Happy New Year!

Hello Adidas?

When I first saw this in Mud. Sweat. Badges., I was truly struck with the beauty of its design as well as the possibility of a fit for Beşiktaş.

What Nike have done is one of the best things for a legendary team that have won 5 World Cups and their true colors are the canary yellow and green. They did "murdered out" -which is a slang term for painting in matte black- the Brazil shirt and marketing it under the name Black Pack. Although it is really hard to find where do they sell this version shown above, I will surely seek out for one,even though I'm an Argentina fan when it comes to South America.

On the hand, we can not even market our long awaited red shirt, which I have pointed out in Son Kartallar Blog about a week ago and I guess this will be just another dream to have a shirt like this for Beşiktaş, even if it would only sell in the Eagle Nests for fans since it is not truly approved by FIFA or UEFA for visibility reasons.

Just imagine that KARTALLAR on the back instead of CANARINHO. Also a swap with our logo on the chest and voila!

Okay, Okay, I stop dreaming now...

What lies ahead?

That is the question...

While billions were spend globally in order to foresee what lies ahead in every aspect of life as we know it, we surely care about only the future of Beşiktaş and the prospective events that may ride along. While the year 2011 is coming to an end, we surely are leaving behind a year that most of us would want to forget and some will never do.

As a true football fan, a new year does not mean a lot, cause it usually comes in the middle of a season, at least that's how it goes in the northern hemisphere and especially in European football. So, the winter break and the little LED lights that surround the bushes, the rooftops and the evergreen pine trees basically reminds us the glittering atmosphere on the stands, which blends with the floodlights, forces us to yearn for the smell of the fresh cut grass that licks our cheeks as we will, again, step into our dreamworld.

The question then, is quite simple; who will be in our dreamworld in the new year? As the transfer window opens up in early January, the whispers turns into signatures, usually for the clubs that needs an uplift more than ever. Big spenders in this term are usually the relegation candidates, whom basically plays a last round of poker in order to survive when summer comes around. As for us, the Beşiktaş fans, I believe we should be happy not to see a single signature in this term as I believe any more signature will disrupt the team chemistry more than ever.

Moreover, the recent declaration of the total amount that the club owes and the very funny and sad preventive measures that followed up suggests that we will not a see a transfer move within this break. Even though president went over to England a week ago, I believe that was a meeting for something totally not Beşiktaş related at all.

On the other hand, if we would have the luxury to bring in a player or two, I would only ask for Muhammed Demir from Gaziantepspor, and bring back Fink for our ever physically challenged and must rotate midfield for the second half of the season. As he is fit and match ready in Samsun, he will have no difficulty to blend back in at all. Asking for Muhammed could be a real luxury though, especially when he is in the hands of a club that ripped us for Tabata. All of these of course, as I have stated earlier, can be done if we would have the luxury to do so. Otherwise we should leave the squad alone.

Another major blunder for our season is the transfer window and the match schedule for the STSL. The second half will start on January 3, however the transfer window will be open in accordance with the UEFA on January 5th. It will remain open until the first week of February, in which by then the match day 24 or 25 will be completed, and the league will be shaped up 70 to 80 percent already. Therefore, waiting for a miracle like Ernst or Giunti will most likely be on the not happening this year list.

Moreover, who shall be kept in the squad of Beşiktaş? If you ask me, everyone should stay especially in the wake of the Turkish Cup games, a very tight fixture of the league and the arrival of the UEFA Europa League by February, that will really test the limits of each and every player to the most possible ways. Surely, our prayers are always among them against any injuries or mishaps that may occur in these difficult times.

Onur Bayramoğlu's departure today probably broke so many hearts for those who really wants more youngsters to appear in the first team, however I think it would be the best for him as he should gain more match experience and become physically fit in the capital club, Gençlerbirliği. He truly got some real good chances in the past but the unlucky injuries and the team's poor performance limited his chances to shine a little bit more as well. We shall thank for his services and hope that best of him will come out for the benefit of the Turkish football in the future.

Having said that, I do really want to see Atınç Nukan, Burak Kaplan, Muhammed Demirci, Erkut Şentürk, -whose contract was just renewed and extended for another 5 years- Hasan Türk and some other youngsters more and more in the first team, especially in the Turkish Cup ties. Even Umut Kaya should be on the start up and gain some experience as we should be getting ready to say our farewells to Rüştü at the end of this season. We shall see if Carvalhal would be as courageous as Schuster in these upcoming fixtures.

