THE EAGLE ABROAD

Love

2012-01-28T19:57:00.002-05:00

Bittersweet Symphony

2012-01-25T21:13:00.003-05:00

Including the Bursa fixture, we have won three matches straight and we may even further this positive stretch next Monday against Kayseri, who have beaten us deservedly back in the first half of the season. We will be missing Veli and Almeida due to suspensions, however Köybaşı will be back on the leftback even though Tanju have shown confidence in his absence. We may also see Q7 with a half an hour comeback in the upcoming fixture as well as 10-15 minute Ersan Gülüm after a year of injury absence.

The title of this post points out the fact that some critical referee decisions were made in favor of Besiktas for the last three games and these decisions directly involved and affected the outcome of these 9 points earned. First Rüştü's blunder, and then Cenk pulled out the ball from almost a meter inside the goal and yesterday's last second goal was clearly offside. I do truly want to see these as pure referee mistakes without any intention, thus it makes me think about the recent mistakes or decisions that were against us. For instance, Almeida's recent goal against Galatasaray was disallowed due to a foul awarded by our so called "elite" referee Cüneyt Çakır. Last year Almeida's shot came out of the goal after bouncing as much as a meter inside the goal area in Karabük match at home. If I can think further, Nobre's goal were ruled out due to a handball in an Ankara away game couple of year's back. The same referee who ruled out Nobre's goal missed the offside position yesterday. Hence, he may have inadvertently paid back his dues after two-three years of time. In the end, we can only say the common phrase of "What goes around, comes around" for these mishaps.

If we would force ourselves to talk about the tactics and Carvalhal's interference during the game, we can only say that he had gambled and got paid off at the last second for the first time since the beginning of the season. He is a kind of a guy that doesn't like change in a squad for a long time unless there is a necessity due to injuries and/or suspensions. Indeed, we are going through some injuries and suspensions as well, especially in the defensive area and it seems that Carvalhal didn't create a secondary bunch that would at least mimic the original. For example, there is not another player that can fulfill Fernandes' position and shoes in the team. Tanju was available all season but we did not see anything about him before. Burak Kaplan, Atınç, Mehmet Akyüz are all used in minimal minutes and truly we don't know if they can cope up with any difficult situation in the future. I guess it is too much to ask from him in this chaotic status quo of the Turkish football these days anyways. However, we could have seen more youngsters at least to prepare them for the next season.

On the other hand, I totally agree with our ever loveable, warmblooded, sypathetic coach about the upcoming fixtures. A terrible Monday, Thursday, Sunday fixture is awaiting us before the very important UEFA match up against Braga. I guess the planners are very busy negotiating the terms of their bank account transfers for their actions to keep those in the league and they basically overlooked this little detail for Turkish Football's sake.

What I have liked about the last couple of games is the fighting spirit of team had made a comeback in a grand scale that should further push us towards our goals for this season. If we can keep this heat a little longer, why not?

Eagles vs. Crocs, a Déja vu

2012-01-15T20:32:00.005-05:00

Not to be misplaced by the late "hot-in" shoemaker brand Crocs, Bursa's Crocodiles were eaten alive at a dinner on the Bosphorus by the Beşiktaş' Eagles.

When the line up was available for us the spectators, my only objection was for the goalkeeping area, in which I believe Cenk should have been placed no questions asked. Not that I totally trust him %100, but let's just say I do trust him more than Rüştü. So does our defense as İsmail's mistakes were clearly visible when Rüştü is in action. Seriously, this boy morphs into a different player with Rüştü and something else when Cenk plays. There must be reason, isn't it? We knew that our weakest link would be a right back Ekrem Dağ with his poor defending abilities, and Ozan İpek dug that mine all night long. His crosses have made a lot of aerial threats as everyone knows how weak Rüştü was against these crosses as well.

However, the livelihood of our midfield youngsters such as Necip and Veli and front runners Edu and Almeida was the key factor for the positive scoreline on our perspective in the first half. It is true that Bursa have lacked finishing on various occasions -from 6 yards out twice, but Beşiktaş have also missed quite a few quality chances in the first half an hour as well. After that it seemed like someone have stepped into the brakes and Bursaspor, of course, did not say "No" to this invitation and scored from a simple mistake of Fernandes, who was having one of the troubled performances as a personal record.

Second half developed as it was expected. A gushing Bursa and defending Beşiktaş prolonged for a long time until the substitutions were made. After that, spaces on the field became wide open and on one occasion Pektemek have sung the fat lady's song, once again. Ekrem's last minute miss was another goofy spectacle for his career as well. I truly admire his positioning when he plays up front and truly despise it when he plays in the back. I hope Carvalhal can solve this issue at hand. Another note for Carlos was that he didn't opt for Holosko for fast break counter attacks from 65th to 70th minutes on and he may even introduced Pektemek a little earlier to tie it up the whole thing as well.

Ernst's early caution was also another defect throughout the whole game. Necip's injury came on top of it in the second half and things got a little bit messier afterwards. Hopefully it won't be as serious as it looked, otherwise it will be a serious blow after Sivok and Egemen's absences for the next match up against Antalya on Friday night.

Having shown a real poor performance on away games this season and it is clear that we will be missing tons of players like Egemen, Sivok, Q7, Hilbert and maybe Necip, I can say that it will be a miracle to get the 3 points from Antalya on next game. But miracles do happen, don't they?

In my opinion Cenk should start next weekend and also Tanju should get a chance on rightback pushing Ekrem up front, however we know that this will not happen. With Egemen and Sivok missing probably we will see the formation of Toraman and Sidnei in the center and this surely will make Schifo Mehmet very happy. İsmail will of course be on the left as he has no other alternative thanks to Toraman's duel with Üzülmez last year in an Ankara away game. Another question will be the formation on the midfield. Will Necip be back? Will Fernandes be back on his form again? Will Veli be strong enough for another round? Will Ernst be ready for a tough match up? All of these questions will definitely be answered and until then we should just sit back and pray for the best.

It is clear that this team will finish in top four in one way or another though. After the play-off mess we will see ahead of ourselves much better. Right now it seems like we're driving on a foggy day with lots of rain on top of that.

Of course we had to point out the mistake that our legendary keeper did last night as well. Sorry crocs, we owe you one...

Fevzi Tuncay Replica

2012-01-11T19:57:00.004-05:00

Strictly home made, 1999-2000 season goalkeeper replica shirt has just been added to the collection. The base Uhlsport shirt was purchased from ebay and the club and sponsor logo was recreated as an exact match from Fevzi Tucay's kit. It will be one of the nicest items of the collection, especially when you think of goalkeeper shirts alone. If you'd like to see the whole collection, you may click here.

I am always open to offers for the shirts that I don't have in my collection. Thanks and hope to see many more additions in the future.

October 5th, 1988

2012-01-08T00:21:00.012-05:00

On October 1988 Beşiktaş played a 1st round 2nd leg away game against Dinamo Zagreb. the match took place in the Maximir Stadium which was in today's Croatia, but that time it was still Yugoslavia's Zagreb.

Later years, European Football would have heard a lot about Boban and Mihajlovic, especially in Milano, Italy and in Munich, Germany. However, a year before Boban had already won a world youth championship cup with his U-20 Yugoslavian side and started to make small ripples back then already.

Having won the first leg 1-0 at home, Beşiktaş simply starts out with a strict defense knowing that a single goal that they will score should earn them a second round spot in the European Arena. Dinamo needs the goal desperately and looks more of the pressing side, however could not find an opening to dissolve Beşiktaş' defense.

There comes the infamous referee trio of the game, starts to push Dinamo a little more forward with the critical foul and offside decisions, which seems to be given deliberately in advance of the home team. For example, in the first quarter of the match, an offside decision was given against Beşiktaş, and if this would happen today, UEFA probably rip apart the refereeing licenses of the trio from that night. Here's some not so clear pictures from that but still gives you the idea:

You can see clearly that when the ball was played out to Zeki, he was about 5 to 7 meters behind the last defender.

Eventually, after all the artificial pressure that was created by the referees, a good passing move gives the lead to Dinamo Zagreb and the first half ends with that scoreline. On the second half, the mentality of Beşiktaş doesn't change much, but seems to be more eager for counter attack options, especially with Feyyaz up front. Here comes the second critical decision of that night when Feyyaz was clearly going for a real good goal scoring chance and brought down by his defending opponent while he was almost entering into the Zagreb's penalty area. The referee says; play on folks... In today's standards it could even be a straight red card:

Actually I am amazed that they didn't try the offside trick on this one as well.

The third and final knock comes in when the ball was played about 60 yards or so up in the sky by Boban, -could be more 'cause it really went out of the view of the camera-, and Beşiktaş leftback Kadir tries to head this awkward ball away with a very unlucky and most likely unintentionally touch of his hand changes the direction of the ball in the penalty area. The foxy referee sees the opportunity from about 50 meters away and decides for a penalty. Mihajovic doubles the lead as Beşiktaş' keeper Zalad, a former Yugoslavian today's Serbian National goes to the other end of the goal line.

In the end, operation against Beşiktaş was complete and the referee even finishes the game before the full 90 minutes over, just in case a stray shot from Beşiktaş may goes in to the Zagreb net and would spoil everything. About 5 minutes or so of protests comes from the Beşiktaş squad as a whole including the subs and all, while Zagreb players goes for a victory lap in the Maximir Stadium.

If you have half an hour to spare, you can click on this link here to see the review from youtube, with the original commentary by the Croatians from that infamous night in Zagreb.

And who was that referee from that night? One Todor Kolev from Bulgaria... I kept searching about him, but I guess apart from only three qualifier matches in late 80s and early 90s, he seemed to be retired from the refereeing arena. I wonder why?

A portrait of a ...

2012-01-06T20:36:00.001-05:00

You are free to fill in the blanks...

Echoes of the Oldcity

2012-01-05T19:52:00.002-05:00

Well, it's not really the old city, it's just how the name of Eskisehir rolls in when you literally translate it into English.

After a very lengthy! winterbreak, -which was about 11 days or so, we had the first game of the second half of the season and conquered the stands as well as the pundits with the effort that we have shown on the field. From head to toe, everyone was doing their job especially helping each other closing those gaps when pressing the opponent.

Even though Almeida was a little off again, I do like his composure and his will to get into the action in which there were numerous chances for him to score again. Having very used to Q7's assists Almeida was still looking for a supplier like him all night long, at least until he was pulled out on 75th minute. Pektemek, then, did fulfilled his job description and scored to pull the plug of Eskisehirspor on the 90th minute. Even though it should have been pulled much earlier, the lack of finishing quality in the team prevented that.

Usually fans talk about the strikers first and the goals that were scored or missed. This post has started like that too but we must talk about our defense line as well. Having only the 7th clean sheet of the season, our men in the back four have never been seen so solid and strong since the days of, Recep, Ulvi, Gökhan and Kadir. Even in the 100th year, when Ronaldo and Zago was the defensive backbone, the defense wasn't this much efficient and played a crucial role even in positively changing the score. Defenders in a team primarily defends and then scores. If they do score occasionally, this means that they do their defensive duties well and having completed their duties, they do extra work by scoring goals. Sivok scores, Egemen scores, Hilbert scores or take shots that the rebounds cause threats and Ismail always have the attacking mind, -maybe a little to much-, and all of this shows how solid defensive back line build up that we have.

Don't get me wrong though, a real good defense always starts from upfront. Since the introduction of Veli, Ernst and Necip the stamina of the midfield gradually went up from zilch to %70-80 in all of the football terms. The numbers of stealing the ball, positive tackling, harrassing the opponent upfront so that they can't use the ball correctly went up dramatically. Also the introduction of Fernandes after Guti's departure created and added value in which the lack of creativity finessed in his feet.

Nothing's still perfect though, not even close if you ask me. First of all, the biggest problem in the squad is the alternating the similar quality of footballers in case of the injuries and/or during suspensions. We were happy that Simao made a comeback last night, however most of us probably collapsed when we saw Hilbert on the ground and heard the MR results today that he will be expected to miss about 8 games. Another shocking news came in when Aurelio will go under a surgical operation, which means he will be out rest of the season. Q7 will be out for another 4-5 games in this month as well. The squad have proved that they can do without Q7 or Simao or Aurelio but Hilbert's injury will be very critical for the outcome of the season. I am still hopefull and will be praying for his quick rehab in order for him to come back as early as 2 weeks time. Until then we will have to hope and pray for Ekrem and/or Tanju to fulfill his position.

Maybe the first few games ahead of us like Ankaragücü and Gaziantep Belediye will be easy enough for them to cope with the task but the later fixtures will push the limits for sure. Moreover, I really do not want to hear about any other injury news till the end of the season.

In the end, it was a happy ending in terms of the 3 points and confidence build-up of the squad, but everyone should know that the tough term has not started yet. Also, lack of concentration cost Mersin idman Yurdu a lot last week against Ankaragücü fielded with tons of reserve players due to their financial condition. Let us hope that we will never face a similar situation like that on Sunday. I was waiting since 1993 for the news of Ankaragücü's relegation. Hopefully this will be that year, and we will be one of the teams that nailed couple of nails on their coffin. I would be extremely happy if the score would be 8-0 as well...

Let's Breath Again

2012-01-02T19:58:00.002-05:00

Let's for once forget about everything that's happening outside the football fields and try to enjoy what's been prepared for us by the teams.

I mean, can we just enjoy watching Ismail Köybası sprinting on the left bank even though we know 9 out of 10 times he will screw up in the end, or can we just immerse the moment when Veli Kavlak gets the ball in 25 yards out and see if he can be on target this time? Wouldn't it be nice to see Simao score from a freekick towards the goal on the banks of the bosphorus? Shall we expect Carvalhal to jump up and down, run 30 yards back and forth on the sidelines, squeezing his fists in a gesture of victory after each and every goal that we score? Can we just concentrate on these and nothing else for just once?

Just forget about the match fixing scandals, and mishandling of the whole mess by the useless Turkish Federation officials, or forget about the ever incompetent Demirören junior and his companionship who sold their souls to money, or even try not to see or hear the gestures or comments of the LickTV this year. Can we just concentrate on the tackles and shots and offsides and all the good, bad and ugly performances on the green fields as well as the terraces and stands that are barely filled by the disgusted spectators of the Super League?

Can we just breathe again? Is it too much to ask for?

Let's hope 2012 will be the year that we can breathe again...

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T17:01:00.002-05:00

Hello Adidas?

2011-12-28T19:34:00.003-05:00

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?

2011-12-27T20:50:00.003-05:00

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

2011-12-18T19:08:00.003-05:00

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!

2011-12-15T23:54:00.002-05:00

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

2011-12-10T23:24:00.003-05:00

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

Good Job, Now Hold Down Your Horses!

2011-12-08T20:11:00.002-05:00

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

2011-12-07T19:45:00.004-05:00

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

2011-12-01T22:37:00.003-05:00

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?

Being Loved by the Matchball

2011-11-20T20:49:00.002-05:00

While it was obviously an unconditional love between us in the Kiev face-off, last night the matchball let alone loved, did not liked us at all. The hits on the post and somehow rerouting its orbit to Muslera's hands, it surely proved everyone in Seref Stadium one more time that it has a life and a will into it as well...

Both teams had started out on their ideal squads, as gala took control in the first 15 minutes of the game, disposing good chances twice. An awakening bestowed upon Besiktas right afterwards, and as everyone has seen it continued the whole game. Besides, Selçuk's close range freekick and two long distance shots that were saved by Cenk, the yellow and reds did not even pose a threat throughout the game. The defensive mind of Besiktas have helped to this ineffective gala side as well.

The Black Eagles, on the other hand, had a lot of chances during the game with sudden bursts and straight forward attacks, only to be unlucky and undone by the fate of the night. Both Coaches had tried to speed up the dying game, thanks to infamous Champions League calibre referee Cüneyt Çakır by stopping the game every chance he gets, but both Sabri and Necip who were introduced in second half of the match got injured right after their entrances.

Overall, the stars of the field were gala goalkeeper Muslera and the young stopper Semih Kaya, and this alone should tell you what kind of a derby was played last night.

Next stop is a tough away game at Trabzon which makes us to think and wonder if the ball will love us again.

Caesar's right to Caesar, Dewe's right to Dewe

2011-11-18T21:11:00.004-05:00

Just as I have criticized a banner that will tease Fatih Terim in a couple of days, I shall take my hat off and bow in front of this banner as well. It roughly states that; "I am sending you the sun, be strong, we exist and you will not be cold Van" Of course when you read it in Turkish it rhymes in a much more fitting pronunciation.

After the relief efforts of the Beşiktaş fans that have collected about 30.000 scarves at the end of the fener game, a secondary campaign have started for Van, where a devastating fatal earthquake have hit the province about a month ago. We have seen the scarves already found the right route to the survivors who are struggling against the harsh winter conditions. This time many more winter clothing shall be collected for a little bit more relief, -and from what I have read-, they will be delivered in person by the Çarşı group.

While some jealous type of people still call this act as a showboating, there is the simple truth of several news that children are still dying because of freezing temperatures, and families are still have to stay in tents, under the snow covered region.

If any of you will get a chance to watch the game on this Sunday, I recommend you to watch out for the 65th minute of the game, which represents the license plate code of the earthquake effected region, Van, for which all of the supporters will take their shirts of and send a message to them simple saying that they too are cold when their brothers and sisters are trying to keep warm in about 1000 kilometers away...

Vaya Con Dios, Vamos a Ganar...

