After Fenerbahçe's shocking defeat to Gençlerbirliği in their first league match, Sabah newspaper columnist Ömer Üründül harshly criticized the team's strategies, particularly pointing out the wrong choices regarding Ismail Kartal's role and the overall team selections. Üründül highlighted that Fenerbahçe was completely in possession of the ball for the first 30 minutes but showed a game with low tempo and lack of productivity. He also mentioned that the combination of Asensio, Talisca, and İrfan Can in the same team cannot create a positionally rich and defensive secure team. Üründül stressed that Fenerbahçe should start making changes in the second half and that Ismail Kartal should be more active in this regard. In the end, Üründül noted that Fenerbahçe made hasty moves and scored an equalizer goal in the last 15 minutes, and wondered if this situation would serve as an important lesson for Ismail Kartal before the crucial Lyon match.