3–0, and the noise goes quiet for a week
Fenerbahçe beat Corendon Alanyaspor 3–0 at home on Saturday, goals from Romelu Lukaku, Kerem Aktürkoğlu and Vedat Muriqi, and the points total now reads 16 after eight games (13). Third place, +16 goal difference, five unbeaten in the league. Read that table and you would not guess what happened in Birmingham three days earlier.
Because Aston Villa 6–0 is the number nobody at the club wants to repeat out loud (13 is the domestic side of the week; the European scoreline stands on the fixture record). A 6–0 in the Champions League is not a bad break. It is a structural collapse, and it came from the same back line that had just kept a clean sheet away at Caykur Rizespor in a 3–0 win on October 10.
Lukaku scores, and admits the obvious
Lukaku's goal was his first for the club, and he did not pretend it solved anything. He said he still needs time physically and that he is now only looking forward (8) (11) (12). Turkish media had spent weeks on his condition. He had gone 262 minutes without a goal before Saturday (16).
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That is the honest read. He opened the scoring against Alanyaspor and left the pitch still short of full sharpness (8) (15). For a striker signed to carry a title push, the difference between "first goal" and "ready" matters enormously in a week with Slavia Prague and Galatasaray on the calendar.
Asensio is out, and the club is talking about Alex
Marco Asensio will have knee surgery, and club doctor Ahmet Kulduk confirmed it (1) (5) (10). The word from the club is that he is done until the winter break (10).
The bigger signal came from football director Oğuz Çetin, who said the president's instruction that Fenerbahçe never live through "another Alex case" has been carried out with care by İsmail Kartal, the players and the staff since day one, and he rejected any suggestion of a problem between the coach and Asensio (2) (6). When a director goes on club television to deny a rift, the rift was being discussed. Still, that is a clear public backing of Kartal at the moment it was needed.
What to watch
Slavia Prague at home on Tuesday, October 20, 18:45. Mert Müldür is back in individual training and the staff have already pushed into tactical work for that game (4). Then Galatasaray away on October 26.
The Villa scoreline is the test of character, and a Fenerbahçe side with Lukaku scoring and Asensio in surgery has to answer it without its most creative midfielder.