Really, what lies ahead? A road to Bucharest or a road to perdition under Demirören... We shall see in 2012...

The Inevitable

Yes, Samsun is one of the teams that is in the relegation zone. Yes they are destined to go back to Bank Asya if they don't do something in the winter break. And yes, if we play against them about a 100 times, we should be victorious about 99 times and draw once under normal conditions...

Starting a match with the same level of stamina, quality and willpower with your opponent is a major factor. However, if all teams are same then the beauty of football would never come out from the 105x68 meter green lot. That is why under no matter what conditions you are, you shall prepare to the battle with all of your resources at hand.

What have Carvalhal done with the starting eleven came with somewhat of a necessity due to the injuries rather than a planned and organized rotation. Hence, the disaster of first half came in. In my opinion the team played so bad that they were worse than when they were playing the second half of the Gençlerbirliği game. Luckily, this time the opponent was Samsun, who happen to have limited resources and managed to score only once within the first half.

Lack of stamina and necessary rotation weren't the only reasons for our poor performance last night. I also have sensed that our squad somewhat slightly disregarded the ever desperate opponent. From Carvalhal, who were busy with the latest job description in mid-week's meeting with the arrival of Tayfur, to Rüştü, who did almost loose the ball to the opponent with pressure loomed in, everyone was not so in a hurry mode with lack of confidence.

When it comes to tactical line-up, fielding Holosko should never be an option when the game is a tie unless you will face Barça or Real, in which you will defend 90+ minutes and look forward to sudden counter attacks. Carvalhal even saw that about Holosko just 2 days ago, or about 60 hours ago as it was mentioned by Mr. Tilev, against Stoke City. Also fielding him on the left bank is another misjudgement as well. On the left, he doesn't only become an ineffective player, but also becomes an insufficient defender by not following up his opponent full-backs as well. Remember Belediye game and their game tying goal? Guess who wasn't marking his man?

Beside Holosko, there was also an unmistakable decline with some of the major key players that took part in the recent successive results as well. First, Necip was so disastrous that even Carvalhal couldn't stand anymore and he replaced him with Burak Kaplan, who did his debut on the 16th week of the Spor Toto Super League. Throwing Pektemek to upfront and making him ineffective between the two stoppers was also a major blunder by Carvalhal who should have started with Edu up front in the first place or even better he should have tried Holosko up front in the middle where he stated repeatedly feeling more comfortable at that position. Pektemek's suffering was so obvious when his one-two's and passes never met with his teammates in the first 60 minutes. After that he just simply caved in, and got lost in translation till the end. If there was another move that I would have a chance to do, I would field Toraman instead of Necip. He would be a great resource to stop sudden counter attacks, Ernst would have been pushed a little further up-front and more effective and this would have brought a little more balance to the midfield. Who knows, maybe Carvalhal will think of that on next Thursday.

Big teams usually have a few key players and often one or two of these guys take control when things start to go down south. Recently, Fernandes was our such talented Mr. Ripley that tore apart our opponents not only with the free kicks but also with his virtue in the middle of the field. However, he got beat by the tight schedule as well, even though he seemed a little more active in the second half due to the score. Ernst did played in such a role a few times in the past, like the CSKA Sophia game last year, but he was placed more defensively last night even further back, like a third stopper, just like Aurelio does most of the time.

I admire such players that have a goodwill and effort of trying the things that they want to do. They keep trying and trying even though they are unsuccessful most of the time. Veli, for example is a rebellious soul that keeps trying to shoot from 25-30 meters every chance he gets, however he must work out on his target practices much more than anything else. If I remember correctly, his 4 shots were all off the target, which is 2.5 meters high and 8 meters wide, that's slightly smaller than a bus, if you may know.

Overall, we did not deserve the 3 points with the skills and effort that we have placed on to the field of May 19 Stadium of Samsun last night and we should be happy with the single point just like we should with the one that we got against Belediye a week ago. Now that the gap between the first place widens a little more, we shall be ever cautious though.