2011-11-18T20:47:00.003-05:00

Gone with the wind, shall be a very appropriate term for Guti's adventurous times in Beşiktaş. It all started like a dream, like a very fresh love between him and us the supporters, and then he chose nightlife instead of us. Even though after this betrayal, most of us still were not able to be angry with him. Not because we did still believed in him, but because what we have lived together, even though it was just a few glimpses of a much bigger dream...

In the end, I think Guti deserves a much better club in terms of its directorial traits. Also, we, the supporters deserve a much better performance from any unknown player that will play instead of Guti.

We will never forget his welcoming party, a few handful games that he had shone, such as the fener away match, Buca match at home, 120 minutes Ziraat Cup match against Mersin and just a few other more, but no more than that.

Just like in his last season in Real Madrid, we could still have used him as in the late parts of the games, with fresh legs, and killer passes, but he opted to play the whole nightlife game, as it brought an end to his physical stamina.

Nonetheless we will always remember you Guti, and we do thank you for your time with us. We shall also thank you for making a quick decision to leave, instead of bragging about your rights and becoming a thorn on the squad.

Whereever you go, vaya con dios and vamos a ganar...

Degeneration

2011-11-16T21:19:00.005-05:00

I admit, when I saw the banner that teases Sinyor Terim's English commentary, I too had a slight smiling gesture on my face.

On the other hand, I was thinking the possible cause and effect of this banner. Yes, it is funny indeed, but also when you think about it a little further, you know that you are really making fun of a person, who wants to improve himself in every aspect of life, -and even he does have a very irritating ego-, he confronts what most of us calls fear in a much courageous way.

If you remember, he had a very bad and broken English post-game commentary, -maybe a pre-game one, not sure on that-, which can be watched via YouTube right here.

Although there were many remarks that could have been made fun of from that interview session, the phrase "tabela" was picked in this mockery smelling banner, possibly by Dewe Erol.

Nonetheless, I cannot approve of such mockery, as in my mind it is very similar to the banner that was placed on the stands of fenerbahçe supporters, when our legendary captain, Atomic Ant Rıza was our coach on that memorable and victorous night of 3-4 Kadıköy match. The banner was referring to Rıza's father, who earned his living as a doorman, and this declaration by the fans supposedly shed a light between the hi-class fener fans, and the low-income, hence the low-class Çalımbay family.

Justice may have only been served on the score sheet and in the eyes of the public because of that insulting banner that was displayed that night. I hope a similar justice will not occur against us this Sunday night, as it may mean another lost season, at least in the domestic arena.

I hope that this banner will not be displayed, as it will insult those who wants to further improve themselves, encouraging their followers to learn about new frontiers and developments. Otherwise, we will look exactly like the fener supporters from a few years ago and this will complete our supporter's degeneration process.

A process in which, there is no point of return...

A Statement vs. A Proverb

2011-11-12T11:13:00.003-05:00

"In this country, they play 60's football... "

a Schuster Statement,

"Those who tell the truth shall be fired from 9 villages..."

a Turkish Proverb...

November 10,

2011-11-09T19:54:00.002-05:00

1938, till eternity...

Legends of the FALL

2011-11-06T18:25:00.003-05:00

Well, eventually our legends were destined to fall in this tight fixture and it happened in a very ugly way in today's Gençlerbirliği match. Truthfully if anyone have predicted a loss with a single score deficit prior to this game, not many of the Beşiktaş fans would have objected. After all it was an away game and the last leg of a lenghty 5 game period in 14 days. Physical trauma from this fixture would have been eminent and we were only wishing for a minimal damage before the national duties...

That was the theory, but in reality everything started out perfect. Ernst's free header in the back post and Pektemek's free shot placed us with a 2 goal advantage within 25 minutes of the game. It did truly became a religious holiday for the fans like us. Confidence stretched high, and chances to even score further came in here and there, with Simao on 44th minute and Pektemek again in the beginning of second half around 52nd minute if I'm not mistaken. It turns out, that chance for the 2nd goalscorer was the ultimate crucial point for the game that turned upside down for good till the end...

Name it as a brief concentration loss or a physical collapse but 2 goal conceded in two minutes and the whole strategy have changed within the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half. On the first goal, a stray ball that ricocheted of our defense just landed in front of Herve Tum and I guess luck wasn't with us or Cenk at that moment either. On the second goal though, we have just slept over just like their turn back in the beginning of the game. The roles have changed, and now the boys in white had to chase the game all of a sudden.

Still had the hopes of turning things around when Dynamo's hero Egemen did a crucial mistake with Cenk and the own goal just pulled the plug totally. Almeida'a entrance, with the debut of Mehmet Akyüz was just pointless after that moment. Clearly, the ball did not like us last night... 4th goal was just an icing on top the Gençler's cake that was somehow not very well deserved but truthfully earned.

Like I have said in the beginning, you can come up with many excuses if you really want some excuses. Heavy match traffic, Pektemek's miss for the third goal, physical collapse, concentration loss, relaxation after 2 goal lead and so on so forth.

Some of the bloggers who loves statistics like Simon Kuper would have amazed with this 2 goal lead and loss of Beşiktaş as well. After all over %90 of the time when Beşiktaş scored first they never lost, let alone 2 goal lead. This, by itself, is a legend that fell. Another legend that fell was our physical superiority that when we have Ernst, Aurelio and/or Necip in the middle we would be impenetrable throughout. Well, guess what? We may have just shot ourselves on the feet by Egemen and bled to death just for that night, hopefully it would not carry away in two weeks time when Galatasaray visits us after the break.

As an overall performance, I really like the beginning of the game, it's just we need a great finisher upfront. Both Almeida and Pektemek are totally two different kind of players and both lacks finishing really bad. I mean for a team with our caliber our finisher striker should score goals left and right with this midfield that pushes the game forward. I guess, in time, this will be fixed as well just like the defense and midfield somewhat shaped for an ideal line-up.

Let's hope that this was our evil-eye for the season, and in two weeks time we'll hopefully start in a new winning series of matches, which will include Galatasaray, Trabzon, Stoke City and Maccabi in a short period of time again. Now it is time for a rejuvenation, in which some of the internal glitches like Guti and Fernandes may have resolve for good as well.

May our Legends never fall, again...

Beşiktaş;

2011-11-03T21:35:00.001-04:00

is a struggle that never ends!...

When the first bullet flies through

2011-10-31T23:02:00.002-04:00

Truth be told, all of that bureaucracy, diplomatic talks and all of that crap just goes out of the window, when the first bullet goes through next to your ear whizzing with high velocity. That was a phrase from a sharpshooter in Black Hawk Down.

How ironic and funny is that it reminds me our Turkish Super League so much...

When we see these incapable, rotten and deliberate referees it gives the same effect of that first bullet. All that tactics, systems, preparedness of your team just goes out of the window, when some imbecile dons a referee shirt and slaughters the beautiful game.

Moreover, they cause those retarded dogs like Emre to spread their saliva all over the place, seeding anger and agitation to each and every member of the football family in Turkey. Who would want to be a part of this idiotic theatre?

Certainly, LickTV for one to be counted. Who else?

The bullets have gone whizzing many days and even many months ago when the foundation of republic of fenerbahçe term have been erected. Until that term will be forgotten and the fairness will conquer all of those who are in this mess, the war will go on, and on, and on...

Breaking Bad

2011-10-30T20:26:00.006-04:00

Don't worry, I'm not going to write about the TV show, which is a recent hit airing this season. I want to talk about the literal meaning of breaking bad and how it fits into Beşiktaş's situation these days.

As most of us know, fast-break is a basketball term that usually stays in that sport. In football, we like to emphasize the term "counter attack". However, in football, like most of other competitive team sports, there are two sides of the story. Both of these sides want to win the game and whatever they do in it causes an effect on how the game shapes. You see, cause and effect is a very similar term for attack and counter attack. We mostly imply the meaning of fast-break into the term of counter attack so that it would mean something in this beautiful game. In the end, one must surely realize that without an attack there would be no counter attack...

After this somewhat confusing entrance, I would like to point out the problems and maybe humble possible solutions that Beşiktaş gets effected by attacking in a counter-attack style, and also being attacked in a counter-attack style.

First of all, we all know that in recent games the identity of the team is slowly shifting towards more physical players like Hilbert, Ernst, Veli, Sivok, Egemen, Necip and so forth. This happened mostly because these are the players that take care of themselves professionally and resist this unhealthy -or unprecedented and unprepared may be better terms to describe it- fixture of ours. Another reason is the system of football being played in our territory, which gives no chance to those teams without any physical presence on the field for at least a certain period of time in 90 minutes. If you have a number of players that don't like to run, or insufficient to do so, like Guti, Fernandes, Q7 and so forth, then the problems that we have seen since last year. Team gets ripped apart after a period of time and the huge spot in the midfield gets claimed by the opponents and points were lost each game.

However, Carvahal's latest findings suggest that we are getting better with holding the midfield, and we may even get better in time, by gaining more confidence and experience with certain players. This, in return, brings Denizli's style of a team in which you don't often lose a game but also, you don't often win a game either. Sort of a team that gets lots of ties but never really loses a chance for the top spots. when we look at from this angle, it is really hard to please the spectators, as you ay remember them even chanting to M. Denizli asking "why the team is not playing properly?" The proper way of playing is of course an attacking style in which you do need more fighters than artists. We, then had to make a choice and brought in more artists last season. In return, our fighting capability declined and even diminished so fast that most of us are looking for a fighting team with a fighting spirit these days. That is why most of us think that we are in a good roll with the presence of above mentioned physical players.

There are still few glitches in the team of course. As Carvahal seems like he made up his mind of building a physical but not so attractive side, -for the end result purposes of course- he faces the problem of the wingers that don't like to defend that often. When Quaresma and Simao don't come back to help the full backs, in which most cases Ismail and luckily Hilbert instead of Ekrem in recent games, these players usually face 2 on 1's against the opponent and our midfield players like Ernst, Necip or Aurelio have to shift into helping these guys creating a bigger, empty and usable space to the opponents in midfield, basically handing them the keys to the most crucial part of the turf. Everyone sees that, Aykut Kocaman saw that, Sota Arveladze saw that, anyone who beat us recently starting from last year saw that pretty clear.

If this is one of the main problems, what would be the solution suggestions? Shifting Q7 next to Almeida, bringing in Holosko to right wing, moving Pektemek to left wing as a distant striker, and placing Simao right behind them, where he will find more chances to shoot and accurate passing opportunities. This, in return, will bring more dynamism to our wings but will bring some foreign player quote problems. If you have Holosko, Q7, Simao, Almeida up front, you will have only two more spots in the team for foreign players. Then you would have to make a choice between, Hilbert, Ernst or Sivok. If we would have a fit Ersan, we could have easily solve the problem. If we can %100 sure of Necip and Aurelio, then we can solve the problem as well. However, these "what ifs" are the parts where the games are won and lost these days. So for a solution let say everything is going in our way and the team would shape in somewhat like this:

Cenk,

Hilbert, Sivok, Egemen, İsmail

Holosko, Aurelio, Pektemek,

Simao,

Almeida, Q7

Necip can replace Aurelio.

Edu can replace Almeida.

Guti or Fernandes can replace Simao.

Pektemek can replace Q7 or Almeida, replacing Simao into that spot and in return Ernst can be in the midfield as well;

Cenk,

Hilbert, Sivok, Egemen, İsmail,

Holosko,Ernst, Aurelio, Simao,

Pektemek, Q7 (Almeida).

With this positioning Simao can still shift into a playmaker position and Ernst or Aurelio can fill in only one gap, instead of running in both sides without causing the problems I have mentioned above.

The problem may occur with first 11 is the physical demands of the game. However, the second 11 seems like both technical and physical sides can be together at the same team, given Holosko and Simao are on their good forms. and when you look at these two players, you know that they will not underperform all season.

Simao was not in his form lately due to his age. When players pass their 30's everyone knows that their fitness and form will come in much better as the season progresses. Hence, in Sivasspor match, Simao was the player who ran most in the whole team. I believe his form will go much better in few weeks of time.

This way, none of us may not worry about Q7 not coming back to help to his "wingman" and causing a whole domino effect on the team. Holosko and Simao will do that part perfectly. Q7's main concern will only be the goal scoring part, in which we will talk about shortly in counter-attack situations.

As Beşiktaş regains the possession of the ball, one thing the team can not do is to go forward in numbers due to the fact that all of the players like Ernst, Necip, Aurelio, Guti and even Fernandes are not fast paced players, for breaking away in a flash. Hence, most of the balls played toward Q7, burdening him under the pressure of performing individual acrobatic moves and mostly losing the possession real fast, placing more pressure to the defenders in return. That is why I suggested fast paced, straight forward athletic players like Holosko to get the initial ball out of the defending area and push forward rapidly, in a counter attack style situation. Our beloved ManU man, Bebe, was the star of the summer camp just because he was very fast, and a straight forward attacker, just like Holosko. That is why he was in the main plans of the unprepared team in the preseason, and that is why the team is still struggling to form into a new shape of defending and attacking at the same time.

If the number of fast paced players are very limited, then you do have to turn into your set players like Guti and Fernandes to build an attack in a slow but steady pace. If they would have been strong and physically fit players there would have been no problem at all. However, their lack of such physical qualities have handed the midfield in each and every game to the opponents, giving Carvahal a chance to turn into today's more physical but less attractive side.

I believe the most important game of the season so far will be played this Thursday against Dynamo Kyiv. It will mean a lot in the European Arena for the team. A win will bring the hopes of advancement back, and a tie or loss will definitely keep the books closed on us for this season. If I were Carvahal, with no quota in Europe, I would field these players against Dynamo;

Cenk,

Hilbert, Sivok, Egemen, İsmail,

Holosko, Ernst, Aurelio, Simao,

Almeida, Pektemek.

If needed Q7 may be fielded to bring in the final hit to finish them of around 65th minute to give him a good chance to change the game all by himself, pleasing his ego and even may be, pleasing us in the end. I believe he should start on the bench against Dynamo as well as Necip, who should go in around the same time as a refreshment either for Ernst or Aurelio, -preferably Aurelio though-.

Besides all of these mambo jambo about breaking, counter attacking and defending, we all know that the ball is round, the game is 90 minutes and everything else is a theory. That is why we love this game.

We will see this Thursday whether we will break bad, or we will break bad...

Last, but not least;

* Rest in Peace İrfan Ataseven. Rest in Peace all who have lost their lives in the Van/ErcişEarthquake. My prayers will be with you just as with those who have lost their lives defending the country against the terrorists. Like the banner said in fenerbahçe game, "We are going through some black (dark) times, but we will end up in a white (brighter) future all together"...

The Last Mohikan

2011-10-26T20:42:00.004-04:00

This just came in today in the mail, thanks to a very dear friend of mine. I believe it is one of the last kind of the goalkeeper shirts, since it has the colaturka sponsor logo on a new season goalkeeper shirt. Probably they took it to the summer camp for training or friendly game purposes and a fan grabbed it over there from Rüştü.

You may find similar shirts from these periods of sponsor changes like in 2004 when Beko was out and Turkcell was in, in the second half of the season. Even though it wasn't worn, It was sold in the Stores with Turkcell sponsor logos on their chests.

Anyways, I was so happy that colaturca deal was over but it is very ironic that I'm so happy with this acquisition even though it has the colaturka brand on it. I can say that it is not a match worn, but definitely a training worn shirt that has already became a very valuable piece for my humble shirt collection.

As always you can see the whole thing all the way down in a flickr operated slide show. I'm always open to new suggestions and any help from you to enhance this collection. Thanks a lot.

Mind Reader

2011-10-24T23:40:00.004-04:00

If you have read my previous post, you probably saw the best 11 according to me that I have penned down digitally in the opening paragraph. It felt like reading Carvahal's mind, -or vice versa- after seeing the first 11 for Mersin away game. The only displacement was Pektemek, instead of Almeida in my optimum squad, and it turns out that he, as the goal scorer, made the difference in last night's game.

I really liked that we have started with Veli, Ernst and Necip, who were all hungry for more and physically strong in the midfield. This is how it's supposed to be in away games, no matter who's our opposition in STSL. Also it seems like we have found our ideal defense block too, suggesting that Toraman's injury have actually favored our odds as well as Rüştü, who has a disastrous record for receiving crosses from the wings.

If the boys were a little bit more careful, the game would have been over in the midway through second half, when Q7 & Holosko both missed open scoring chances.

Cüneyt Çakır, so called the best ref in this country, since he's being selected constantly by UEFA for European games, was the worst man in the field last night, by showing very early yellow cards, closing his senses towards Mersin defenders battering Q7 in the first half hour, and stopping the game crucially when Beşiktaş had the advantage to create a goal scoring chances. I can vouch for at least two occasions that he had stopped us, however he kept the game flow when Mersin had a good chance to continue attacking when Hilbert fouled his opponent. He showed his yellow card to Hilbert after the attack ended, like it's supposed to be. This clearly reminded me of his dual standard of decisions in Besiktas games. I still can't figure out why?

A special paragraph has to be written about Cenk, who seems like to get in a better form in recent games. maybe it is because that he is more relaxed knowing he will be the gatekeeper, without worrying about making mistakes and benched as a result. Some play much better in relaxed environments, and it seems Cenk is one of them.

With this crucial 3 points in the pocket, we will host fenerbahçe on Thursday and I hope that we will win that night. However, it's in Carvahal's hands, -or mind to be more exact- that if he will field a physical side again or a more soft but creative midfield that will probably doom us eventually. In my opinion, he has a good feeling of the physical strength of the team for the last two games, and he may opt for my optimum squad on Thursday. However, I also think that he will use Aurelio, Fernandes and Almeida into the squad, replacing Pektemek, Veli and Ernst.

