Trabzonspor 4–0 Galatasaray. That is the week.
Galatasaray are still top of the Süper Lig with 13 points from six games. That fact is doing a lot of work right now, because the other facts are worse. Trabzonspor 4–0 Galatasaray, Salah with a hat-trick, and the club's worst defensive start to a season in 60 years (4) (12).
Salah decided it early
He scored in the third minute and never let the game settle (6). A hat-trick and an assist, and Trabzonspor's history rewritten in one afternoon (4) (13). Nihat Kahveci was blunt afterwards: "For those who understand football, he is Leo Salah" (7).
No shame in being beaten by that. The shame is in how little resistance there was. Four shots, four goals past Uğurcan Çakır is the kind of detail that follows a keeper, and a defence, for weeks (20).
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Buruk is the target now
Buruk was sent off, then spoke live on television during the match, and the fallout landed immediately (9). Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş were furious about that broadcast (9). Inside the board, some voices have reportedly pinned the 4–0 on the coach, with one line doing the rounds: "Our coach is very out of form" (2) (27).
The numbers cut both ways. A 60% league win rate since Osimhen arrived is a coach who knows this league. A 0% win rate in Europe without him is something else entirely (Reddit).
Osimhen's absence is the number that matters
Nigeria's federation confirmed Osimhen will miss two matches through injury (24) (26) (31). The wider record without him across 12 matches has been dug out, and it is not flattering (28).
Leão lost 21 balls against Trabzonspor and the fans went after him on social media (16) (18) (19). That is not a Leão problem in isolation. When the striker is missing, the structure shifts, the ball goes wide too early, and the man on the end of it gets buried. He is 21 losses of possession into a bad start, and the crowd has already made up its mind.
What to watch next
Kasımpaşa at home on Friday 9 October, and preparations have begun (3). Two questions until then: does Buruk survive the board's mood, and is Osimhen fit by kickoff (8) (24).
One more thing worth tracking. Ismaïl Jakobs is considering ending his Senegal career after being left out of Patrick Vieira's first squad (17). A squad this short on confidence gains nothing from a defender with that on his mind.
