Fenerbahçe 8–0 Eyüpspor, and everything underneath it
Fenerbahçe beat Eyüpspor 8–0 at Chobani Stadı on Sunday, scoring three goals inside the first 21 minutes (1)(2)(3)(5). It was the first time the club had put three away that early in a Süper Lig game in 1088 days (5). Vedat Muriç went down in the box early and referee Kadir Sağlam pointed to the spot after a VAR check (1).
Before kickoff this team had seven points from five games and sat 10th (3). Your team was booed off after a home derby loss to Beşiktaş and a 0–0 at Gaziantep. Then came this. Both things are true, and the column has to hold them at once: an 8–0 against a side sitting near the bottom is not a cure, but it is the first time all season Fenerbahçe looked like the team Kartal keeps describing.
Kartal made the promise before kickoff, not after
Kartal spoke ahead of the match and went further than most coaches of a 10th-place team would dare. "We will be champions," he told the supporters, adding that the team is in a good state and this is only the start of the road (10)(11). He also answered questions about İrfan Can Kahveci (4)(8).
Get the next Fenerbahçe S.K. brief by email
This article went out to subscribers as a brief. Get the next one straight to your inbox, free.
Free · No spam · Unsubscribe anytime
That is a real commitment, on the record, with the table showing 10th. Coaches at this club do not get to make that kind of pledge and then shrug at a draw in Gaziantep. The 8–0 is the first receipt he can wave.
One defender gone, one attacker back
The week cost Fenerbahçe Mert Müldür. The right-back has a meniscus tear and is out indefinitely, which hands the position to Nélson Semedo and thins an already rotating back line (12). He was the only absentee flagged before the Eyüpspor fixture, which is exactly how these weeks go (7).
The counterweight arrived at the same time. Marco Asensio is back after roughly a month out with the injury he picked up against Konyaspor, fit and available again (16)(17). One starter gone at the back, one attacking option restored. That is roughly break-even, and Fenerbahçe are not a squad with much margin above break-even.
The Lukaku question is not going away
Romelu Lukaku got a start and produced little, and the reporting around the transfer itself is getting harsher rather than softer (15). Dutch coverage described his situation as humiliating and framed the deal as one of the grounds for the criticism aimed at the club (15).
This is the tension running under the 8–0. Win by eight and the striker debate goes quiet for a week. Draw 0–0 like at Gaziantep and it returns louder than before. Lukaku needs a run of goals, not one good afternoon, and Kartal's selection at centre-forward will be read as a verdict every single week until he gets it.
The women's team is the standard right now
Fenerbahçe arsaVev, the women's side, won 3–0 away at Beşiktaş in the Suwen Kadın Futbol Süper Ligi on 19 September, with Katie Bowen, Andrea Staskova and Abideen scoring (13). Four wins from four to open the season.
Nine days earlier, the men's team lost 1–2 at home to the same club. The women's team went to Beşiktaş's ground and dismantled them. Worth saying plainly: in this club right now, the women's team is the one setting the standard.
What to watch
The January window is already being planned, with Sunderland winger Chemsdine Talbi high on the list as Kartal looks for pace and directness out wide (14). Watch the response to this result first. Fenerbahçe have drawn two of their last five league games and still carry seven points from five (3). One 8–0 does not fix a season. Whether Lukaku is still starting the next league fixture tells you more than Eyüpspor did.