The derby will only provide a psychological edge to the winning team no matter what will be the outcome of it. Of course, if we win we will break fener's unbeaten running record for over 20 some games, most of which were fixed but still in court to prove otherwise.

Simao and Q7 will have to perform much better than their recent form, if we ever want to win this game. Maybe the presence of Almeida will ease their job a little bit more, however If I see Ekrem instead of Hilbert, I probably wouldn't even watch the game...

Moreover, this game will have a huge impact on both of the games ahead of us. First the weekend's showdown against Sivas and then the death match against our unpopular European rivals this year, the Ukrainians. Don't let Sheva to turn around...

May the force be with us...

Photo Credits: Beşiktaş official site.

The team that I believe in is;

2011-10-22T21:56:00.003-04:00

Rigth now, this is the team that I believe in...

Cenk,

Hilbert, Sivok, Egemen, Ismail,

Ernst, Necip,

Veli,

Q7, Almeida, Pektemek.

Cenk is in the team cause of Rüştü's injury and he will be there for a month at least if he doesn't get any injury as well. Let's keep the fingers crossed. He may not have actually see it but this is the period where he will prove himself to be a great keeper for a long time or go back to an Anatolian team just like Hakan Arıkan at the end of the season. I hope the latter option will not be a reality.

Hilbert, on right back, no douct is the best option we have. he does defending well and when the opportunity arrives he forces the team up front with his full steam ahead on the right flank. Even his discipline and his stamina is sufficient enough to be in this squad. Next year Rıdvan Şimşek should come back to squad with more STSL game experience under his belt and he may be a good alternative instead of Mevlana Ekrem...

Sivok and Egemen have become our Zago and Ronaldo with a little bit on the rougher edge though, I admit. I believe the more they will play together, the better they will get, and hope fully Toraman will not come back to this team ever again. If Ersan gets back, he may be a good alternative towards the end of the season since I believe he needs a full year to get back to his old form. Sidnei? Like Italian Americans say; fuhged aboud it... We must use Atınç at least in Turkish Cup games and prep him for next years. Since Egemen is getting close to his 30's and Sivok may not be here within couple of years, we may have to prep Atınç and Ersan to replace them. But for now, Sivok and Egemen is our best at hand.

İsmail is also there because there is no other option if he is fit and able to play. Yeah, Egemen can be used in there or even Ekrem and maybe Tanju, whom we saw about 5 minutes in Antalya game. However İsmail is the undisputed first choice in the ideal shape of the squad right now.

There was this Dogukan Pala last year but I guess he was sent on loan this year, -to Denizli if I'm not mistaken-, I wonder how he will return.

What can I say about Ernst anyways? There is no words to describe this guy. I wish all of our players could be at his professional level. Yes he is not a superstar but he is the dynamo of this team given a real good apprentice next to, hence our Necip Uysal... This year Necip has a real observable decline in his playing. I wonder why? He is still called up for the U-21's and maybe this caused him to decline a little bit, since he was in the A-Team and then sent back. The kid should stay up top, not go back and forth. Anyways, if you need a little bit more creative guy especially when you're up front by 2 goals you can switch Fernandes with Ernst, and Necip with Aurelio but to me they are not the first choice players for the squad.

We saw Veli Kavlak in ankaragücü (or antalyaspor) game with a great thirst and stamina pushing forward in every opportunity, looking for a chance to score. He did indeed got quite a few good chances as well in that game, however either his excitement, or lack of concentration disabled him in his pursuit of a score. Inspite of this fact, I believe this boy has something special in him. Even his ability to get in position of scoring chances are good signs for a team that can not even go into a scoring position since that match. He may be transferred to be alternative to Guti, but if you ask me Guti can be an alternative for him, when he is fit and not drunk. At least for this season, not anymore... Even Fernandes can be used in this position, in which he will like it better and freely roam and take shots like he used to do in the past. Oh and of course we still wait for Muhammed!...

Q7. He has to be reminded constantly that people out there love and cherish him as long as he plays for the team. If he insists on doing what he's doing right now, I believe he can follow Keita into Qatar and do a few tricks in there for a few dollars more... I really want to see Burak Kaplan at least little by little in his position to see his capabilities as well. Lastly, Simao should be an alternative to this worn out wing, where he can show his experience when it's needed rather than speed and stamina is expected from him.

When Almeida is not around, this team cannot score. there is no other explanation. Sad but true. Edu may have been an alternative of him, but not just by himself, not with a closest teammate around him within a distance of 30 yards or so. Also, we have not seen Mehmet Akyüz yet. Except the A2 game the other day, where he have scored a goal against a team of 15 year olds, as it seemed... Why not give a chance? Clearly we miss Bobo, but what's done is done and I wish Bobo is safe in his quest of jesus and God himself back in Cruzerio...

Pektemek should play, play and play... Only then he will gain his match fitness, self-respect and the trust in his abilities towards a better shaped footballer in this club. He can clearly alternate with Holosko, whom is a little bit more of a counter attack player with surprize runs through the back lines of the opponents.

As I started this post I wanted to keep short just with the first and a winning eleven and leave it there but it just kind a flowed through. Hope that you agree with this line-up or even better hope that Mister Carvahal should realize this fact and shape the team accordingly.

It seems that we are trying to field a good squad for domestic games in European matches and a good European squad in domestic league games. First, he has to realize that and than things will come in a better shape naturally.

For Mersin match, I think we will see Ekrem again on right back. Egemen in left, cause of Iso's red card? Or is he done with it yet? Well, if he is out, Egemen will be there and Sidnei-Sivok will be in the center.

Of course Aurelio and Ernst will be in the center, since Necip is surely out because of the red card from gaziantep game. I believe Fernandes will have a come back after not showing up in Dynamo away match. And also Q7, Simao and Edu will be up front as the untouchables. If things go well, maybe Almeida can do a cameo as well in the second half to gain some fitness prior to the fenerbahçe game.

We shall see if Carvahal is a person who learns from his mistakes or not...

What were you expecting?

2011-10-20T21:20:00.002-04:00

Just about a fortnight ago, this team sucked so bad against Kayserispor that none of us actually thought we will even get a point from the cold Kyiv night. As the deities of football have no mercy on the weak, or shall we say football has no justice, we almost got away with a golden point. Of course that would be the case if the game would ended about 30 seconds ago than it did actually end...

For some reason whenever we do go out to the European arena recently, there's always a politically charged situation going on in the country. Let it be before our home victory against Liverpool, or right before defeating the Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv we did have political and terrorist problems that may have an effect on the pitch as well as on the stands. This time around we did have the same attacks by the heartless, mindless and coward terrorists who call themselves PKK and killed numerous Turkish soldiers on duty. May God rest our soldiers' souls in peace, and may their place is readied in heaven... Just like Simon Kuper have written in The Soccer Men, about the young Argentine heroes, they are our heroes who have died to have our country's sins forgiven.

Under this circumstances we did expect a little more will power from Beşiktaş, who have conceded 8 goals in two meetings last time around with the same match-up. Necip and İsmail have came back to the squad, as well as Ernst and Hilbert. Cenk had replaced injured Rüştü. Other than that insufficient Guti and not so ready Almeida were dropped off from the squad, Fernandes have been benched all game long as well as Pektemek. As the minutes went by the mentality of the team quickly mirrored Carvahal's thoughts. After all, he ain't a Schuster...

All 94 minutes, we all knew that the inevitable goal will be conceded no matter what. Also, we all knew that we do not stand a chance with the way we play, or watch if we may say so. Every time Dynamo players got the ball with pressing upfront or in the midfield, they have rushed to our goal with all of our defenders backing up, instead of tackling them or stopping them by simply confronting them. This, in return gave Dynamo numerous chances to score. However, they were not lucky as we were in the first 93 minutes. Finally, as a Beşiktaş classic in Europe we have conceded a last second goal and all three points -very well deserved- went to Dynamo's pocket.

Besides the arithmetic of the group stage, we have bigger issues in the club. I mean even if we win our both home games against Stoke and Dynamo, which majority of us probably really doubt about that we will still have to wait and see what other teams will do in their own match ups. Anyways, that's not the point. The point is we have a coach, who is very adorable, excited on the sidelines and seems very active for the team. However, the incompetency is leaking from him all over the place. He thinks this team is one of the mid-table contenders in Portuguese or Spanish League that has to defend with 9 men and attack with 2 wingers alone... Besides our superstars do suck so bad that I think their last chance on this team will be upcoming fenerbahçe game, and still they look like they don't give a shit about it at all.

So, who's responsible from all of this mess? I already hear your answers; president's name is echoing all over, but you're all wrong! The only responsible party in this whole mess is us, the supporters. the supporters who doesn't do anything to oust this presidency, this sold out congress members of Beşiktaş, this coach, this money trap so called superstars, this Mendes crap and so forth so on...

What were you expecting? A magic wand will touch to our club and change everything while we watch and hope and DO NOTHING? It's time to be real. If you want a change, start from yourselves. Involve, and act. Be active and protest. Find ways to become a member and vote against this corrupted system of our club and it's shameless officials... If you don't do these, you have no right to complain about Quaresma, Simao, Fernandes, or Guti to underperform with a lack of interest to our causes. We do need our own Pep. Even Sergen who's head and ass goes different ways because of his comments on TV, would direct our club better than this circus that we have right now.

It's time to wake up, and if we can't we will not be able to for a very long long time...

A Picture worth,

2011-10-15T20:40:00.002-04:00

thousand words...

Grand Beşiktaş March

2011-10-11T23:00:00.006-04:00

We will gather at Kazan and march to the club building on October 16, 3:30 in the afternoon. If we were silence till this day, it's not because of our interests but because we didn't want any harm to come in the path of Beşiktaş. We are convinced that fake stand leaders have let our wild soul to be stepped under and trampled, and the last barricade became unclaimed, obeying everything.

These stands have sent away Süleyman Seba, who had been glued to his armchair for 16 years, have cut off one way tickets for those that have harmed Beşiktaş regardless of who they were and today it is up to us again. The laborers who have made our Closed (Kapalı) Stands immortal will not keep their silence anymore, today is the day of salvation for Beşiktaş.

We, that have felt the deepest sorrows of these colors for years, will start a series of organized events this Sunday and this struggle will continue until demiören will leave his post. We are expecting all of the Beşiktaş lovers to the Grand Beşiktaş March.

THE WILD SOUL DID NOT DIE, THE LAST BARRICADE DID NOT COLLAPSED, WE HAD BURIED OUR HATCHETS BUT DID NOT FORGET WHERE THEY WERE...

*********************************************

My friends, comrades and Beşiktaş lovers... My soul will be there with you. From New York with Love...

Looking for a Cruijff, in Turkey.

2011-10-10T21:33:00.004-04:00

There are great players in the modern history of football. Most of the inhabitants of this football loving planet usually compares anyone and everyone to stars and legends like Pele, Maradona, Messi, CR7 etc... However, if you ask me, -even though I have never watched him live- just by his legendary stories and captivating instances, I for one, would prefer Cruijff at all times in the expense of above mentioned stars of the past, present and future...

Surely, Messi's dribbles mesmerize us all, or CR7's freekicks and stamina. Surely Pele have invented the bicycle kick and may even created the first true global stardom of football ever, paving the pathway to the long list of Maradonas, Ronaldos, Messis, Zizoues etc. etc. As I see, most of them are not truly invented anything on football itself. They have just used their God given superpowers to overcome the simple obstacles that other regular players have laid before them. As much as entertaining this would be, we all know that they will be all become passé(s) once their shelf lives would be over. After that, we will all talk about them in our memories or watch their spectacular moves over a million times in youtube like socializing tools.

On the contrary, what Cruijff did -along with Rinus Michels of course- was revitalizing the game itselg from the scratch, in which all of the players would have to improve themselves according to this new system called the Total Football. The fruits of this system were taken as early as in 1971 by Ajax Amsterdam, by taking three consecutive European Championships. Moreover, the Dutchmen have played but lost in 1974 & 1978 World Cup Finals, which was a huge success for the Dutch at the time. Even in 1988, with the new breed of players like Gullit, Rijkaard and Van Basten, -sort of like our Metin, Ali and Feyyaz- got their one and only win in a major competition by beating Russians, (whom they have lost to in group stages) 2-0 in the final.

If I may skid the subject to the stardom here a little bit, I still remember the famous volley of Van Basten that have past over Dassaev in the very same style of slow motion imagery like the Nazi General had stood up and started to applaud Pele's bicycle kick in the movie of Escape to Victory with Slyvester Stallone.

Anyways, if we come back from Hollywood to the real life, Cruijff had invented Total Football with Rinus Michels and he took it furthermore in Barça by setting up their youth development teams to play in this brilliant style. Most of us already know about the Massia and its pupils that are tormenting everyone on the green fields these days. Some even got sick and tired of them for winning so much. What an unfortunate state of a mind that some people have that they want to punish Barça just because they have been working on this system for more than 20 years now!

Long term investments of the Total Football have paid over in two countries already. The Dutch, who have also played the last World Cup Final and lost to Spain, who is the latter of the nations that are fulfilling Cruijff's prophecy.

Now, let's turn all the spotlight to ourselves. In a nation where the only system is the system of the universe, chaos! For some scientists there is no such thing as chaos but the naysayer's theories prove that there has to be a chaotic existence once more. We do not have a particular system of Football in our country. I mean English has the long ball, Brazilian's has the technical superiority, Germans have the mighty mechanical structure, -in which I believe they have found a way of combining Brazilian flair with Briton's long balls and the Dutch's total versatility- even the Ukrainians have the superb counterattack mentality, mostly thanks to the late Lobanovski...

What do we have? A total chaos, that's what we have. We have incompetent federations that mingle with politics all the time along with seasonal trainers like -Mesut Bakkal, Hikmet Karaman, Nurullah Saglam, Yilmaz Vural etc. etc.- that talks behind each other to get jobs in Anatolian clubs twice a season. We have uneducated 20some year old millionaire players, just because they had a good run of form in a single season so that they have been elevated to teh stardom ranks, by all means by ourselves, the spectators collaborated withe the ever evil media itself. Finally, we have the filthy rich, the cream layer of the country that have absolutely no idea whatsoever about football in terms of each and every aspect of it, holding and controlling our clubs, players, federation as well as the trained spectators that are fed by these very rich men by getting free tickets and season passes.

Do you think that our footballers in our country right now enjoy playing this beautiful game even a little bit, or they do merely see this as a job in which they have to fulfill basic requirements and fill up their bank accounts while they can? I think it's the second one. That is why we have Sabri's and Üzülmez's that can only send the ball into the box once a year, Servet's and Zan's that can not turn in their own axis quickly enough, Rüstü's and Volkan's that can't read the game thoroughly to start an riveting attack and get caught in no man's land in every 2 crosses out of the 3 that are made into our own box... These examples can be multiplied with players and can be modified with trainers of our youth systems. In the last 10 years can someone tell me how many coaches have been swapped in our U-17, U19, U21 teams? And how would these changes affected our productivity, prosperity and results? All I see is a steady decline, -if we truly don't count the miracles of 2008 Euros, in which we may have won the whole thing or may have come home after the second game as well. Even then, if I'm nor mistaken Slaven Biliç of Croatia have confessed that they didn't understand our system, and by the time they had a slight idea it was already too late.. Chaos ensued them all...

What we really need is to find our own Johan Cruijff along with our own Rinus Michels that may change the very foundation and shape of our hearts towards Turkish Football. I hope that this would happen in one of the smaller clubs of Anatolia, in which the pressure and corruption seems much less than in the Istanbul Giants, who are already choked by the smoke of the rich men's cigars, puffing in the protocol stands.

You never know, a no name prodigy may do this. Maybe Antalya's Emrah Başsan along with Mehmet Özdilek or Muhammed Demir with Abdullah Ercan, or our very own Muhammed Demirci with Tayfur Havutçu, when he comes out of jail of course... These names and examples are all fictional and may even sound as an utopia, however, as most people say; you never know...

We do have to have a new leader, that shall rise from the ashes of Turkish Football, like in the legend of the phoenix and redraw the destiny of Turkish Football by his actions. This, however, may happen tomorrow, or may never happen at all. Until then, chaos will consume us as usual, baffle us with the losses against teams like Azerbaijan just like letting their first corner and goal of San Marino two decades ago...

Like Cruijff states, you can never improve yourself if you do not enjoy what you're doing. You never pass sideways, so that if it is interrupted two of your teammates would be caught off guard. You always pass the ball ahead of your comrades so that it speeds up the pace of the game. So on, so forth...

We shall only succeed if we start to educate and improve ourselves much better, so that we can bring out our own Cruijjfs within our very own 70 plus million. Otherwise it will always be just like today, in which Germany produces, trains, and brings out much more talent than us within the 5 million plus Turkish descendants who reside in their own country.

What do you think? Is our own Cruijjf is out there?...

Rest in Peace, Steve Jobs...

2011-10-05T20:41:00.002-04:00

We, as a humanity will miss you so much. Hope that you are in heaven and watching us over with pride... Rest in Peace, Steve Jobs...

Losing My Religion

2011-10-05T19:44:00.004-04:00

Just as R.E.M announced that they have departed on their own ways and the famous group that had shaped the music industry more or less in the 90s, my faith towards Turkish Football -and particularly towards Besiktas, as it seems, is being lost at the moment.

One can only bear to watch so much when he or she knows the outcome of the game beforehand. I mean look around you, aren't the number of people dramatically rising for complaining about Barça? Cause they know that Catalonians will win every other game with so ease that it gets boring...

