Galatasaray vs Istanbulspor 28/08/20

28 August 2020

Galatasaray launch their pre-season preparations against Istanbulspor at the Florya Metin Oktay Tesisleri this midweek.

Galatasaray played well below their standards during the final part of last season, picking up just one triumph from ten top-flight fixtures (D5, L4). That’s mainly thanks to their defensive woes that saw them fail to keep a clean sheet in nine of those ten games and concede over 1.5 goals on six of those occasions. The majority (63.16%) of the 19 goals they shipped during that period arrived in the second half of play (12). Yet, the ‘Aslanlar’ have been quite impressive at home this calendar year, suffering just one loss in 12 matches, friendlies included (W9, D2). Furthermore, Galatasaray’s free-flowing attack has netted over 1.5 goals in eight of those clashes, managing an average of 2.08 goals.

Meanwhile, the visitors succumbed to a 4-0 defeat to Fenerbahce in their opening pre-season fixture, which now means none of their last seven games has ended in a draw (W2, L5). The ‘clean-sheet’ theme remains quite significant in the context of Istanbulspor’s results during that seven-game sequence, as the last six all saw the winner on the day shut out the loser. But, away from home, they’ve won only once in eight matches (D3, L4), scoring under 1.5 goals on six of those occasions. Also, a lack of defensive quality has seen the ‘Boğalar’ concede two goals or more in four of their last six games on the road.