Sergen Yalçın’s ‘advice’ to Fenerbahçe: You cannot play Guendouzi and Kanté together

Sergen Yalçın believes Fenerbahçe have created a midfield puzzle they cannot solve. Speaking on a YouTube program after Beşiktaş’s 2-1 derby victory, the former Beşiktaş coach offered the club a blunt recommendation: “You cannot play Guendouzi and Kanté together.”

Yalçın said Fenerbahçe could not operate with two fixed defensive midfielders. He also questioned the club’s treatment of Talisca, asking why Fenerbahçe had sold him if no other player was available for that role. His conclusion was harsh: “Fenerbahçe have not become a team.”

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You cannot play Guendouzi and Kanté together. Fenerbahçe cannot play with two fixed defensive midfielders.

He singled out Kanté as Fenerbahçe’s best player, saying the midfielder carries the ball, defends, dribbles and beats opponents. But Yalçın argued that the team’s structure remained unclear. He said nobody knew what Greenwood’s role was and described the player as being in very poor physical condition. In his view, Fenerbahçe’s biggest problem was the absence of a connecting player.

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Fenerbahçe have not become a team.

Yalçın offered a sharply different assessment of Beşiktaş. The team’s pressing, compact shape and ability to look like a unit provided, in his words, “important signals about its team identity.” While Beşiktaş showed those signs, he said Fenerbahçe showed the opposite in the derby.

He also placed the title race in a broader frame. Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş, he argued, are not each other’s main rivals. Both must get past Galatasaray, whose players he rated above those he had seen in the derby. “Galatasaray will not finish third in this league,” Yalçın said.

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Galatasaray will not finish third in this league.