The Black Sea Storm have failed to replicate their good form in the first half of the season.
Trabzonspor’s hopes of a top five finish continue to diminish as the weeks pass. The club suffered an embarrassing 2-0 loss at home to Alanyaspor on Sunday after which the club’s president Ahmet Agaoglu apologized to the club’s fans for their lackluster performance.
The defeat has brought them down to 6th place and by the looks of their current form, they could slide down even further.
They have won just one game since the league resumed and that was a scrappy 1-0 at home against Ankaragucu on February 2.
In the last 5 league games, the team has lost three times and drawn once. Their victory against Ankaragucu remains their only win so far this year. In other words, they’ve managed to pick up just 4 points in the first 5 games of the second half of the season.
Their performance in the Turkish Cup has also taken a hit. They drew 0-0 against lowly Umraniyespor, a second-tier club, in the first leg of the Turkish Cup semi-finals.
Trabzonspor have gone from finishing in second place before the winter break to struggling to find the back of the net.
The team’s decline has been blamed on numerous factors by the club’s president Ahmet Agaoglu including injuries and biased referees.
One thing’s for certain and that is that their players, including Ogenyi Onazi, Jose Sosa, Zargo Toure, Joa Pereira, Filip Novak and Ugurcan Cakir have suffered from injuries which have limited their playing time.
The absence of Nigerian international Ogenyi Onazi, who was key to their ascent in the first half of the season, is among the factors for the team’s lackluster performances as of late. The departure of star forward Burak Yilmaz during the January transfer window also left their other striker Hugo Rodallega without assistance.
The team’s morale was reported to have taken a hit due to the financial troubles they faced. A transfer ban in the January window for failing to comply with UEFA Financial Fair Play regulations also added to their woes.
The club failed to replace five outgoing players with new transfers and instead, relied on eight, inexperienced players from the youth academy.
If they want a top five finish this season, they will need to turn things around quickly as there are just 12 games left.