On the other hand, in our league, cheating, bad managements, corruption and scandals became so common that most of the spectators don't even want to watch anything anymore. You can easily tell that by looking at the empty stands in each and every game. We all know the cliché defense of; "all the other teams have been cheating all the time, so why should we get relegated?" This shameless defense of those who manipulated last season's and maybe the last decade's games are still proud about it, are still mocking the system, and are still doing whatever they want.

Let's face it, Turkey became a country of cheaters, liars and despots, who are doing whatever they want. Well, at least in the area of football... To be honest with you, and sadly, this didn't even bother most of us in the beginning. Until, -no matter what your colors are- you realize that your club presidents start to act hand in hand and barricading against those who are supposed to severely punished by laws that the very same people bestowed upon the system about 4 months ago! Give us a God Damn Break, crying out loud!...

I guess this is just a plain and basic reason that I can not find any power in me to write anything lately. I mean, I did hit some books, which I highly recommend to all, just to recharge my batteries towards football in general, just to get inspired. However, every time I try to watch STSL, they just kill it for me over and over again... Cuneyt Çakır's fucked up refereeing, Demirören's fucked up presidency, Mehmet Ali Aydınlar's fucked up feneration, are just some highlights of the recent weeks..

Hopefully, we can recuparate within this "International Break" and try to find new ways of rejoice against the mighty Germans and our little brother Azerbaijan. After that we can just flush the remains anyways...

Yeap, this is how someone sounds when he has just lost his faith... Just simple is that...

Holosko Reloaded

2011-09-22T22:48:00.002-04:00

This picture was taken right after Holosko's last official STSL goal, last season...

And this was taken right after last night's game...

Holosko Reloaded, against Bursaspor on both occasions. Interesting, isn't it?

Forced Entry...

2011-09-22T22:38:00.002-04:00

Forced Entry...

Hats off to the Great White...

2011-09-20T22:44:00.002-04:00

Please follow from here, couldn't be depicted any better than this. Like I said, Hats off...

3-1, or One plus One equals Three...

2011-09-19T23:07:00.006-04:00

ManU-Chelsea,

Beşiktaş- Ankaragücü,

Napoli-AC Milan,

Galatasaray-Samsunspor,

Fenerbahçe-Gaziantepspor,

Bursaspor-Mersin İdman Yurdu...

Anymore that you know of?

Everton-Wigan Athletic,

Hoffenheim-Wolfsburg,

Kaiserslautern-Mainz,

Okay, Okay, I know I'm forcing it a little bit, but come on now, how many times in a single week you have this many games ended up 3-1 in scoresheet? To tell you the truth, we all know that even the score was 0-0 the best game was ManU vs. Chelsea up there. However, Torres' miscue blunder and Rooney's Beckhamesque trip from the spot cancelled each other out as well as their scores of one goal each. Eventually, Q7, Simao, Almeida and Fernandes' compadre, Nani had a superb game and he was the decisive element that sunk the Londoners...

On the other hand, on the boot of the Mediterranean, Cavani made 3 big splashes and consequently a big wave again for Naples, keeping hopes alive for the Maradona's ex-patriots for the Scudetto.

Whereas in our own backyard, all the "big three" have won their games 3-1 and all of their matches definitely were missing enthusiasm, aesthetics and tempo. Maybe Besiktas had a little extra points in my eyes today, but then again, -as you already know- I am biased in Besiktas games. Thus, the opponents Samsun, Antep and Ankaragücü had nothing to offer as well.

Well, even if they want to offer, do you really believe that they would? I mean we are talking about the club presidents and officials here, hand in hand trying to ban relegation so that they can have nonstop influx of funds in to their own club bank accounts. God forbid one of the big three teams go down to the lower divisions! Where would the money come to them then?

So te big question is this: Who can guarantee to me that if last season's poor performance of Galatasaray may be repeated by any of the big three clubs later in the season and they would be desperate for points, will "Anatolian Clubs" go out and play to win? I definitely don't fucking think so...

They killed Turkish Football hand in hand... Kudos to these rich bastards who are sucking the blood of the supporters, whom may even deserved to be cause of their passiveness.

Anyways, I, for one, now watching only European Football and Beşiktaş, and do really enjoy it. Whether it be Barça's 8 goals, or Tottenham's demolishing Reds, I know that it is pure football. Even the rigged system of Argentina's Leagues that are designed to keep big clubs in upper division is much more cleaner than our football. Hence, the River Plate example...

If I may say couple of words about our boys tonight that beat Ankaragücü, I can say that the team still lacks a lot of confidence. I mean how many of you believe that this team will win this Thursday? Or even this sunday after that? I really want to be an optimist, but I can't, I'm sorry. My primary concern is the Stoke City match next Thursday though. Until then I really can't say anything about the team's performance, cause in this league it is all a hoax, and we all know it... Yeah, Edu was good, Sidnei was better and Fernandes was great, Cenk was poor but it all goes out of the window when you just think of what's happening around the presidents and acting club officials in the league...

Don't you see that we are all confused and really got bored about this? I may even return to my roots and start following Juve just for fun I guess. After all, football doesn't give me any bread on my dinner table for my family...

Am I getting too old?...

Anyways, welcome to Beşiktaş, Sidnei...

Thank You Trabzonspor, Thank you Beşiktaş...

2011-09-16T19:37:00.004-04:00

I know more than two days have already passed by after these victories' dates combined. However, after having a wisdom teeth pulled out on the day of Trabzon's victory in Milano I have not been myself for the last couple of days, due to heavy painkiller traffic in my system. as I have read most of the reader's favorite blogger's sites, I see that most, still unhappy the way of football being played on both Trabzon and Beşiktaş, despite the end results.

I agree that Trabzon did not play an utmost excellent football in Milano. Nonetheless they played smart enough to get the result. Just like AC Milan took it against the Catalonians a day before, they played just enough to get the result they have asked for, and maybe even a little more of it too. Some "Irishmen amongst us" claimed that Inter squad was so bad, that they can not even be compared to the side that lifted the big ears under the command of a certain Portuguese individual. Thus, Trabzon's victory shouldn't be a big thing to talk about. I say only one thing to these naysayers: Jealousy...

Yes, the squad is nothing to be compared of, however Trabzon had only less than two weeks to prepare for the Europe's most elite tournament, thanks to these Irish amongst us. On top of it their most prolific and fit forward Burak has been banned for three games from European arena as well as coach Şenol Güneş handed two game suspension too. Having lost some of the most effective players like Selçuk İnan, Ceyhun, Jaja and Umut Bulut over the summer transfer window, Trabzonspor opted to scale down in order to balance themselves economically for the Europa League mostly. Thus, the elimination to Benfica proved this mentality, even though some says harsh refereeing were effect against them. To me Benfica was clearly the better side in both games whatsoever.

Even though they have found themselves with this situation which is full of crisis, Trabzon with the help of Tolga Zengin and his magnificent goalkeeping found themselves floating atop their group after the initial matches. Hope this luck and form will follow them where ever they go in Europe and make us all Turks proud at the end of the adventure in this years tournament. Just a little more belief, that's all they need.

If we come back from Adriatic to the Bosphorus we all know the smashing result that Beşiktaş took against the highly politicized Israeli side of Maccabi Tel Aviv. Some may not agree on the Maccabi side but having their government's initiatives of moving the venue to somewhere else and forbidding some of their enlisted players to come to the away game in the beginning and then let them come did nothing but politicize the situation for more than couple of weeks prior to the game. Even some dumb douche bags from Beşiktaş side created facebook pages to protest the game and Israel during the match up as well, luckily these idiots were averted by the true Beşiktaş fans and nothing to be feared happened.

If we come to the game, I like the fact that we came out with Necip, Aurelio and Fernandes trio in midfield. That gave us somewhat more of a stability after the shock of Eskişehirspor over the weekend. In that game, if you remember, Necip and Fernandes couldn't cope up with their opponents due to the number of opponents in the midfield and that gave Eskişehir the great supremacy throughout the whole game. Hopefully with Ernst gaining his fitness after his injury our midfield problems will be solved much better than ever.

Carvahal, as it seems, takes lessons immediately and devises a new plan that should work for the next time around. Luckily his plan were effective, and due to an early goal and quick succession of two goals after the conceded one in second half have finished the game right there and then for Maccabi as well as Beşiktaş. The weak link o f the team seemed as Ekrem Dağ as he did not used the ball positively for the whole game. Some of this caused by Q7's playing style as he went up the field and didn't receive the pass from Q7, he had some difficulty coming back to his defending position. However, I still didn't see him using a positive pass even when he won the ball from his opponents. Egemen and Sivok seemed to work fine except those passes that went through them so many times. I mean if it wasn't Maccabi but Dynamo, probably the scoresheet was in a reverse order today. Thus, we were lucky in that perspective.

Almeida, Q7 and Simao upfront is a real delight to watch when they score or go up to score. However, you can't really say this when the team has to defend. Carvahal has to find a solution for this and I guess if he can't solve this with his native boys, no one really can do it. By the way, I like the way Koch was pointing out certain issues to Carvahal during the game. I really like an active bench, rather than a quiet one with a theatrical gesture. I only wish we could have seen Pektemek, and Edu much earlier in the game, maybe even right after we went up 4-1. This way we may even have Almeida healthier, instead of losing him like this for about three weeks, when he is on top form. Now, we will all look to the legs of Edu, Pektemek, Mehmet Akyüz, Holosko and some Q7 magic on top. We know that Mehmet Akyüz cannot play in Europe cause he is not listed, which show us that he is not one of Carvahal's favorites. Pektemek is usually effective striker when he plays away from the goal, not up front. As we have seen Edu, he was really slow in this game, maybe really effective in the penalty area. However, the problem is that I don't really remember a game -since 2009's Trabzon game which resulted in a 1-1 draw- in which we have pressed so much so that our opponent couldn't be able to leave their own half. The way I see it, it's not going to happen anytime soon either. When it comes to Holosko, we all know that he is a typical counter attacker when your team is up in the score sheet. If that's not the case he is useless from the start. One can only think and wish if Bobo's manager was not Figer at all... In order to win you must score goals and at least one more goal than your opponent. With this attacking line, I really don't know how much we can carry on into the season.

Another major issue that I want to talk about is our fullbacks. We have only one fullback in this whole squad which is İsmail Köybaşı. Other than that I don't think we have an original one. Ekrem could be a great rotation player, but Toraman is not a right back at all. On top of this we have sent Rıdvan to Karabükspor! Only player that can back İsmail could be Egemen and that is in case of emergencies. Tanju could have been also tested other than the pre-season friendlies but I think he is not in the standards of Carvahal, hence he is not listed in European squad as well.

One of the biggest key for success in soccer teams is the continuity of a certain squad. However, with our extraordinary schedule in this season, we may not see this continuum for a long time. Injuries, suspensions and even fitness problems will prevent this, and the team with the best mental and physical coaching staff will prevail at the end. Even though we all do need some fine tuning, being that we are all human and not machines after all. This mentality should solely give some credit to the players from whom we ask so much for our own mental satisfaction. To me, as long as I see them bust their own balls on the field in 90 minutes plus, I can be satisfied with their efforts regardless of the outcome. Because I know most of the outcomes will be positive for us as long as lads in the squad will follow this procedure that would mesmerize us, the supporters.

Lastly, even though Beşiktaş have won with a spectacular result, the team still didn't give me a hint of light that will brighten our near future. Maybe we can have a better opinion with a squad that is well placed in terms of its player selections after this month, nonetheless it may be too late for all of us after September already... The sad part is that I have seen a mirror image of ourselves in Maccabi team, just like us under the commandment of Schuster last season, with much less effective players and couldn't get the score somehow even though seemingly played better. Hence the cliché; this is football...

Money, Money, Money...

2011-09-08T21:01:00.003-04:00

That's what it matters after all, isn't it? All your cars, clothes, mortgages and rents of your houses, your expensive watches, jeans, iphones in your pockets, playstations, xboxes or nintendo wiis with gazillion inch HD plasma television sets hooked up in your living rooms, nifty shoes, brand name clothes, the expensive coffee that you drink or even the restaurants that you dine is what matters in life. Your pitiful life...

Two days left for the opening game for Turkish League and all that matters is money, beyond and above everything in this unjust system of football in Turkey.

It is a real shame when club presidents go all hand in hand to the capital, meeting with bureaucrats, senators, governors and all just to change the rules that they have pushed so much to make them into the definitive and new laws just a fortnight ago, simply claiming that they were wrong...

They all agree that Fenerbahçe, Beşiktaş, Sivas, Mersin, Eskişehir should not be relegated. They all agree that people in jail should not be jailed but to be banned from football only. They all agree on play-off system. They all agree on more money to be earned.

Simply, they all agree on that they have no shame at all...

And, we the supporters, are expected to watch this tragic comedy once again, obeying these charlatans requests to buy more shirts, season tickets and even digiturk boxes!

You know what: Fuck you!

Fuck all of you that messed up our one and only irreplaceable love. For me it is Beşiktaş, for you it may be Fenerbahçe, for others it is Galatasaray, Trabzon, Bursa and all the clubs that have been in this turmoil.

But wait a minute, didn't we deserve all of this? Did we do anything about these charlatans at all? Have or have not our tribune leaders were bought out by these rich bastards? how many of you get into a game with so called sponsor tickets and were very happy to get in for free? How many of you actually prefer to buy season tickets instead of becoming a member to the club, so that you would have a saying on actions of the club?

It is very simple after all. We chose to be the sheep, and the sheep must be herded. No matter what our colors are, black and white, navy blue and yellow, burgundy and blue, yellow and red, vs. we are all part of this herd, and we deserve this.

So stop complaining and just buy new season shirts, season tickets and digiturk boxes. There is only 2 days left, hurry! Oh, who will be the champion this year? I dunno, guess the richest bastards that pay the most and buyout the rest of the league...

Note: So called honorable players and coaches... If you have a little bit honor in you, you wouldn't start playing under these circumstances. Those of your colleagues who have relegated because of this wrongdoing are receiving no financial remedies, and may even lost their jobs for that matter. They probably will not be able to bring more bread to the table back home.

Oh, what do you say?

Can't hear you...

What? This is not Spain?...

You don't care about your fellow friends and colleagues?

That's right, this is not Spain. That is why they are number current number one in the world right now, and we are in this mess. You think about only tour money, while the Spaniards think about all of their colleagues with a powerful dignity at hand. Shame on you too. You are as guilty as all of the club officials, federation officials and maybe even the bribers that killed the innocence at last...

Money, Money, Money... That's all there it is, and that's all that matters...

Fuck Industrial Football. I want my 80's back...

Habitual Last Minute, Part II

2011-09-07T22:09:00.003-04:00

I will make no comment on this post, as it will be a repeat of the previous one. By now, you should already know about these last minute dramas and Turkish National Team...

Habitual Last Minute

2011-09-02T22:23:00.005-04:00

When we talk about Turkish National Team, we must talk about the last minute effect that we produce in this game.

Back in 2008 Euros, when the surprising 3rd place came in for us, we have lived through numerous miracles in Switzerland, Czech Republic and Croatia games. We all won those in the very last minutes, or even in the dying seconds. Back then, like I said these were tagged as miracles of football. However, the truth came in later, when we found out that our team was prepped with a professional trainer to be very fit in those games. This lad was from the United Stares and his name was Scott Piri. His methods were very harsh in the beginning to the players, -whom still play in the current squad-, but later when the players adjusted themselves to these training sessions, it proved to be the ultimate correct decision for the late comebacks. Hence, the comeback kings of that tournament was us, the Turks.

Nonetheless, last night's result vs Borat's home country, Kazakhstan, has nothing to do with above mentioned fitness at all. There were already a few injuries prior to the game and a couple during the game made things a little complicated. However, having won comfortably in Kazakhstan's astana Stadium last year, most of us did not expect a surprise at all. Back then Hamit's voley that came straight from the corner spot and went to the net simultaneously was chosen FIFA's best goal of the year in 2010. This time around there was no Hamit, nor Nuri, and neither Gökhan Gönül on the pitch. Emre's injury topped this cake but still the Kazakhs were no match for even a second division side from Turkey.

So why in the name the winning goal came literally in the dying seconds of the match? Guess this is the beauty of this unpredictable game, when you miss a PK, a clean goal of yours gets disallowed and your opponent tries a basic cross without even looking where the goal area is and scores! Of course, when you top this with seemingly poor management by Hiddink such a result and maybe a surprise, was inevitable indeed. I wonder if he can call up Necip for an area where Selçuk Inan got a red card, and Emre B. got injured where he has only the crosseyed "Lucky" Selçuk from fenerbahçe.

Hiddink's excuse was lack of matches by the Turkish players cause of the current situation, in which I oppose strongly with him. It was told him like anybody else that the league will start a month late by July. So, as the head coach of the Natioanal Team, he can set up two or three friendlies instead of only a single game and this way he could have kept players a little more alive. Upcoming Tuesday we will play with a very lively Austrian team that conceded half a dozen by the Germans last night and I hope that result will not make our guys relax even more than the Kazakhstan game. Last 3 crucial game, in which we must have 2 wins and a tie to go to the Euro 2012 play offs. After that, it's all about a lucky draw and some help by the God of healing to our Madridista players, otherwise I don't think we will see the boys in red and white anywhere near in Ukraine or Poland next summer.

Come to think of it, if they will play like last night, maybe they better be not going in there anyways...

Except Burak and Gökhan Töre, none of the players in the squad seemed ready for these matches. Hope it will all change positively for us until we face Ekrem Dag's national squad on Tuesday. Arnautovic? Don't like that name already...

