After the massive World Cup fkup, Mr. Montella seems to keep wasting a generation of skilled Turkish players.
The main criticisms
- Selection and loyalty. Lille goalkeeper Berke Özer was left out of the September squad despite being voted the club’s August player of the month. The contrast drew attention because Altay Bayındır was selected despite reportedly not yet playing for his new club, and Samet Akaydın had played only 33 minutes for Trabzonspor. Columnist Uğur Meleke describes Montella’s squad as becoming too much like a closed “national club.” These are arguments about selection—not proof that every omitted player should start.[hurriyet.com][ensonhaber]
- A missing specialist striker. Montella has repeatedly used Barış Alper Yılmaz or Kerem Aktürkoğlu outside their usual positions rather than starting a conventional centre-forward. Critics argue that this leaves Türkiye short of a natural penalty-box finisher. Enes Ünal is a frequently raised alternative; Montella says his staff watched Ünal’s last five or six matches but judged his current physical metrics slightly below their requirements.[hurriyet.com][beinsports.com][turkiyetoday]
- Too little tactical flexibility. The complaint is not simply that one formation is wrong. It is that, when the attack stalls, changes of shape or personnel have not reliably solved the problem. Türkiye went out of the 2026 World Cup after defeats to Australia and Paraguay without scoring in either match, despite 62 attempts across the two games.[gazzetta][rediff]
- Poor starts against strong opponents. In the 4–1 loss to Italy on 28 September, Türkiye were 3–0 down inside 27 minutes. Montella himself said the team had approached the match badly and that its first 30 minutes needed close examination.[turkiyetoday]
What did Uğur Meleke and other Turkish columnists say about Montella?
Uğur Meleke’s central argument is that Montella is too attached to his own ideas and too loyal to a fixed group of players. After the 1–0 loss to France on 25 September, he called these Montella’s “two big problems”: persisting without a conventional striker and making the national squad feel like a “milli kulüp”—a club that is difficult for new players to enter. That directly matches your suspicion about successful players being overlooked, though Meleke deliberately framed it as a selection pattern, not a demand to pick one particular player.[hurriyet.com]
Meleke after Italy
Following the 4–1 defeat on 28 September, Meleke sharpened his tactical criticism. He argued that Türkiye’s 3-4-2-1 functioned almost like a defensive 5-4-1 because the wing-backs rarely advanced. With Barış Alper Yılmaz again at centre-forward, he said, Arda Güler and Can Uzun could not get close enough to goal; the team neither filled the attacking areas nor made effective use of Arda. His headline compared Montella’s approach to the cautious football of João Pereira. Meleke concluded that Türkiye should begin a new period with a different coach and Arda as captain.[hurriyet.com]
What other columnists said
| Columnist | Main point |
|---|---|
| Güntekin Onay, Hürriyet | Türkiye are going backwards despite a strong player pool. He blamed the disorganised first half against Italy on Montella’s choices, questioned starting the match-shy Altay Bayındır, and said İsmail Yüksek should play in demanding midfield contests. [hurriyet.com] |
| Ömer Üründül, Sabah | The starting XI against Italy was wrong: İsmail and the in-form Ferdi Kadıoğlu were on the bench, while Altay lacked match practice. He placed responsibility for selecting the goalkeeper on Montella rather than on Altay himself. [cumhuriyet.com] |
| Levent Tüzemen, Sabah | Montella unnecessarily changed the side that had competed well against France. He wanted Ferdi, Abdülkerim Bardakcı and İsmail to start, Kerem Aktürkoğlu instead of Can Uzun, and a goalkeeper playing regularly for his club rather than Altay. [cumhuriyet.com] |
| Serkan Akcan, Fanatik | Closest to your point: he argued that Montella favoured familiar players over those in form—“liyakat değil, sadakat” (“loyalty, not merit”). This is Akcan’s judgment, not an established fact about Montella’s motives. [cumhuriyet.com] |
| Bilal Meşe, Milliyet | He criticised the failure to settle on an effective XI or a specialist striker and asked why Deniz Gül did not enter until the 81st minute against Italy. [cumhuriyet.com] |
| Mehmet Ayan, Hürriyet | A more forgiving view after France: without Orkun Kökçü, Hakan Çalhanoğlu and Kenan Yıldız, he considered the defensive approach reasonable against an exceptionally strong opponent and said the 1–0 loss was no cause for despair. [hurriyet.com] |
| Cem Dizdar, Fanatik | Also positive after France: despite the result, he saw a performance that suggested Türkiye belonged at Nations League A level. [haberturk] |
The distinction is worth keeping: Meleke criticised an overly closed selection system, while Akcan explicitly alleged preference for familiar players over in-form ones. After Italy, Üründül and Tüzemen made that concern more concrete by naming established, performing players they believed should have started. The commentary was not unanimous after France, but the Italy defeat brought much sharper criticism of Montella’s selection and tactical decisions.[hurriyet.com][cumhuriyet.com][hurriyet.com]
His bias against Beşiktaş players
Two in-form players, Emirhan and İlhan were left out of the final 23-man squad against Italy despite being called up. Former international Özer Hurmacı also argued that Montella should make more use of the established Salih–Orkun partnership at Beşiktaş rather than keep experimenting.
Discover more from Erkan's Field Diary
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.