Beşiktaş Enter September with Their Wings Spread: What 12 Points at the Top Says

Nobody can tell in September how a season will end. But some Septembers whisper to supporters what mood to carry into the rest of the year. For Beşiktaş this is one of those: four wins and one defeat from five matches, a goal difference of plus eight and 12 points at the top of the Süper Lig. There is a black-and-white name at the summit of the table, and that sentence alone is news for anyone who remembers the weight of last season.

The route to the top was not smooth, either. The 1-0 defeat at Alanya on 23 August was the season's first genuine jolt. We remember the lines going round social media that evening: "same film again", "same Beşiktaş again". The supporters' weariness was not unjustified; the record of recent years had proved those sentences right often enough.

The difference lies in what happened after that defeat.

The Çorum evening: the lid comes off

The 6-2 win over Çorum FK on 31 August was more than a scoreline. Beşiktaş's most-discussed problem in recent years was finishing; the minutes that piled up in the opposition box without turning into goals were the disappointment supporters knew best. Six goals that evening felt like the lid coming off accumulated pressure. One match does not decide a season — but one match can change how a team sees itself.

Kadıköy: where the sentence was written

The real sentence was written on 5 September. Beşiktaş came back from Kadıköy with a 2-1 win. Derby wins are worth three points in the table; their emotional value is never measured in three points. Winning away, at the opponent's ground, in an early week of the season — that is the shortest route to a team telling itself "we can do this". Fenerbahçe being left ninth on 6 points only added to the weight of that evening in hindsight.

Vlahović and a question answered

The most debated subject all summer was the centre-forward position. Today Dušan Vlahović wears the black and white, and the team's attacking line looks visibly different from the same weeks last season. A season has to finish before a transfer can be called a success; we know that. But what a transfer needs to be *promising* is far less: to be on the pitch, in the right area, at the right moment. For now that much is there, and for now that much is enough.

The 3-0 win over Erzurumspor FK on 11 September was the quietest result and perhaps the most meaningful. Because the small match after the big one measures a team's character better than the derby does. Failing to carry the exhilaration of Kadıköy into the following week was the classic trap of recent years. This time the trap was avoided.

The same calm in Europe

That calm is visible in Europe too. 2-0 away at Midtjylland, 1-0 against Hradec Králové, 3-0 against Kauno Žalgiris. These are not headline scorelines; but qualifying rounds are not survived through headlines, they are survived through matches you do not lose. Vincenzo Italiano's team chose consistency over flourish in those ties, and so far the choice has worked.

What the hope rests on

Honesty is required here: being top in the second week of September is not a title. Galatasaray on 10 points are within touching distance ahead, Trabzonspor on 7 are waiting behind, and there are thirty weeks of the season left. The first lesson Beşiktaş have taught their supporters in recent years is exactly this: do not celebrate early.

But hope is not the same as a guarantee. Hope is a possibility becoming reasonable. And today that possibility is reasonable: there is a team here that did not come apart after a defeat, did not slacken after winning a derby, and has stopped discussing its scoring problem and started scoring.

The Kartal does not need to wait for the wind to rise; spreading its wings is enough. This September the wings look spread. The rest we will see on the pitch, week by week, together.

*This is an opinion column: it contains judgement. The scores, points and standings in the piece are taken from FutbolRadar's verified match data; the commentary is the writer's own assessment.*