Photo Credit: NTVspor

Harmony

2011-08-28T23:18:00.006-04:00

In the beginning of every season, we, the fanatics of this beautiful game, impatiently await the new season shirts as our teams come up with new designs -every year- mostly to pickpocket us for a few more dollars. Therefore most of these designs does not have any taste or harmony so to speak, just a club's crest, colors here and there and there you go.

Ah, of course the poetical bullshit explanations always find themselves a shelf life of two minutes when the new shirts announced. Our club Beşiktaş have such silliness as well, I just truly don't know who is the genius writer of those phrases like, "white represents our innocence and the black is for the royalty... the design was inspired by Atatürk's sweater and blah blah blah..."

When you look a successful designed shirt, you have to look at its components as a whole. Like the sponsor logo(if any), club's crest, player name and number's font selection are all crucial elements for such success. I have stumble upon such a consistent and a superbly done shirt design recently and it was so nicely done that it even inspired me to write up this post. First, let's see them.

Just take a few more seconds and look at the overall design again...

You do notice the total harmony of the sponsor's logo, club's crest and the stripes right away. Moreover, these stripes not only complement such elements on the shirt but they do also semantically represent the lines on the football field. Notice the center line that comes straight down the collar. Doesn't the bottom half of the collar look like the arch on the penalty area? 3 stripes of Adidas and 3 stripes in the middle and as well as in the back of the shirt that points out the start and endpoints of the sponsors. Just look at the similarity of the fonts that are uses in Palmeiras and Fiat. How much close can it be? In the end this is by far my most successful designed shirt of the season.

Let's try to implement this to Beşiktaş, shall we?

I agree that the initial impact of the design does not do the same effect as the original Palmeiras shirt. This is mostly due to the Turkish flag and the club's crest. However, it is - in my opinion- a much better version of our new season striped shirt as it is also down here for you to make a better comparison.

Lastly, we ask ourselves: why but why we can not do one thing in the right way that it is supposed to be? why don't we do things professionally or let things done by professionals? Then of course you know the question that they ask to the camel...

Sir Wenger...

2011-08-28T22:53:00.003-04:00

No, he doesn't have any recognition in the ranks of knighthood or any other sort as much as I know of. However, regardless of yesterday's score sheet, I believe he is one of the most prolific and successful managers of all time in history of football. Just for that reason he sure may as well get one prefix that may have people show him some respect. Those people that yearning for beautiful game and attacking football were praising Arsene Wenger just for the right reasons for 13+ season in the premier league and just because the club he manages gets a couple of bad results doesn't mean that he is finished or passé as the critics may call.

In my opinion, Arsenal's descend in terms of score sheets and trophies started with a single man's departure, Thierry Henry. Not sure whether he have watched his old mates crushed in the theater of dreams, but they did certainly looked like they needed a leader figure on the field like him yesterday. That is what this club lacks really. Neither recent departures of Fabregas, Nasri, Clichy nor absence of new transfers do have an effect like this magnitude, that is the absence of a leader. Maybe Wenger wants exactly that, no leader, all collectivism and all for one attitude which are all admirable traits. However, you do need a wild, rebellious soul on your side that may rebel against losing by superb skills and utmost positive attitude just enough to shake his teammates to wake up from an eminent danger. Henry was the last one that this team saw such a personality.

Before Thierry, of course you could have count the whole invincible armada of the 2003-04 season with Viera, Bergamp, Pires, Ljungberg, Lehmann and all. But the aforementioned frenchman who is pursuing his retirement career in New York Red Bulls was the last of his kind for this Londoner football club.

Tactics, youth generation and all that bullshit should go all out of the window and this team should produce a solid leader, that should show his face day in day out for his team like a true captain. I don't see Van Persie, Arshavin or even departed Fabregas are/were able to do this task. My only hope maybe Vermaalen can cope up with this in the upcoming matches, and who knows maybe we can witness the story of another phoenix in premier league football.

I trust in Wenger, humiliated or not, talked bad about Besiktas or not. I like and admire the way he tries the best for the spectators. Maybe that is his biggest problem. Even when he loses he doesn't change his tactics, maybe he should have defended heavily in the second half after 3-1 down yesterday, but he opted not to. As this season seems already over for the Gunners, let's hope that at least they don't give up on the beautiful game. And Arsene Wenger as well.

Thank God for European Football

2011-08-28T22:39:00.001-04:00

Appetizer:

Valencia 4-3 Racing Santander,

Main Course:

Tottenham Hotspur 1-5 Manchester City, (2nd half)

Manchester United 8-2 Arsenal,

Dessert:

Real Madrid 6-0 Real Zaragoza

Drink(s):

Chelsea 3-1 Norwich City (2nd Half)

Liverpool 3-1 Bolton Wanderers (1st half)

Bayer Leverkusen 0-0 Borussia Dortmund (didn't like the taste and ordered another drink).

To go bag:

Barcelona - Villareal

Turkish Super League Brand Value? Pfft... Please don't kid yourselves.

After Wishful Thinking,

2011-08-26T21:05:00.002-04:00

I admit that in my previous posting I was asking too much of a good luck. I mean after last year's group stage draws I thought maybe the lady luck stuck with us, but I see that she wasn't around much this time around. Nonetheless, we have some issues to solve with some old foes, it seems.

Dynamo Kiev, was the culprit about 7 months or so ago, when they eliminated us by putting 4 goals each time we have faced against them, home and abroad. I still remember, Q7's nasty challenge from the first game, and Guti's disgusted facial tone, while he was chewing his gum hastily on the freezing pitch of Ukraine. Last year we have seemed a better team, or the at least the vibe was like that before the match=ups. This year Dynamo will be nothing but the upperhand in both legs. As you may remember, we have met with Dynamo numerous times, including the 5-0, and 2-0 defeats in 1987, to a team which was the skeletal componant of the USSR that lost Euro 1988 final against the Dutch Oranges. What a goal that was by Van Basten, right? Anyways, the point is Dynamo's roots were always strong, even with Sheva coming close to an end to his career, they are still a very dangerous opponent. Having Euro2 2012 will be partially held in Ukraine may give some extra motivation to the boys in North and it seems like only a careful plan may salvage points from these guys. Revenge is best served when it is in a cold dish, however, whenever we go to Ukraine, we become the cold fish!

From northern boys, to the northwestern boys, Stoke City is our second opponent in Group E of Europa League 2012. As Premier League became the most watched competition in the world and one of the Turkish International player from fenerbahçe, Tuncay Sanlı moved to Stoke City from the relegated Middlesborough, quite a lot of Turkish fans started to follow this defensive side over the past few years. Some liked their defensive strength a lot, especially when they kept grabbing draws from the big 4, and some hated them for the type of strategy they have, for the ugly side of football. However, they succeeded to stay on the top flight, mostly due to the Rory Delap's long throws and other freekick organizations around their opponents' penalty area and that surely needed toughness, skill and more than important anything; tactical training. My hope is that our star player would be on their supreme form on that matchday, so that we can find an early goal or two to take all the points from them. Otherwise both legs of this tie looks more like boring draws.

Last but not least our southern opponent should relax our boys in Black and White not only in climatic temperatures, but also the low-profile of the Maccabi Tel Aviv team. Even though they seem to be the strongest side of the Israeli football lately, I don't think they will be a serious threat to our guys, unless they didn't get their lesson from Alania Vladikavlaz a fortnight ago.

When I look at the fixture, to begin and finish the group games at home gives me some relaxation and hope for 6 easier points. However, consecutive match ups against Dynamo Kiev shall be the key to advance to the next stage or stay at home for the remainder of the season. This year's chaotic play-off decision in the STSL and squeezed matches in midweek may seem tough on our side, but I think it will help us to gather our form better, benefiting us by reaching to the desired match count for the team.

Let's hope and win 'em all!

Make a wish!

2011-08-25T23:25:00.001-04:00

FC Kobenhavn,

Beşiktaş,

FC Salzburg,

Shamrock Rovers...

From Russia with Love

2011-08-25T21:38:00.003-04:00

I really doubt that the "Love" part laid in our path very easy. But it came to us just like the real love, with lots of thorns on it...

After the comfortable score of three zip from the first leg, not 99 but 100 percent thought that the second leg would be merely a formality rather than a competitive match. Cold Russian nights always undone those who thought that way, and history was almost repeating itself in a much much bitter way. However, in the end, this bitter sweet taste gave us the spot from the 2nd pot in the 2011-12 Europa League tournament. Gods must love us, in the end...

After the torrential rain and the disgusting condition of the field in Vladikavlaz, the game started almost hour and a half later, probably dropping down the concentration levels of the team into the sub terms, whom already thought the advancement was assured back in Istanbul a fortnight ago. However, hard lessons were to be taken when in the last 10 minutes we have conceded 2 goals and lost Toraman with a red card, probably giving a few people heart attack in the dying minutes of the game. I, for one, remembered the infamous 87th minute in the 70s, when we had won the 1st leg with 2-0 against our Bulgarian opponents, and we lost the game 3-0, eliminated within the last 3 minutes by conceding 3 goals. Was history to be repeated again? Thank God, not this time around...

You can't really talk about tactics or line-up configuration about this game, but hopefully true lessons were taken we shall not say it's over, until it's over...

Come to think of it, Ismail's undeserved penalty was the key to this match-up, or Almeida's last minute goal in Istanbul... The first one of course adds bitterness to the mixture a little bit more, although we know that what's done for us today will definitely be done for other teams tomorrow. This is football...

When it comes to the team chemistry, we still see that Sivok and Egemen have a long way to get along. Also Almeida must have a new partner or his abilities diminishes in no time. While Q7 and Simao is out, we see that this team has no use of its wings, and therefore couldn't keep the ball on the opponent's field more. Ernst and Fernandes are very good players, but without Necip it seems like there is not enough dynamism in the midfield. We still have 15 days until the league starts and hopefully we can make 1 or 2 more friendlies in the meantime, and who knows maybe a new transfer could join to the team within this time period as well.

I am not all doom and gloom after this defeat. Last year this time around the team was already in form, beating opponents in the beginning of the season and the sudden drop of form occured out of nowhere, only to be proved irrecoverable. So this year, it seems we are going slow but steady, as I try to keep my hopes high that we will be a better team as the weeks go by, thinking that we shall be %100 on or about the 3rd or 4th week of the league.

Turn On, Play OFF...

2011-08-21T17:09:00.003-04:00

If there is one thing I know about this play-off mumbo jumbo that's been going around for a couple of days, that would definitely be one of the worst ideas that I've ever heard of about any professional, competitive league.

Some people give the Belgium and Holland Leagues as successful examples. Apart from the Major League Soccer and the ill fated Argentine apertura and clausuras -which are designed to keep big teams up, even though River Plate relegated-, I really can't recall any other league to use this model.

To me, it is a total gibberish, junk and a piece of crap system that would benefit only the broadcasting company which holds the TV rights, this case the Digiturk. Just because they were scared that their investment in this ugly, stinky association of Turkish Football will evaporate they wanted to change things around, one more time.

First, they wanted no club to be relegated, for possible financial losses, and now they want to initiate a play-off at the end of the league which will take place between the 1st and 4th place regular season standings. Surely, this would help fix the doubting clouds over the fixtures and the league, they claim. Surely, we will have more derby games at the end of the season.

If you want people to watch more derby games, than revitalize the TSYD Cup (Turkish Sportswriters Association Cup), which was a very good tournament in the beginning of every season helping major teams to weigh themselves prior to the real showdown. It was done in separate regions, and there were local derbies all around the country. TSYD games were like festivities, and being a minor organization among the other tournaments, they were real good chances for preparations for the clubs.

If that would be the case they can do two TSYD cups, one pre season and one in mid season break, this way you can have 6 extra derby games for sure anyways. And if you would take Trabzon in the mixture, then you would even have more of it. More bucks for Digiturk, more ads and more money for everyone.

But no, we have to do it federation's way right? A team will struggle all season long in the winter, in the summer home games away games and in the end another team with a little bit of luck will come and take your championship away. Why don't you get a grip! You can't make a decision for the match fixing and letting the courts do that for you, you can't do a fixture and letting the TV rights holder do that for you, then excuse my French but why the fuck you call yourself Turkish federation, and what the fuck you guys think you are doing?

In Turkish there is a saying; to set up a swing in the middle of your mouth and take a dump right on the center of it. This is what's being done to Turkish football right now. Sadly, including my club Besiktas and many other club officials are supporting this federation and its acts which should give us another reason to oust them as well.

I do not believe for a second that Galatasaray is a cleaner club than us. I do not believe Trabzonspor is clean as well. However, what I believe is their standpoint and claims about the originator of all of this chaos, the Turkish FeNeration and its financial supporters.

If this federation will not resign immediately, Turkish football will die much sooner than its expectancy and we will go back to 60s for sure, like Herr Schuster claimed and being attacked for it just a few months ago...

We can Breathe again

2011-08-18T22:22:00.003-04:00

Finally after 90+ days later an official home game underwent in Şeref Bey. Opponents, Alania Vladikavlaz were well beaten by the 3-0 score line at the end of the 90 minutes. This means that we will go to the 2nd leg in a much more relaxed state and maybe this week we may even be more concentrated on a possible transfer. Schalke maybe? Who knows? The names are floating around again and the gossip masters use their art, as we eagerly follow every other line of information and try to analyze their possibilities.

If we go back to the game, like I said in the header, we can breathe again... We really missed the boys in black and white and other than the missing players due to injury, suspension or the jailed figures everything was fine and dandy...

There were a lot of -rightfully done- protests about the season ticket prices as the day before some thought stadium may be half empty. However, we did miss the game, we did miss Beşiktaş and the supporters almost filled the entire deck with a little bit of seats left over here and there.

To analyze the game, you would have to watch it fully and unfortunately I couldn't watch the whole 90 minutes due to broken links and all, but I can say that I did watch well over 60 minutes of it here and there, which gave me some insights about the future.

First of all, we missed Quaresma badly. If he would have played, this game would be well over in the first half, let alone till the last minute. Because of this most of the attacks came under the supervision of Simao in the first half, and this may caused his injury also. Luckily it is said that it wil be only 10 days of absence like Necip and we will have them both back before the end of the month, just before the league starts.

Rüştü had made couple of saves and showed his experience to the newly organized defence in front of him. Egemen and Sivok are tying to pair and I like Toraman's performance in the right full back. Koybasi still needs a lot of playing time and he shouldn't be so happy about winning a questionable penalty. That is something we can not accept, and he should know that already.

Ernst was at his usual best form with his hard work and Fernandes looked like he let go of the suspicion whether he would stay or go. Hence this affected his form as well and at least I saw him having a big appetite for the game. Almeisa worked hard as well up front, but mostly getting the ball to him was the problem, however he got his prize with a wonder attack on the right flank in the last minute.

If you want to set the game for Guti, you must give him free space otherwise he will have a lot of lost possession and turnarounds which will kill the defensive balance of the team. If you can not do this then you should look into other alternate position for him. He looked like he slowed down the game most of the time, in which we needed very speedy attacks and try to catch this very defensive opponent off guard. Maybe he is waiting for Raul, who knows?

Carvahal's first home game and he succeeded it with a comfortable win. Like him we don't know how long he will be the head coach like today, but I like the body language that he showed in the whole duration of the game. Maybe it is very early to talk about him in tactics wise or any other statistical analytics but he was like one of us by the sidelines and that is what you need sometimes. Especially in times like these...

When it comes to Pektemek, Holosko and others on the field, -like Veli Kavlak and last minute sub Mehmet Akyüz-, I truly can't say any positive or negative statements at this time. Maybe that lost 30 minutes of watch time they were brilliant and I didn't catch that part. So we will wait and see their form in the upcoming matches.

The Eagle Abroad, over and out now...

Obsession vs. Fanatisicm

2011-08-14T14:16:00.004-04:00

My wife pointed out the other day that I have an obsession towards Besiktas and especially the shirt collection that I have.

Maybe she is right...

What is obsession really? When you look it up it's mostly related to relationship disorders when you fall in love and so on so forth. Some sources even relate the term to the Freudian studies. However, when I try to look very carefully and a little objective to my own situation, I can tell you that my obsession is all about the happy times that I have had in the past. I mean it is well close to 15 years I'm abroad now and all these times I have enough of happiness and sadness just like an average Joe, although my subconsciousness tells me that my happiest hours were when I was in Seref Stadium and its vicinity...

Hence, my obsession to the team that I support occurs and I turn this obsessive psychology into the physical world via materializing my fond memories with the shirt collection that I'm in the making of.

The funny thing about is that, I do have the sanity to acknowledge this situation and I'm still happy about it. So where does this places me in the sanity wheel? Am I a fanatic or just a fan with obsessive problems?

I guess, in order to be a fanatic you have to believe in certain truths -even though most of them proven untrue- and defend them at no cost. This does not apply to me as I criticize most of the actions that my club have and downplay them as I see their wrongdoings. I try to be one of the frontiers as a "nobody's man" just as it was suggested by our beloved honorary President Süleyman Seba. For this reason we can say that fanaticism option can go out the window as my first criticism starts in every other posting to this blog.

In the end, I can say that I am obsessed and I am happy with it. I don't want to be treated or nurtured in a different way. Like they say, "if we were normal people we wouldn't belong to the Beşiktaş brotherhood".

Hello, my name is RED!

2011-08-12T20:56:00.004-04:00

Have just been added to my humble Beşiktaş shirt collection... Someone up there loves me...

I would like to thank Erkan and Murat İrişen brothers for their tremendous effort in order to get this shirt for me. Without them, I don't think I would be able to have this beauty. As always, I wanted to specially thank them in front of all of the shirt lovers and blog readers like you.

