If Armenia gave Wales an extra helping of chop suey on Friday then they were roasted like turkeys in Samsun on the black sea last night. Swansea City trio Liam Cullen, Ben Cabango and Ollie Cooper all sat the game out at the start in an expected selection from head coach Rob Page.

Joe Morrell (below) and Neco Williams featured from the start and were the two changes Page made from the Armenia game. No matter what changes were made it was a shaky Wales who were saved twice by VAR, once when Chris Mepham scored an own goal and the other for a handball. That aside Danny Ward splendidly saved a penalty but really Wales were second best all night.

Man for man Turkey are by far the better side and that showed throughout the game, only Harry Wilson came close for the away side from a second half free kick. Long gone is the dominance followers of Cymru have become used to, it has been replaced by a lack of discipline at the back and toothless front play over the past eighteen months. The World Cup albeit a fantastic achievement to reach highlighted Wales lack of depth and quality. Another sending off for Wales as well as Joe Morrell was red carded in the first half for a thigh high challenge on Ferdi Kadioglu of Fenerbahçe.

Goals from Umut Nayir and Arda Guler in the second half sealed the three points for Turkey and if it wasn’t for VAR and referee Fabio Maresca it would have been far more. That’s two games over this summer campaign that now really does bring an end to the season before some players return to their clubs this weekend ! Eighteen year old Arda Guler Is most certainly a name to conjure with and yet another Fenerbahçe product, his first goal for his country was an absolute stunner and worthy of any occasion. It really just underlines how poor Wales were and have been in a really disappointing run. The excuses had actually worn thin from Page before the game. Citing the fact that Wales seven years ago would have failed miserably against certain opposition he clearly had forgotten about the Euro’s in France back in 2016. “If we were playing England, Netherlands or Belgium six or seven years ago it might have been more than the close games we lost in the 95th minute”

Page sounded desperate before the game, and his words after this debacle were hardly comforting. "Whenever you come to Turkey away, you know it's a tough test. Having said that, before the sending off, I thought we matched them and I was really pleased with the performance defensively, which we obviously addressed off the back of Friday's result. With the ball I thought we got Aaron (Ramsey) and others in great positions up the pitch and we were brave to play through them. We looked at the footage and we thought that was an area we could exploit and that was working up until the sending off happens. Completely changes the game. Up until the 70th minute I thought we defended our box really well, only one cross into our own box and it cost us, that first goal."

On Morrell’s red card Page agreed he had to go. "He's not intentionally doing it. He's got his eye on the ball, but when you put your foot that high, you run the risk of getting a red card. He knows it. There's nobody more disappointed than Joe in the changing room. I'm disappointed with Kieffer's on Friday, the goalkeeper knew exactly what he was doing. It's the softest red card, but you lift your foot and you open yourself up for a red card. Joe is the same tonight. He has not got it in him to hurt somebody, but you lift your foot and you're asking the question. But you've got to learn. It's frustrating, but we have to learn from it."

Clearly Page still believes Wales can qualify for the Euro’s next year in Germany, and still believes he is the man for the job. “It's been a frustrating camp but there have been so many lessons to learn from it. We will address it. We go into every game to win it. It just means it's really important we get wins at home and get as many points from them."

Of course the head coach is still going to be confident but it’s been a dismal week for Page and Cymru. Twenty three percent possession all night and one shot on target sort of sums it all up.

Turkey : Gunok; Celik (Elmali 60), Demiral, Bardakci, Kadioglu; Ozcan (Guler 60), Kokcu (Ucan 89), Calhanoglu; Under, Yilmaz, Akturkoglu (Nayir 46).

Subs: Segezer, Cakir, Akaydin, Kahveci, Kabak, Yuksek, Karaman, Ozkacar.

Wales : Danny Ward; 7 Connor Roberts, 6 🟨 Chris Mepham, 5 Joe Rodon, 4 Neco Williams; 5 Joe Morrell, 5 🟥 Ethan Ampadu, 5 Aaron Ramsey; 5 ( Jordan James ) 5 Harry Wilson; 6 Brennan Johnson 6 ( Ben Cabango 46), 6 Dan James 5 ( Tom Bradshaw 62) 5

Subs: Hennessey, A. Davies, Fox, Low, Brooks, Harris, Cooper, J. James, Cabango, Cullen, Broadhead.

Photographs licensed from Reuters

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