Match Previews

Semih Senturk (r) and Mateja Kezman (k) are banned......Rustu Recber (r), Onder Turaci (r), Lugano (r), Kerem (sp) and Selcuk Sahin (r) are out injured.......Fenerbahce are performing quite badly in the league........Mehmet Aurelio (r) is also removed from the starting eleven due to his injury.......Zico has a lot to worry about before AZ Alkmaar test in the UEFA Cup. Fenerbahce will miss 2 important strikers and Zico will have to field Deivid de Souza (r) again as the single striker. Midfield is formed by the best players but Lugano and Onder are still out. Serkan Balci (sp) and Can Arat (sp) will take over for the 4th game again. Fenerbahce defensive line is making huge mistakes since those 2 players are out. Moreover, Alex de Souza (k) is having an enourmous downtrend. Brazilian playmaker will see the end of his contract with Fenerbahce just like Tuncay Sanli (r) and Stephen Appiah (k), who are not any better either. Fenerbahce basically have a major crisis since the second half of the season began. The 7 point difference with Galatasaray is reduced to 4 after losing in Rize and the bells toll for Zico and president Aziz Yildirim if they fail to keep the title again. Deivid de Souza has always disappointed the fans so far with his performance and it would be a miracle if he could score against AZ Alkmaar. Tumer Metin (r) will support the midfield offensively and Alex will switch to the striker position if things go worse than expected. Mehmet Yozgatli (r) is also going to be on the field if offensive support is needed. However, none of these players are directly targeting the net as they are either forwards or midfielders. Therefore, Fenerbahce will not only have trouble stopping the likes of Shota Arveladze at the back but also struggle to score goal(s) to have the advantage before travelling to Alkmaar for the return leg. The only advantage for the hosts, however, is that AZ failed to dominate Kayserispor and were almost eliminated by them. Fenerbahce is highly superior than Kayserispor, which makes one think AZ Alkmaar will struggle against Fenerbahce as well. Missing players are up to 8 in Fenerbahce after Mehmet Aurelio's latest injury. Aurelio's participation is critical as Fenerbahce relies heavily on two defensive midfielders in any game. Stephen Appiah (k) will be back to the defensive midfielder position now and his offensive abilities will be restricted. Tumer Metin (r) will replace him at right wing but he is out of form really. Fenerbahce will have trouble with the current squad against AZ Alkmaar for sure.