Just do one thing right!

2011-08-06T00:30:00.002-04:00

Just do one thing right in your life and make it possible for supporters to buy the goalkeeper shirts in Kartal Yuvası... You know who you are, just make it happen.

It's really hard to concentrate on anything lately

2011-08-04T20:33:00.003-04:00

Like the title states for the this post, it is really hard to concentrate on anything lately. I mean while you're reading these lines, I know and you know that most of our lives is about Besiktas, we eat, think, speak and breathe Besiktas. Some people may call us, ignorant, fanatic or crazy while our black and white comrades simply knows this as love. It really doesn't matter who thinks what really, the only thing that matters is Besiktas and our club's state of being is not quite the status quo that we were ever dreamed of.

Caught in the middle of the shame of the century in Turkish football, most of us still believes the innocence of our members that are in this mess, and hoping their release to go back to normal. I believe their release with total approval of cleanliness will give us more joy than the 13 Championships combined in the Turkish League.

Isn't this the reason why we can't concentrate on anything? Isn't it why we don't even care about Kobe Bryant's possible move to our basketball branch? Isn't it we're not surprised and staying passive about the sale of our youngsters' future? You know what I'm talking about the monetary fund that we don't even know its name somehow that completely entered our lives with the introduction of Jorge Mendes. Isn't this the reason that we don't care about the new design of our new season shirts? Isn't this the reason we don't even care about our new coach Carvalho, Carvallo or whatever his name and his past experience?

I think we should all come clean, not only 3 of our people, not only our president with his non-logical actions, but also us, the supporters. Unless we come clean we will never be able to look at the field(s) of dreams the same way ever again. Our past may have been stolen, but our future is in our hands. We shall decide what's right and what's wrong, and the path that we chose will either bury us further deep into the dark side, or we will rise as one, like a single soul fueled by its unique heart.

I shall no longer support my club if my club's policies goes towards winning at no cost. I shall no longer support my club, if the "so called" chosen ones punish our youngsters with summer training sessions while running after Kobe in the name of fame. I shall no longer support my club while the board decides to raise the season tickets so high that only a certain kind of people can buy in and the very soul of these stands shall stay out. I shall no longer support our supporters that have the power of becoming a member but choosing to buy season tickets instead.

I shall no longer believe in myself while I know that I can do much more than just typing in this cyberspace, where only a handful but loyal fans would read, -and maybe even share this post- with no end result in sight.

Shame should be for those who did shameful things. What a defensive statement, right. An escape basically... So if shame should be of those whose acts cause and effect that state, than glory shall be of those when victories arrive as well. Why bother? Or what the hell am I talking about? What's my point in here anyways?

Liek I said, it is really hard to concentrate on anything, lately...

As the Dark July ends...

2011-07-31T17:10:00.003-04:00

It was pointless to continue on that Dark July list that I was posting earlier this month. As Çarsı prepped in this gorgeous visual, it is suffice to claim that those souls will never be forgotten, but will ever be missed. May God rest their soul in peace forever...

Who really cares about new season shirts?

2011-07-31T16:49:00.003-04:00

Really who cares about them at this point? We know that there is a new sponsorship deal with Toyota and -even though Ülker brand will appear on the back- finally they got rid off that ugly cola turca logo over the chest area.

I mean aren't we the ones that complain all these years about the true Besiktas values and degeneration of those values each and every day? So, what's the point of having the new shirts out now, when the league is postponed for at least more than a month from today and our coach and vp is in jail -wrongfully as majority think- along with the security manager.

Do you think majority really cares about the new shirts now? I, for one, should be one of the most eager one to await their release and get them right away for my humble collection, but I don't even care about them right now...

All I care is the release of our wrongfully arraigned above mentioned people and come clean from this match fixing mess that drown Turkish Football for a month now. All I care is to go back and discuss about the formations and tactics, ups and downs of a game and choices of the coach and those sort of things that fulfills the very real soul of football. Right now we stand at a point where the relationship of reality and European dream is like the war and politics. You know when the first bullet goes next to you all that politics would go right out of the window. And when the match fixing scandal showed its ugly face, it is a constant struggle of saving our butts, and whomever we support really doesn't matter...

So when we are in the midst of all these mambo jambo going around and 90% of the people crapping on each other in order to save their own asses, who does really care about new shirts?

I know that when they go out to the field with any type of white shirt with our honor crested on it, that will be our shirt for the season. Rest is only details, really...

Hence, I suggest those who criticize about the lateness of the release should stop and think about what's going on around them for a minute and should also note that all good things will come to those who wait...

Missing the beautiful game...

2011-07-26T23:23:00.003-04:00

After today's highly expected but lowly hoped release news of our jailed coach, vice president and security manager, all doom and gloom vibe was continuously pressuring my tensions. A slight glitch at work on top of it made it all worse...

However, I have totally forgot that today was the friendly game between Juventus and Mexico's Club America, within 15 minutes of where I live, in Mets baseball stadium! It was part of the summer tournaments dubbed the world club challenge, in which major european clubs such as Juve, R.Madrid, Barça, ManU etc, just came over and playing each other for friendly exhibition games, and for prepping up for next season's schedule.

My good friend Martin, who is a Juve freak like me as in Besiktas, got the tickets for this game already months ago, and he took his all day off camping in front of the 5th avenue hotel that Juve was staying. The pictures of him with Juve squad started to coming in the afternoon via text messages and I remembered that we are going to the game!

For an 8 o'clock kick off, he picked me up around 7:30 with his two other Polish friends, whom were AC Milan and Roma fans respectively. Amazingly there wasn't much traffic and we made our way to our seats just about 10 minutes before kick-off. As I mentioned earlier, this was a baseball stadium, and they had to reorganize the field for a "soccer" game. Therefore, even though we were behind one of the goal posts, which was called left field, we were actually closer than those who have the view from sidelines.

Besides our position of the field or how we got crammed in the car while getting there, the most important thing was that I realized how much I missed going to a football game. You know you go to the parking lot, and see the stadium from distance first, and then you get inside and take those long steps to get in to your section. Suddenly, the whole field appears with people already in their seats chanting and all... It was quite amazing to relive this feeling, even though for a team that I wouldn't care much but have a sympathy for, it was well worth it.

An interesting point is that a lot of Italians, Italian Americans or even immigrants like us- showed up donning Inter, AC Milan, and Italian national team jersey to this Juve game which shows the tremendous similarity of the football culture around the globe. I mean any Turkish club's away games in abroad would have the similarly fashioned spectators wearing Gala, BJK, Fener, Trabzon and Turkish national team shirts.

Moreover, I overheard some fans were yelling to each other about buying off the games and referees and sort, which automatically shows that Italian spectators did not get over the Calciopoli after effects yet. However, there wasn't any major harassment or arguments around and clearly everyone came in there to enjoy the beautiful game...

For me it wasn't Juve and Club America on the field, it was Besiktas vs. Fenerbahce as the colors were an exact match for the two teams as well as the spectator quantity among them. Due to a high latino based immigrant crowd in the area, there were quite a lot of fans cheering for Club America, while sitting together in a mixed formation just as a friendly game should be.

The surprise of the game came in about 30 minutes in when a thunderstorm broke out and emergency procedures placed to delay the game for a little while. We had about 20-30 minute delay to see the last 15 minutes of first half in which Juve scored the only goal of the game, and we went very happy into the second half. The hole game were played in a very slow tempo, Juve was always trying to use Krasic but Club America was always controlling him with 3 guys together. Both teams used a lot of sideways passing to create spaces but I can say that Juve did this a little better than their opponents. I liked Krasic, Buffon and Del Piero's performances as well as a second half sub Luca Toni's. Even though he played very shortly, he showed his class of laying off his friends and creating spaces, but somehow Juve fans didn't warm up to him yet as it seems.

The game was over and we had all this relaxed feeling that our team won, and we can go home happy. It just clicked me than that these guys suffered a relegation a few years back and seeing them trying to enjoy the beautiful game and working towards a better future created an example in front of me, who may face a similar situation shortly in this season's legal trials.

Make no mistake, we all love our football, we will all have a deep scar on our hearts about these allegations but our love to our clubs will never fade away. Maybe it may even grow in a much bigger scale, ever than before. We shall see...

Lastly, my humble advice for those of you who have really bored and stressed out from these allegations of match fixing and bribery scandals, is to just go to a game in any stadium, even to a friendly game to refreshen your love for this sport and rejuvenate that inner child that will show you the right path about football... It will all come clear and clean in the end. Our football is here to stay forever, those who have blemished a shame on us shall be erased from our hearts as well as from our minds. The most important virtues of all time, patience will prevail and show us the right way in the end.

Just enjoy the game...

Dark Days of Turkish Football (Soccer)

2011-07-25T23:43:00.003-04:00

Prologue

Never before, Turkish Soccer was under this much gloomy in regards with its future. The latest match fixing, bribery and organized crime allegations for the major names shocked the very foundation of this magical land, where the industrialization of its soccer economy was in its final phase and almost getting ready to take over the globe as Simon Kuper stated in Soccernomics. However, one can only sing that famous chant about Turkish Soccer; “Those were the days…”

Those were the days, when mighty Magyars under the leadership of Ferenc Puskas was storming all over the world, teaching Englishmen how to reinvent themselves in the game that they had invented. The whole world was shocked when these new magicians of world soccer were unexpectedly defeated on 1954 World Cup Final by the West Germans. However, the magnitude of the shock was even bigger when the Turks defeated them in a friendly game only after two short years later. This was perhaps one of the top achievements of Turkish Soccer in the 20^th century as the country had many extraordinary ups and downs throughout its soccer history. Once it was the target practice of European clubs with the infamous defeats of 8-0 to England -twice- and Poland, it took the first step of becoming a European powerhouse with bringing in German coach Jupp Derwall to Galatasaray. Many still believes that he have changed the foundation of Turkish Soccer from ground up, literally by ordering grass fields instead of training on barren soil.

The roots have grown and this promising young nation topped its glory days with Galatasaray’s UEFA and Super Cup victories on the turn of new Millennia as well as deservedly taking 3^rd place in the FIFA World Cup 2002 Korea/Japan. The ups and downs have continued as the national team could not qualified for the next two major tournaments, resulting current Trabzonspor coach Senol Gunes then national coach to be ousted by the soccer federation as he had to gave in, to the tremendous pressure of the press unlike Sir Bobby Robson as it was depicted in the documentary “One Night in Turin”.

As the “Industrial Football” arrived in the late 90s and in the new millennia, more and more revenues were generated and the economical aspects of the Turkish soccer has boomed many times more than its success waves. By then, the well-trained and thoroughly educated Turkish immigrants in Europe had been choosing to play in Turkey and its top division teams with the lure of money and fame rather than trying out in Europe. Perhaps with the help of this new generation, Euro 2008’s most interesting team was Turkey, who happened to finish the competition by holding the 3^rd place for the first time ever, repeating the feat of 2002 in a magical last minute gasps, somehow similar to the magic of Liverpool’s Istanbul glory.

As the show must go on, this magic has yet to be continued and surely was promising to showcase its best actors that had arrived to Turkish Super League. This land had seen stars like Harold Schumacher, Ariel Ortega, Jay Jay Okocha, George Hagi and even Nicholas Anelka, but never before such star players were combined in a single season. For instance, Real Madrid’s Guti, Inter’s Quaresma, Atletico Madrid’s Simao Sabrosa, French League’s top goal scorer Mamadou Niang, La Liga’s top scorer in couple of season’s ago Daniel Guiza, and one of the Liverpool’s squad members of that unforgettable night in Istanbul’s Milan Baros are all now playing for different clubs in Turkish league in the same season. This was alone a pure example of the raised quality bar as well as the financial strength of the clubs in recent years. Surely, the clubs had yet to repeat the feats of glories that this nation had seen in a decade ago by Gala, but bad managerial skills of both trainers and board members combined with impatience were the two feats that most clubs and supporters had yet to overcome.

The booming economy was not only helpful for the big clubs such as Besiktas, Fenerbahce, Galatasaray and Trabzonspor by bringing in foreign talent rather than filling in the spot, but also in 2010, likes of Bursaspor, the first time ever champions in 50 plus years of professional national leagues other than above mentioned clubs had started to emerge by holding of their young talents with this new economical prowess. Clubs like Kayserispor, Gaziantepspor and Eskisehirspor would soon to be expected to follow suit as Bursaspor showed that what could be done with sufficient resources.

By now, the stakes of economical outcome became so high that even the Turkish Super League’s new sponsor became the betting giant of Turkey, Spor Toto, just as the league follows suit as in some major European Leagues. The TV rights were renewed in 2010with a whopping sum of more than 2 Billion for four seasons, including all the taxes and regulations. Now, that was a big sum for Turkish Soccer. Nonetheless, the happiest were the clubs, as they would get more and more money by these renewed contracts.

The Burst

On July 3^rd 2011, a quiet Sunday morning was looming over Turkey until the newsflashes and last minute scroll bars started to shake the very foundation of Turkish Soccer, and even Turkish Life, as we know it. Turkish Police, coordinated with the specially charged prosecutors, have concluded their investigation, which had been started more than 8 months ago in a very secret fashion pressed the operation button and simultaneously started taking the most prolific and famous names of Turkish Soccer into custody. Such names included Fenerbahce’s president Aziz Yildirim, vice president, Sekip Mosturoglu, board member Ilhan Eksioglu, club’s accountant Tamer Yelkovan, club’s youth soccer divison’s head and one of the historic figures of club Cemil Turan, one of the former health crew member Mehmet Yenice, Sivasspor President Mecnun Odyakmaz, board member Ahmet Celebi, Sivasspor Goalkeeper –whom was on loan by Besiktas- Korcan Celikay, Eskisehirspor coach Bulent Uygun, Eskisehirspor Sport director Umit Karan, newly transferred players to Fenerbahce Emmanuel Emenike of Nigeria, Sezer Ozturk from Eskisehir, Mehmet Yıldız from Sivas –whom transferred to Eskisehirspor a week ago of his arrest-, along with some well-known mafia tied names such as former Giresunspor president Olgun Peker, along with few other Giresunspor board members, Diyarbakirspor’s president with a few more lawyers and businessman.

The list alone was a big shock to whole Turkish community and the usual transfer talks and gossips were suddenly cut, due to the extent of the magnitude. The shockwave’s continued as in 2^nd wave Besiktas vice president Serdal Adali, Besiktas coach Tayfur Havutçu and club’s security manager Ahmet Ates were called in from Austria for giving information in regards with phone conversations and found themselves arrested and in jail waiting their trial along with Istanbul Buyuksehir Belediyespor players Ibrahim Akin, -a former Besiktas player- and Iskender Alın whom were allegedly match-fixed on the Turkish Cup Final against Besiktas last May, when Istanbul Belediyespor lost in penalty shootouts.

Second wave was also included 2011 runner’s up Trabzonspor’s president Sadri Sener and board members of the club as well as Ankaragucu’s newly acquired goalkeeper Serdar Kulbilge, -whom was a former Fenerbahce player- as well as a very well-know public figure of Turkish Soccer; Yilmaz Vural. These names however were let go by the prosecutors after their initial custody, except Trabzonspor President to be still tried on court, waiting his trial on bail. Last but not least, former officials of Turkish Federation including the president Mahmut Ozgener and vice president Levent Kizil - a former Bursaspor president-, whom were in charge not only a week ago from the organized crime operation were taken into custody and had been released after their initial questioning. New waves were in talks among the media, -as they are not quite proved yet-,a few referees and official match reporters of federation may also be taken into custody in near future.

As days and weeks passed by the magnitude and events of the scandal was used and scrutinized by the media so much that even media staff themselves divided in camps within their own personnel to either protect their favorite teams or attack other clubs and officials to be lured into this investigation. All eyes focused on the newly elected federations decisions as one of the camps were cheering for immediate punishment and relegation of clubs as the defendants of course suggesting otherwise.

Interestingly, defendant clubs have taken different paths as well. As Eskisehirspor first froze the contracts of their coach, sports director and newly transferred striker in initial questioning, they have cancelled those contracts and fired these alleged personnel from their club. Besiktas have chosen to hand back the Turkish Cup until the alleged accusations were thoroughly investigated by the authorities, and the outcome will be decided. Fenerbahce, on the other hand, have chosen a different path by denying each and everything, accusing that this was a grand scheme of targeting solely Fenerbahce and their successful president Aziz Yildirim, who is the club’s president for more than a decade.

This was Calciopoli Turkish edition with slight differences with major attention to big clubs such as Fenerbahce and Besiktas. Fenerbahce have just won their 18^th championship about a month ago when they have topped in championship numbers as well as getting ready to join Champions League in Europe straight from the group stage. Their performance was great especially in the second half of the season thanks to 16 wins and a draw in 17 games, without a defeat in this land of magic. At the end of the season Trabzonspor coach Senol Gunes held a press conference and stated that; “We have won 42 and 40 points in two halves of the season respectively. Fenerbahce have won 33 and 46 points. This was a miraculous performance that we couldn’t keep up with.”

Conspiracy Theories

Such barbershop talk was inevitable as a major incident such as this scandal outbursts and everyone in nation has an opinion about it. Some were blaming Turkish Soccer Federation to take quick action, and some were blaming other teams to be investigated as well in regards with years old feuds and unresolved revenge issues. However, with the very crucial timing of the newly updated “Prevention of Violence in Sports Law”, as well as the newly resolved general elections that was held in June brought in new speculations and questions in public opinion. Hearsays were in every corner, every news channel and in every mind as some twisted and some very believable conspiracies were formed and shared throughout the media as well as the social media networks such as facebook and twitter.

