A nightmarish statistic in Fenerbahçe's defeat to AZ Alkmaar: 'A Fenerbahçe that fell apart like cotton candy...'

While Fenerbahçe left the match with a 3-1 defeat, AZ Alkmaar moved to 17th place in the league phase, while Fenerbahçe dropped to 21st.

A striking statistic after the match also saddened Fenerbahçe fans.

The players who scored AZ Alkmaar's 3 goals all netted their first goals in the UEFA Europa League against Fenerbahçe.

The goalscorers were Kees Smit, Denso Kasius, and Ro-Zangelo Daal.

Here are the comments after the AZ Alkmaar-Fenerbahçe match...

Ahmet Çakar: "Fenerbahçe fans continue to suffer. They weren't bad in the first half. They played a balanced game, didn't give the opponent chances, and found at least two clear goal-scoring opportunities, especially with Dzeko and Maximin. As the second half started, we thought they would beat Alkmaar, who are lower in quality than them, but very strange things happened.

We watched a Fenerbahçe that fell apart like cotton candy. The second goal they conceded was like something out of a cartoon. Or a hidden camera prank. A big club like Fenerbahçe shouldn't concede a goal like this second one.

They passed it around, knocked Becao down, and found the goal. Mourinho should have been on the sidelines for matches like these. He gambled consecutively in the last 5 minutes. He took out the full-backs and brought on a third striker, Cenk, but it didn't work. Things aren't going well for Fenerbahçe. The fragility is very disturbing. Maybe they can win the upcoming matches and advance, but the outlook is not good."

Gürcan Bilgiç: "I don't know what the explanation could be for Fenerbahçe being so helpless on the pitch. Could it be 'arrogance' against a very young team, on top of the sense of achievement brought by the Trabzonspor victory? When the opposing coach said, 'We know their weaknesses, we watched the last derby,' was he 'implying' Fenerbahçe's Mert Müldür side?

They came at Fenerbahçe with tremendous ambition, desire, and intelligence. They turned a deserved victory into a deserved defeat for Fenerbahçe. The fact that Dzeko was the only player resisting, contributing to every position, but no one else wanted it as much as he did, is another problem.

Mourinho must improve the form of his players who have 'extra' written in front of them, especially Fred and Maximin. This match is a good 'lesson'... for those who know how to learn from it."

Uğur Meleke: "I criticized Mourinho for choosing a pragmatic game in the Enschede away match, but yesterday in Alkmaar, there was a more proactive Fenerbahçe on the pitch in the first half. The yellow-navies, who couldn't capitalize on three clear chances in the first 45 minutes, actually looked good in that period.

However, every change Mourinho (or his assistant Foti) made in the second half set Fenerbahçe back: First, Szymanski moved to the left wing in the 57th minute. Then Amrabat to center-back, Mert Hakan to midfield. By the 80th minute, with Szymanski at left-back and Cenk up front, Fenerbahçe became a mess. Honestly, I couldn't make sense of messing with the basic settings so much within a single match."