I think another draw or loss against Karabük this Thursday may mean a farewell to the hopes of finishing the league in the first place. Last season, we draw against Kasımpaşa and Konya back to back in the first half of the season as well and those were the breaking points of the season for us. Now, we seem to have destined to a very fragile and delicate schedule in January, in which there will be 21 points up for grabs and whoever will take maximum points of those will surely stay on top of this league, at least until the ridiculous play-off comes around in April.

In the end, I do congratulate our boys for their tremendous effort and willpower to finish the game under this harsh physical conditions and curse to TFF for not scheduling this game to be played on Monday, and our Karabük game for next Friday. After all we are a Greek team with lots of Armenian supporters, isn't it?

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Thanks to the slow but rightful decisions of the judicial system in Turkey, our comrades have been released from Metris on December 12, 2011 after 5 months of imprisonment...

We all know the pre-effects of this wrongful accusations and charges that we have faced. However, the most important issue at hand is the after effect of this release on the club, players, supporters and managers, in short; on all of us.

As we see a clear progress on the team by the virtue of Carlos Carvalhal, most of us do believe that he shall continue to be the boss on the sidelines and should be declared as the boss, even though otherwise has been stated by the club officials again and again. Even Carvalhal himself declared that he can step aside anytime that Tayfur asks, but there isn't a say on Tayfur's corner yet. Of course, there was an important Euro League game, which needed a much concentration by the squad and any press release by Tayfur Havutçu may have harmed this prior to that engagement with the Britons. Call it by luck or by perseverance, the objective have been achieved deservedly and we have finished up top in our group waiting for the last 32 draw tomorrow.

The big question right now is that if Tayfur wants to come back as the number one man in the dugout or not. In my opinion, he should take some more rest until the end of the season, or take a secondary position in which he can form the future squads of the club, without calling any opposition players or their managers prior to the games that we may play in order to make a transfer move. Moreover, the court will still continue for the cases that are appended on him, Serdal Adalı, and Seyit Ahmet Ateş, whom will be questionably out of full concentration from their work, in order to defend themselves for such accusations by the prosecution. This situtation by itself should be a sufficient reason for Tayfur to wait and prove his innocence, and start a whole new chapter in his career and life, clean and free as a bird. As of now, he still has the ban for visiting abroad by the authorities and this will surely effect at least the game on the 16th of the February, whomever and whereever we play for our first leg away fixture in the last 32. Therefore, I rest my case and hope that Carvalhal will stay at least till the end of this ridiculous season, and we may see our future much brighter by then.



Like that famous saying; "you shouldn't change horses when you are crossing a river" and what a perfect example for our status right now.

Last two games of the 2011 will be very important as well and a loss of concentration may cause us much more damage than we can imagine in this fragile 3 point system. First goal should be winning this lat two matches and then get a real good rest for the second half of the season. Especially for the month of January, in which we will play at least 7 games in the league fixture.

May God bless our players against the evil eyes and injuries...

Proposal

110. year proposal... Given two consecutive championships, of course...

Good Job, Now Hold Down Your Horses!

Whereever I look after today's 4-1 away victory, everyone's rightfully cheerful, but also a little over the clouds. Three consecutive victories in the league and an away Europa League win in between makes us happy, but we must acknowledge at the same time that we are still nowhere near to any measurable success. We must calm down and steam at the same rate, especially when we have seen such a heartbreak story at the capital a few weeks ago against Gençlerbirliği.

Being humble means the most at these moments. We must practice this down to earthness and keep going at the same pace, with our coach, with our team and most importantly with our supporters.

As we all know that there will be a play-off mess at the end of this season and being only 1 point behind the leaders or having a better chance to finish up at the top spot in the first half of the season doesn't mean anything. Unless of course we will have a 36 points of clearance from the second spot, which will never happen at all.

Therefore, let's enjoy today's victory, but let us be ready for Belediye and Stoke in short notices... Good things will come to those who waits, and Victory belongs to those who believes in it the most and longest...

The Weight of Number 8

Those days are long gone when the squads have only numbers from 1 to 11 were available to the players. Now, with the industrialization of football, all players can chose any two digit numerical code that will be splatted on their match day shirt. Some choose their lucky number and some choose their idol's number. A few still choose the number 10, which may have the only number that have carried its magical meaning to the contemporary times of our football.

