is his at the moment, and he wont be giving up his spot easily.
A much tougher task (on paper at least) awaits in the next round, with Ligue 1 side Lille up next in third qualifying round. The first leg will be on August 6th and the second leg the week after, so a quick turnaround, or a chance to keep momentum going? Only time will tell…
So although the season has begun in Europe, the main target for Jose begins soon, with their Turkish Super Lig campaign beginning on August 10th at home to Adana Demirspor. Now USUALLY, Mourinho’s first season at a club ends with silverware… if he keeps that up in Turkey, I can only imagine the celebrations. He may well start calling himself The Special One once again…
Josh.