One such theory is that both Aziz Yildirim and Serdal Adali were entering military contracts of NATO and their latest interest on April 21^st contract auction had been disturbed some dark figures in the background and these figures were organizing this coup d'état of Turkish Soccer Society and its playmakers.

Another interesting theory is that an Islamic religious leader, Fetullah Gulen, who resides in U.S.A. secretly sends an active message to current government of Justice and Development Party and its president Tayyip Erdogan. As current prime minister, Mr. Erdogan –whom also a board member of Fenerbahce- was seen to be victorious after the recent election as his party took half of the votes in all of Turkey. However, according to this conspiracy, latest developments may consist of a secretive message that Mr. Gulen can change things around anytime he wants and Mr. Erdogan should be more careful about his actions and speeches.

Last but not least, another conspiracy was also produced as the new elections of congress and government has just been finished and within the results there was an political gridlock as major opponents Republican Public Party members were not sworn in and some Kurdish independent congressmen and women who have entered to congress by the election’s independency act without officially tied to any party. This had caused major problems last time around when this minority group entered to the congress and had tried to swear in Kurdish in the senate. With this turmoil loomed, some believe that this scandal has been set up so that all eyes were away from the real important issues and the public should be given a so called sleeping pill with these arrests and accusations.

Federation’s Standpoint

As we have mentioned earlier, there was not only an election took place for the government, but also a new presidential and board election for the independent Turkish Soccer Federation as well. Former President Mahmut Ozgener, who was a board member in the federation of late Hasan Dogan in 2008. After the untimely death of Mr. Dogan, Ozgener have been chosen to run as the new president. Within his 3 year of reign, he got a lot of criticism as well as applauds, a usual feat for rulers. However, if we look objectively, first time ever a club other than the big four claimed the title, the financial support to the clubs have boomed unexpectedly and a new structural study for Turkish Soccer’s future had been completed and put to plan nationwide. It shouldn’t be a surprise to state that Mr. Ozgener was also taken into custody as well as former vice president Levent Kizil only to be released after their initial questioning.

This all ended when Mr. Ozgener decided not to run again for a second term due to personal reasons back in May, and quickly new candidates formed and evolved over the horizon of Turkish Soccer. There were three candidates. Current president Mehmet Ali Aydinlar, who is a lifelong Fenerbahce devotee, and an active board member of Fenerbahce Sports Club by having the control of amateur branches for a few years now. He is also the owner of a successful hospital chains in the country, the Acibadem Hospitals, which also gives sponsorships to several clubs, mainly to Fenerbahce Volleyball team. One of his opponents were Goksel Gumusdag, who was the president of Istanbul Buyuksehir Belediyespor, made a deal with Mr. Aydinlar and became the vice president of the federation after the elections. Last candidate was the “government’s man”, Mehmet Atalay, who is a life long bureaucrat, fulfilled posts such as Youth and Sport General Directorate, Istanbul Olympic Committee membership as well as prime ministers main advisor post on 2003. He also has family ties with the Prime Minister Erdogan.

As Mr. Aydinlar was seen to be the next president of Fenerbahce Sports Club, some authorities stated that not only most of the current clubs of Super League supported him but also Aziz Yildirim prepared this federation presidency to evade a possible opponent in near future Fenerbahce elections.

A week later of this newly elected officials, the main issue was releasing the number of foreign players that clubs may have under their belts. There would be still same number of players on the field and on the bench, but last season’s 6+2+2 rule was highly confusing and forcing clubs to maneuver in a very tight manner in terms of squad formations. Of course, all these talks and plans went out the window with in the first minutes of this shock.

Now, facing the biggest crisis of Turkish Soccer, a man with strong Fenerbahce ties had to decide the fate of all the clubs involved with the help of his board members. First reaction of the public opinion was that he would definitely be biased because of his background, however, quite a lot people also believes in him that federation will make a just decision under his ruling.

As the gloomy talks of relegations and point deductions hover around the related clubs, federation stood still and named these clubs to compete and represent Turkey in the upcoming season’s European competitions. The reason given for this decision was that they can not do anything until the current justice system -equipped with the new laws that mentioned above- will bring the investigation to a certain point, where allegations would meet with the strong evidence and help federation and its lawyers make a sound decisions.

Initial After Effects & What Lies Ahead?

Claiming the innocence of Fenerbahce president and members first action came from Fenerbahce fans as they held a protest walk to support their leaders, who have jailed in Metris Jail. This protest had ended somehow violently by Turkish Police, whom had to use pepper sprays and made some arrests in order to end the walk.

On July 21^st, the friendly game between Ukrainian side Shaktar Donetsk and Fenerbahce had to abandoned on second half due to crowd disturbance. Fenerbahce fans simply outburst in the stadium, first attacking the press members and have them removed from their quarters and after invading the pitch in hundreds as the security couldn’t keep up with the supporter’s actions.

This was seen inevitable by some authorities as it was an expected outburst, as some club members still urge Fenerbahce supporters to stay calm and wait for the just decisions.

As stated before, Besiktas had opted to return their Turkish Cup to the federation until their staff will be cleared out from the allegations. This act by prolific Besiktas President Yıldırım Demirören was seen as a smart, political and the ultimately righteous move by most of the opinion holders while it made some of the Besiktas supporters somewhat happy. On the other hand, Fenerbahçe wing still denies acting in a return to sender type of an action for their Super League Championship Cup. Federation had decided to postpone July 31^st match between these two clubs for the Turkish Super Cup, until further notice. Authorities believe that the leagues will be postponed by at least a month from the current timetable of August 5^th, starting date -unlike the initial we’ll stick to our regular schedule- declaration by the Federation officials. An emergency meeting was held with UEFA officials on the third week of July, approximately after 2 weeks after the initial sting operation. UEFA officially declares that they will accept Turkish clubs to their competitions as it is, but strongly states that they will hold the right to ban such clubs that will conclusively earn their positions by match fixings and bribery. Furthermore, UEFA may even ban Turkish clubs as a whole for a prolonged time frame for not being able to resolve this matter in a speedy manner. As allegations goes, this latter action may or may not be the truth, but certainly a true possibility as UEFA has the same “zero tolerance” policy as FIFA for such matters. Within the same days, newly re-elected FIFA president Sepp Blatter also made a declaration on behalf of FIFA during the U-17 World Cup Final game, stating that there will be heavy consequences in regards with these clubs and countries that are shaken with the match fixing scandals.

On an economical perspective, current Super League TV rights holder Digiturk was reported to renegotiate their terms with the federation in case of relegations will occur for the upcoming season. Digiturk does not have the rights for the 2^nd tier of the Turkish Soccer Leagues, which is called by their sponsor’s name BankAsya Ligi. While this renegotiation talks are still in the air, once %100 owner , and nowadays %50 owner of Digiturk, Mehmet Emin Karamehmet sold all of his shares to his partner Mehmet Kazanci, and may be the first one to take a self economical bailout move for his possible prospective losses.

At the time of this article being prepared, it is still close to the end of July 2011 and ever changing last minute flash news bulletins were still continuously pass through the media tools. As upcoming days and weeks surely bring in more concrete and sound resolutions to this matter at hand we will continue to share with you here, in Turkish Life News Sports pages.

In order to predict what lies ahead of Turkish Soccer, one must comprehend the past as well. As we were trying to put a shining light on the history of this cosmopolite enterprise, there were of course some other failures in terms of scandals just like in any other place on planet earth. We have gathered a brief history on the side for you to get a glimpse of what have had been going on this land, and some of the defendants –like Fenerbahce-, is claiming that this is a common thing going on in here and they should not be punished because of a common action. However, this defense does not help in any way in their defense but also pulls Turkish Soccer all together into the depth of darkness.

Surely, there had been allegations and punishments even in an international scheme where some roots have begun in Germany, Albania and ended up in Turkey. Betting mafias tried and succeeded to use and lure players into the dark side as even in international friendly games such as Bolivia vs Latvia and Bulgaria vs Estonia back in February in Antalya grounds.

Hence, one may suggest that the best fruit of the industrial football, the money shall be limited to effect soccer all together. Perhaps the UEFA 2012 regulations that were decided a few years back was a first step towards this issue, where clubs can only spend as much as they can earn. Even though more than 60 percent of the continent is not ready for this regulation, it may show some effect in near future and prevent money laundering and fake infusions to the beautiful game.

Another prediction may be banning all sorts of betting activities in Turkey, in which the ruling party would be very happy about for their religious reasons. Just as they have changed a law that no alcoholic or tobacco products can sponsor or name any of the sports clubs, one of the most successful basketball clubs, Efes Pilsen will change its name to Anadolu Efes starting this season. All these may be small steps to a grandiose scheme, where the final goal may be a totally different than what we see on the green fields.

On a sportive perspective this may be a rebirth of Turkish soccer just like Italy after their calciopoli incident and won the world cup in 2006 and the Champions League with Inter afterwards respectively. Of course, there is always the flip side of the coin for certain clubs that are being in talks of relegation. Like Marseille’s example, they may wait decades before new generations would emerge and new successes both in domestic and international arena occur.

We shall all wait and see, and surely sing that anthem “Those were the days…” for whichever our favorite clubs are…

A Brief history of the Dark Side on Turkish Soccer

1964-65 season: Karsiyaka, one of the Izmir club wrongfully relegated by Federation. They were playing against an Istanbul team, Kasimpasa on the last matchday of the season. Winning the game 4-0 against Kasimpasa, who already guaranteed a relegation, Karsiyaka was happy for a day. The next day’s newspapers were declaring a scandal as Kasimpasa players were admitting bribery from Karsikaya officials. Federation, then acted upon these allegations and relegated Karsiyaka as well, saving another Istanbul team Beykoz1908. After 2 full years of court fight, new evidence were unearthed and kasimpasa players had to change their initial declaration and admitting that they took money from Beykoz1908 officials to wrongfully accuse Karsiyaka side. On 1966, Karsiyaka was promoted back to 1st division by the supremecourt of Turkey.

1986-87 season: Galatasaray officials allegedly had sent money to bribe Malatyaspor players in order to motivate them a little extra for the game between Besiktas and Malatyaspor. Besiktas, who was the main opponent for Galatasaray for the title race was surely the favourites until this unexpected loss of points in the Malatyaspor away game. About 20 years later some of the Malatya players admitted that they took money from Galatasaray officials on TV, however a case was never opened due to legal lapse of time.

1992-93 season: Galatasaray officials allegedly paid and bought over Serbian goalkeeper Zalad, in the last game of an 8-0 win, that would have ultimately decided the champion on goal difference that season’s title race between Besiktas and Galatasaray. Zalad, who have conceded 5 golas in just 35 minutes, didn’t even came out to play in second half and left the country immediately after this game.

2003-2004 season: When Bursaspor relegated with 40 pointsat the end of the season, they claimed Besiktas was to blame for their failure because Besiktas supposed to win a crucial Caykur Rizespor game or at least to earn a draw in order for Bursa to stay in top division. Bursaspor alleged Besiktas with match fixing in this 1-0 loss only to be resulted in a shady penalty shoot by Rizespor. Besiktas questions Bursaspor with their miraculous performance of their last 5 game and 5 wins in a row, while they were only able to win just 4 in their previous 29 games of the season. This situation escalated rapidly between the supporters in recent years and caused violent fight between these tow clubs, resulting away game bans for each side’s supporters. After 7 years, a truce was tried to be made, however only this side the events proved to be worsened by Bursaspor supporter’s violent actions both in away and home games. The home game wasn’t even being able to played due to these events resulting a 3-0 automatic loss on Bursaspor’s side. They will be also without their supporters for 6 of their first home games in the upcoming season.

2004-05 season: The betting scandal took place during the game between Akcaabat Sebatspor of Trabzon, and Kayserispor also involved national players Gokdeniz Karadeniz and Fatih Tekke for intermediating such actions along with Akcaabat’s president then president, Veli Sezgin. The whole situation burst out when above mentioned player’s houses and stores were attacked by shots fired from distance by the same Peker mafia group that is also related today’s scandal. It was claimed that these players had even bet on some of their own games back then. Federation banned Gokdeniz for 6 months and he was sort of expelled from the country and moved to Russia to continue his career, where as Fatih Tekke chose a similar fashion by moving to Russian side FC Zenith, where he lifted UEFA Cup under Dick Advocaat’s reign.

2008-09 season: Betting scandal in Kasimpasa-Sivasspor game including some high profile names such as former Galatasaray, Fenerbahce and national squad player Fatih Akyel. He served 4 months in jails as well as banned 3 years in any kind of activity relates to Turkish Soccer.

2010-11 season: Unlicensed Agenting and services by coaches and players. Names involved in this scandal was currently jailed Bulent Uygun,,who was handed 8 weeks of ban and a probation off the field due to his actions of agent services without a license. Other names included also currently jailed former Eskisehir Sportive Director Umit Karan, former Fenerbahçe and Besiktas goalkeeper Murat Sahin, Former Besiktas and Galatasaray player Serdar Ozkan and a few other Super League players. According to the ruling any active coaching staff or player can not serve as agents, as this may create aconflict of interest during the games in regards with the players under their portfolio.

2010-11 season: Bursaspor president Ibrahim Yazici, club’s general manager Osman Nuri Bicer and couple of other board members were taken into custody and arrested by Organized crime unit of Bursa Police over illegal ticket distribution. Later, president were released and it was stated that some of the funds that were used to renovate the club’s stadium was illegally cashed in by these officials. Osman Nuri Bicer was indicted furthermore regarding with illegal ticket distribution and the overall case is still to be decided upon.

2010-11 season: Current Organized Crime scandal. At the time of this report more than 60 people were initially taken into custody, whereas more than one third were arrested and waiting their trial in behind bars. Their expected trial date was given as early as November 2011.

All rights reserved ®. Licensed under the ownership of Turkish Life News Magazine Publication LLC. International Copyright Laws™ applicable. Unauthorized usage in whole or partial is strictly prohibited without written consent of the author and publication owner. 2011™®.

Change, Now, Right Away...

2011-07-25T22:50:00.004-04:00

Yeah, I know the title of this post sounds like failed and possibly rigged attempt of Murat Aksu, who have lost the election race against Demirören last year, but I don't have the right mindset for an original title right now. For that I apologize...

I wasn't able to hold myself to scribble anything on my blog anymore while these black clouds are hovering over us for some time now. However, I decided and am acting upon a long time project that I have in my mind, which is to change my blog into English language...

As you may have already seen from the title of the blog and the sidebars, I have updated most of the sections in english as I could possible able to, hope they would make sense at all to those who will stumble upon them.

Make no mistake dear bloggers, I am not turning this blog into english just to show off or any other snobby similar reason. It's just that the events that are happening in Turkey since July 3rd came to an unbearable point for me and I had to do something personally to escape from this. Another reason is that I believe there are more than enough, well-informed, investigative, young and bright bloggers, who are currently writing their thoughts about similar events out there in the cyber world of Besiktas, Turkish football and football in general. Therefore, I wanted to change my blog in my humble ability to inform and maybe educate foreigners that may be interested about what I can place on the table. By all means I know that education will go both ways, so that I can learn from the foreigner's point of view towards us in general and Besiktas in particular.

I am pretty sure that nowadays a lot of NBA fans are searching for keywords of Besiktas and Kobe Bryant. For most of us it is an unimaginable thing to see him donning Besiktas jersey and appear in Akatlar Sports Complex, or maybe even seeing him just to make the triple like Alen with our fans. But believe me when I see this, right now we would not care even a little bit even if we would have the ability to transfer the whole all stars of NBA to Besiktas because of the events that are happening in Turkey.

What are these events? Match fixing allegations. Bribery of player and coaches. Organized Crime Gangs that threatened professional players to give up their financial rights. Arrests have been made and court trials are being waited for as we speak. Including Besiktas vice president, coach and our security manager for our first team, there are more than 25 people are locked up in Metris jail that all started with a sting operation from Turkish Police. Initially more than 60 people were taken into custody and as I have mentioned above, about two dozen are indicted and still behind bars.

Even though I wouldn't and don't want to believe that any of our personnel would have anything to do with the current match-fixing and bribery scandal in Turkey, we shall still wait for the lady justice's decision to make our own conclusions.

I have prepared an article which shall appear in the sports section of a new magazine publication called Turkish Life News for the Turkish Community in the United States. I would like to share it here with you within the next posting, but I have to warn you that it's a little bit long than usual blog entires. You may have to give up your lunch break for that, heck maybe even dinner too...

All right then, this is the Eagle Abroad, over and out...

...

2011-07-13T19:23:00.002-04:00

Adalet...

2011-07-11T19:53:00.003-04:00

Demekki doğruymuş. Adalet gerçekten de 8 numaralı odadaymış. Gelen geçen binmiş üstüne, yıllar yılı gıkını çıkarmamış, tıpkı bugünde olduğu gibi...

Türkiyede olduk olası cezayı alacak olan takım fenerbahçe ise orada muhakkak bir acaba olmuştur. Herkes iki yerken, onlar hep bir yemiştir. Bu nefret imparatorluğunun ortaya çıkma sebeplerinden birisi de bu değil midir zaten?

Bu ülkede fenerbahçeli olmak demek, adil olmamak, herkese haksız şekilde üstünlük kurmaya çalışmak, düşene bir tekmede sen vurmak demekse zaten çoktan bu ülke Türkiye Cumhuriyeti olmaktan çıkmış ve bir muz cumhuriyeti olan fenerbahçe cumhuriyetine dönüşmüştür.