To most of the Beşiktaş fans, that are in the mid-thirties nowadays, number 8 means the atomic ant Rıza Çalımbay. He was not the best of best, let alone a top scorer or anything. He was a true leader though, a professional that pursued only the happiness of Beşiktaş, a true hard working top quality legend. Most importantly, he was one of our own...

So many teams, and so many number 8 players have been passed through from the same gates that led the squads into the green grass of Şeref Bey. For me, only one of them so far have a slight candidacy to fill in and shoulder the weight of the number 8 in our minds and his name is Veli Kavlak. I really wonder why he chose number 8, if anyone knows you're more than welcome to leave a comment below.

Not long ago, when he was playing for Rapid Wien, he was noticed by Tayfur Havutçu and despite Rapid being beaten by us twice, Veli was transferred this summer into the squad, just like Tanju Kayhan from the same club. Surely, time will tell if he can top 494 appearances of Rıza, who happened to be the most capped Beşiktaş player ever, nonetheless he shows the stamina and determination to achieve that so far.

We all know that Riza's and Veli's positions are different on the field as well as their abilities also differ. However, what struck me is the stamina and hard working determination of Veli, just like Rıza Çalımbay and I thought I owe him a post to show my appreciation for what I've seen in him so far.

God willing, Veli has long years ahead of him and even though we know that it is really hard to fill in that number 8, I do have a stint that he may be the one to do it...

Godspeed Veli...

Speechless

This was one of the nights that we ended up being speechless, thanks to Quaresma's last minute effort on goal, and his score may even mean a qualification for the next round in a couple of weeks when we host the Britons.

After a superb tactical victory 3 days ago back in Trabzon, we did travel down south Mediterranean, Tel Aviv to be exact to face the hopeless opponents who got nothing to lose but their prestige. These type of opponents are always dangerous as they have showed early on forcing our somewhat relaxed players into basic errors, such as Q7's third minute blunder in front of our goal area. Thanks to Cenk's save, it wasn't a big deal after all.

As the game progresses I have noticed one player showing tremendous effort and his name was Hilbert. He was going back and forth, trying to attack, cross the balls into the opponents goal area, and was running back full steam to stop attacks, often as a last man standing. This may have seen splendid for man but not for the team, which needs a win to tie it up in the group and come back home happy.

When the perfect strike came along at the end of the first half by Q7, it felt like we were in heaven, and we thought there would not be anything else that would top that goal's beauty. Of course, We were proven wrong, again by Q7 in the last minute. Until then, it was a roller coaster ride for another 45 minutes or so...

Toraman scored the second goal as early as in 47th minute and it should have been game, set and match for Beşiktaş, if and only if Almeida was in his form to score at least once out of his perfect three or four chances throughout the game. Although he did score later in the game, it was disallowed by somehow the shaky referee from Belgium. Carvalhal's very late introduction of Holosko may also be seen as a blunder, but like they say; "winners are always right", therefore the critics will probably keep that thought for another time.

Stoke City's tie at home against our opponent Dyname Kyiv, gave us the upperhand by three points and plus four goal average. On the 14th of December, we shall progress to the next round, in which we will see at least another duel in late February.

Now, all eyes will be turned into the tight fixture of the 6 games in 21 days, which will be very tough and physically challenging everybody just like it did happen right before the play-off brake against Croatia.

We will face Ordu next Monday, and Manisa on Thursday followed by İstanbul Belediye in three days right before taking on Stoke on the 14th. Last two games may seem a little bit easier than the others which will be against Samsun and Karabük right before the end of the first half of the season. The points that will be taken from these 5 games will matter the most and will value the away game victory against Trabzon. Otherwise it will be all back to the drawing board. It will surely be tough, especially on the first game that we will play in Mardan Stadium of Antalya, in which we will miss Simao and Necip for their recovery and Quaresma for his suspension. It will be the ultimate test of the season for a team that depended on so much to Sabrosa and Q7 for almost a year now.

Let us wait and see which Portugese bunny that Mister Carvalhal will pull out from his hat for the next game. Besides that let's enjoy tonight's away game victory and watch the recital that Q7 gave us over and over again...

PS. Is it me or the striped jersey's seemed very nice last night. Maybe 'cause of the victory?