Alex's Injury Leaves Aragones Pondering About Starting XI

Captain Alex de Souza's injury has left Spanish coach Luis Aragones pondering about his starting eleven for this week's Bursaspor match. Papers have begun listing the Fener boss' alternatives. It looks as if Luis Aragones may even start with two forwards, Dani Güiza & Semih Şentürk.

Fenerbahçe's no. 10 Alexsandro de Souza is undoubtedly an indispensable player for the Yellow Canaries squad as he has scored more than a hundred of goals for the club. But the Brazilian playmaker's injury against Kocaelispor last weekend will definitely leave him out for this weekend's match and possibly make him miss the following week's action too.

Alex's injury thus forces Luis Aragones to change his tactical formation. The sports press in Turkey have begun elaborating different alternatives for the Spanish coach. There's almost a unanimous decision concerning the strikeforce in the starting eleven.

It was constantly written that it's almost impossible to field two strikers in front of an Alex de Souza playing in the AMC (attacking midfielder - centre) position. However, without Alex in the squad Hürriyet, Vatan and Lig TV have wrote that Luis Aragones is very likely to field both Dani Güiza & Semih Şentürk in his starting eleven against Bursaspor.

On the other hand, Hürriyet also writes that if Deivid de Souza recovers in time for Friday evening's fixture, then he's the one most likely to replace the Fenerbahçe captain, and thus not Dani Güiza. Vatan in the meantime predicts that the Spanish coach will most definitely field Gökhan Emreciksin on the right flank, instead of Colin Kazım-Richards who he fielded last weekend.

According to Hürriyet and Vatan, both Emre Belözoğlu and Deniz Barış's places are almost certain in the starting eleven, forcing newly recovered Selçuk Şahin to sit on the bench. Meanwhile, Lig TV also puts forth the option of fielding Emre Belözoğlu in Alex de Souza's position.

No one knows for sure who Luis Aragones will field on Friday night, not even Aragones himself. But one thing's for sure, the Spanish coach has got a lot of thinking to do as the Bursaspor fixture approaches.