Senelerden beri dillendirilen şike, teşvik ve mafya üçgeninde hipotenüsün deşifre edilmesine rağmen diğer iki kenar dik duracağım inadından vazgeçmediği için, kraldan çok kralcı oldukları için, adalete her gece uğradıkları için bu ülkenin futbolunu maalesef 11 Temmuz 2011 günü darağacına göndermişlerdir.

Ne de doğru söylediler halbuki, darağacında bile olsak son sözümüz fenerbahçe diye. Elbette Türk futbolu darağacına giderken son sözleri bu oldu. Medyasıyla, para babası patronlarıyla, cahil cühela şakşakçılarıyla elele, hep beraber Türk Futbolunun sehpasını itelediler.

Bu saatten sonra ne olur? Bugün fenerbahçe ve Sivas'ın bu ligden düşmemesi demek, 3 ay sonra iddianameler açıklandığında yine düşmeyecekleri demek. Muhtemelen en fazla aynı sezon içinde puan silinmeye gidilecek ve en az zararla bu iş unutturulup cahilleşen Türk toplumuna başka bir film oynatılacak.

Aziz Nesin'in ne günahı vardı diyesim geliyor. Adam doğru söylemiş, bu toplum aptallığının faturasını her geçen gün ödüyor. Başbakanı sinyal vererek bir üst mahkemeye elbette başvuracaklardır diyor, TFF başkanı kişilerin yaptıkları kurumları ilgilendirmez diyor, vs. vs...

Hadi hepsini geçelimde sözüm ona bu anadolu klüplerine ne demeli? Resmen en büyük yavşak onlarmış meğersem. Hatta ve hatta fenerbahçe sezon boyunca hepinizin babasıyım ben hepinizi bilmem ne yaparım dedikçe geride kalanların hepsi birer kukladan ibaretmiş. Bu klüplerin taraftarları bu işe ne diyecek çok merak ediyorum doğrusu.

Bir kısım sağduyulu arkadaşlar halen daha ya belki 3 ay 5 ay sonra düşerler bu sefer 2 sezon birden kaybederler, ne güzel işte diyerek polyannacılık oynuyorlar. Oynamaya devam etsinler...

Ben kendi adıma konuşup yazıyorum elbette. Yazıyorum diyorsam artık blog mlog da yazacağımı sanmıyorum. Hiçbirşeyine inancımın kalmadığı bir konuyla alakalı ne yazabilirimki?

Büyük bir ihtimalle sadece avrupadan futbol takip eder dururum, hiç olmazsa bilirim ki orada suçlular cezasını elbet çeker. Juventus gibi, Marsilya gibi, Liverpool ve İngiliz Holiganları gibi...

Sağlıcakla kalın...

Kara Temmuz 6

2011-07-10T11:17:00.001-04:00

Kara Temmuz 5

2011-07-09T17:39:00.002-04:00

1924 doğumlu olup, 40'lı ve 50'li yıllarda klübümüzde top koşturmuş olan İbrahim Fendoğlu'nun vefat haberini yine bir Temmuz gününde aldık...

Allah kendisine rahmet, geride kalanlarına sabır niyaz eylesin...

Marka Değeri Yavşaklığı

2011-07-08T21:02:00.004-04:00

Ben hayatımda bu kadar salak, bu kadar kör, bu kadar cahilce ve bu kadar yüzsüzce bir açıklamanın arkasına sığınan ve savunma yapan bir topluluğu bir arada görmedim.

LigTv'si, Ntv'si, Hürriyeti ve taraflı yayın yapmaya özen gösteren tüm kancık medya çalışanları ağızbirliği ile bir zamanlar George Bush'un "weapons of mass destruction" balonunda olduğu gibi marka değerinden dem vurup fenerbahçeyi kümede tutmaya çalışıyorlar.

Neymiş efendim, fener küme düğerse Türkiye'de futbol bitermiş, maçlar izlenmezmiş, dekoderler geri verilirmiş, miş miş miş... Verirseniz verin a.q. Kimi neyle korkutuyorsunuz? Bu kadar saçma bir tehditle TÜRKİYE CUMHURİYETİ'nde karşılığında alacağınız cezalar açık ve seçik belli edilmişken, bu suçları işleyen kişiler bir iki güne kalmaz içeride buluşacakları elebaşları ile kodese tıkılmışken, daha neyin tartışmasını yapıyorsunuz?

Düşünün esiniz yada siz yüz kızartıcı bir suç işliyorsunuz ama yakalanmıyorsunuz. Bakıyorsunuzki para tatlı, e itibarda geliyor aynen devam ediyorsunuz. Evinizi daha büyük bir evle değiştiriyor, daha lüks bir araba ediniyor, tüm hayat standardınızı bu yüz kızartıcı suçlar zinciri ile dahada yukarı çıkarıyorsunuz. Arada etrafınızdaki insanlara da, daha doğrusu size abi ayağı çekenlere de maddi yardımlarınız oluyor. Gelgelelim bir pazar sabahı evinize gelen ekipler sizi apar topar paket ediyor, meğersem bütün suçlarınız takibe alınmış deliller masada.

Peki bu ortamda nasıl bir savunma yaparsınız? İlk seçenek inkar. E deliller var ortada. İkinci seçenek pişmanlık yasası. Üçüncü seçenek ise saçmalama durumu.

Eğer derseniz ki ya, bakın şimdi siz beni içeri alırsanız benim oturduğum mahallenin marka değeri düşecek, o kadar yardım ettiğim adam var onların durumları bozulacak, hadi onları düşünün ve beni affedin, yada cezamı çok hafifletin, hatta ben aynı mahallede güzel evimde oturmaya devam edeyim ki o insanlara maddi olarak yardımım devam etsin, yoksa hepsi batar haaaa!

Bu kadar salak saçma bir savunma, bu kadar tehditkar bir tutum olabilir mi? Adama bu ne cüret kardesim demezler mi? Ama söz konusu fener olunca ne kadar cüretkar bir topluluk olduklarını biliyoruz. Halen daha Colin Kazım'ın çoktan vurduğu kelepçeye rağmen sevdamıza kelepçe vuramazlar diye pankart açmayı akıl edecek kadar akıl fakiri bir gruba da sahipler, ben utancımdan başımı kaldıramıyorum, sokağa çıkamıyorum diyen Ziya kaptan gibi adamlara da.

İşte diğer takımlarda tam burada bölünüyor zaten. Ama taraftarına yazık yaaa, onların ne suçu varki? diye naif açıklamalar yapan, merhamet zenginlerine çokça rastlıyoruz bu aralar. Peki sormak lazım, 30 seneye yakın bir zamandan sonra şampiyonluğa bu kadar yaklaşmış ama şike yüzünden olamamış Trabzon seyircisinin suçu neydi? Futbola belkide en büyük yatırım olarak altyapısını kuran ve yavaş yavaş süperlige çıkıp güzide bir klüp olma yolunda adımlar atan Bucasporun suçu neydi? Tüm sezon boyunca amcasının, babasının elinden tutup stadlara koşan küçücük kalplerin suçu neydi? Bunlara cevap verebiliyor musunuz?

Bir kural ve kaide varsa bunu uygulamaya mecbursunuz. Yoksa kural ve kaideler geçerliliğini yitirir ve orada kuraltanımazlık ilelebet başgösterir. Eğer Federasyon, ben artık fenerasyon değilim, başkanım fenerli ama ben değilim, objektifim ve tarafsızım demek istiyorsa fenerbahçe ve sivas küme düşürülmeli, Eskişehire puan cezası verilmelidir.

E3er devlet baba, halkı galeyana getirmeye teşebbüs kanununu öne sürüp süper savcılarını yetkiyle donatmazsa, ve bu savcılar, Hürriyet gibi, Ligtv gibi Ntv gibi ortalığı bulandırmaya çalışan, topluma bile bile yanlış haberler aktarıp belli bir kamuoyu oluşturarak ekonomik çıkar elde etmeye çalışan bu kurumlara ve söz sahiplerine gerekli cezaları ve yaptırımları uygulamazsa, o devlet babaya da şüphe ile bakmak hiç de yanlış olmaz diye düşünüyorum. Kimse bana hedef gösteriyor demesin. Hedef gösterenler bu kepazelikler ortaya çıktığı ilk dakikadan itibaren Beşiktaş'ı ve Trabzon'u bu pisliğin içine çekmeye çalışan bu medya kurumlarıdır.

Ki bizler kendimize yakışır şekilde, bırakın tutuklanan yöneticilerimiz olmamasını, en ufak bir dahiliyemiz varsa bile bizi küme düşürün derken, bu adamların salya saçarak bizlere saldırmasını sessizce izleyen yönetimimizi de esefle kınamaktan başka bir şey diyemiyorum.

Kendi deyimi ile toptan bile anlamayan Ünal Aysal ve ekibi bu hususta kendilerince yayın yasağı uygulayarak tavırlarını ortaya koymuşlar, Eskişehir klübü türbülent ve ekibi ile ilişiğini anında kesmiştir. Bizimkiler ise 3 gencimize hak ettikleri paraları vermemek adına ceza idmanlarını reva görürken, işsiz kalan NBA yıldızlarına kanca atarak yine bir göz boyama operasyonuna girişmeye çalışıyorlar. Demirören'in eksi haneleri yine çoğalmaya başladı bu aralar bilmem farkında mısınız?

Bu fener küme düşecek. Bu sivas küme düşecek. Yoksa bu ülkede ne futbol kalır, nede başka bi esamesi, bu kadar basit. Aykut Kocaman Bank Asya'da dilediği gibi alın terini ortaya koysun, gerçek alın terini orada öğrenip tekrar layık olmaya çalıştıkları süper lige dönsünler, camia olarak kurdukları nefret imparatorluğunu genişletmek yerine hatalarından arınıp Türkiye Cumhuriyeti'nin güzide bir klübü olsunlar ve bizde onların başarılarına, hak edilmiş başarılarına alkış tutalım. Hemde avuçlarımız patlayana kadar...

Not: Şike ile ilgili yasanın tamamı burada.

Psikolojik Savunma Evreleri

2011-07-05T23:08:00.002-04:00

Fenerbahçelilere sakın kızmayın. Onlar şu an ne yaptıklarını bilemiyorlar çünkü. Kolay değil öyle böyle kendi cumhuriyet tarihlerinin en ağır bilançosu ile karşı karşıyalar...

Önce son dakikada şampiyonluk kaçırdılar. Sonra iki dakika sevindiler. 30 senedir alınamayan bir kupa söz konusu...

Sonra aynı şekilde 3. kez madara olmamak için ele yüze bulaştırılan büyük şike skandalı...

Bir arkadaşım, futbolu seven, iyiyi ve kötüyü ayırdedebilen fenerbahçe taraftarları bir yana, bu denli ağır faturanın ve şokun ilk tepkisinin neler olabileceğini anlattı. Ona da bir Psikolog Doktor bir arkadaşı anlatmış.

İlk baştaki tepki inkardır demiş. Herşey yalan, aziz bunu yapmaz, adam adı üstünde adı gibi aziz! Olamaz, olmaz diyerek kabullenememe durumu sözkonusu olurmuş.

İkinci basamak olarak, saldırı ve tehlikeli bir dışavurum durumu. Bu bize karşı açılmış bir savaştır! Kahrolsun fener düşmanları, kırın dökün anasını satayım!

Üçüncü basamak bahane üretmek. E iyi ama onlarda fi tarihinde şunu şunu yapmıştı, bize niye ceza?

Dördüncü hal ve iç sorgulama, yani ulan acaba hakkatende şike yaptık mı? Yaptıysak nasıl olmuştur acaba? Yazıklar olsun! tarzı serzenişler,

ve en nihayetinde de son basamak olarak kabullenme durumu. Naapalım artık yapacak bir şey yok. Küme düştük bir kere. Artık önümüze bakacağız, hele bir bank asyadan çıkalım, elbet aydınlık günler göreceğiz güneşli günler. Dur ya, bu beste de çalıntı değil miydi?

İşte fenerbahçelilerin içinde bulunduğu ahval ve şerait maalesef bu durumda. Bir futbolsever olarak üzücü ama bir Beşiktaşlı olarak çok keyifli bir durum bu.

Eminim yarın öbür gün Beşiktaş'ın başına aynı şey gelse, bizde aynı evrelerden geçeriz, ama eksik ama tam her bir basamakta çeşitli tepkilerimiz olur.

Bu yüzden fenerli arkadaşlarınız varsa, onlara şefkatle yaklaşın. Büyüklüğünüzü gösterin. Alay etmek bir yana, onları rencide edici sözler söylememeye özen gösterin...

Ne diyorum ben ya? Vurun beline kazmayı! Gün bugündür! Geçin maytapınızı, makaranızı... Ne demişler şike yapan dikenine katlanır...

Kara Temmuz 4

2011-07-05T06:11:00.002-04:00

Dedik ya Temmuz geldi çattı yine... 40'lı yılların futbolcularından, İbrahim Sumru'yu bugün kaybettiğimizi öğrendik. Kendisine Allahtan rahmet, geride kalanlara da başsağlığı diliyorum. Beşiktaş Camia'sının başı sağolsun.

Kara Temmuz 3

2011-07-04T20:35:00.002-04:00

Rahmetle Anıyoruz...

Kara Temmuz 2

2011-07-04T20:31:00.003-04:00

Ruhun şad olsun adaşım...

Geçmiş olsun Gülüm

2011-07-04T18:41:00.005-04:00

Umarız çabucak geri dönersin... Çok büyük geçmiş olsun... Sözün bittiği yer artık, denecek birşey yok...

Görüntüleri izledikten sonra edit:

Görüntülerde hafifletici sebep sayılabilecek tek şey, takımdaşlık duruşunu ilk günden sergileyen topçuları görebilmek sanırım. Ernst, Guti, Rüştü, Mami ve hemen hemen herkesin tepkisi Ersan'ın acısını en az kendilerine olmuş gibi hissetmeleriydi...

Bu sene takım mı oluyoruz ne?

Foto: ntvspor.net

Şerefsizler Ordusu

2011-07-04T18:05:00.003-04:00

Bir toplumda herkesin mükemmel olmasını bekleyemezsiniz, gülünç olur. Ama bir toplumda herkesin birazcık şerefli olmasını bekleyebilirsiniz.

Halen program yapmayan, yapamayan Şansal ve ekibi, şikeye, teşviğe ve organize çete işlerine İbrahim Akın'dan duvar pası yapıp Serdal Reyis'i bulaştırmaya çalısan Ercan Saatçi pezevengi ve onun emriyle sözüm ona fenerbahçenin savunmasını yapan hurefası, afallamış ve bu fenerbahçeye açılmış bir savaştır diyen üzerinede yürüyüş yapan cahil cühela fenerbahçe taraftarının bir kısmı...

Sezon boyu yerdiğimiz Eskişehirspor anında soruşturma bitene dek, olayda eskişehir ile bağlantısı bulunan şahısların sözleşmelerini donduruyor, neredeyse utançlarından ne yapacaklarını şaşırmıslar, fenerbahçe cephesi ise hala daha üste çıkmaya çalışıyor.

Sizin yüzünüzün sınırı yok anladık onu. Bu ne yüzsüzlük, bu ne arsızlık, bu ne densizliktir! Neymiş yayın yasağı konsunmuşmuş... E siz dakika birden itibaren bas bas bağırıyorsunuz biz masumuz diye, o zaman sizede yasak gelsin... Siz derken yukarıda saydığım, saymadığım tüm fener cephesinden bahsediyorum. Yer mi, yemez mi?

Bırakın savunmayı, aklı başında bir adam, birazcık düşünebilen, ve insan olmanın en önemli erdemlerinden birinin düşünmek olduğunu idrak edebilmiş bir kişi bu gözaltıların delillere dayanmadan olmayacağını bilmelidir. Kimsenin gücüne gitmesin ama simitçi Hasan efendiyi gözaltına almıyorsunuz, fenerbahçe başkanını hani şu çakma cumhuriyeti olan varya işte onu gözaltına alıyorsunuz, boru mu?

Bu yüzden önce bir susacaksınız... Önce herkes gibi olayların soruşturmalarının tamamlanmasını bekleyeceksiniz. Kim tutuklanınr, kim çıkar, kim içerde kalır, fenerin kupası geri mi alınır, küme mi düşer, yoksa ceza alıp 30 puan geriden mi başlar, yada hiç bir ceza almadan aklanır mı bilinmez ama tüm bunları bekleyip, görüp ondan sonra konuşacaksınız. Yoksa yaptığınız yaygarayı inan kimse bi tarafına takmıyor artık...

Takke öyle bir düştü ki öyle böyle değil...

Görünen kel klavuz istemiyor artık...

Buradan devam edebilirsiniz...

Kemal Sunal, Kara Temmuz 1

2011-07-03T18:17:00.003-04:00

Nur içinde yat. Unutmadık, unutmayacağız...

Kara Temmuz başladı...

Türk Kadını

2011-07-03T18:09:00.003-04:00

Türk kadını yıllarca okullarda, Kurtuluş Savaşında, sırtında top mermisi tasıyan cefakarlar ordusu olarak tanıtıldı bizlere. Kendilerine verilen imkanlar olduğunda, dünyaya bedel olduklarını daha Cumhuriyetin ilk yıllarında zaten göstermişlerdi ya, çoktandır unutulmuştu Sabiha Gökçen gibilerinin cesareti ve azmi...

İşte bugün Avrupa 2. olan bayanlarımız, ellerindeki kısıtlı imkanlara ve ilgisizliğe rağmen elde ettikleri bu başarı ile ulus olarak göğsümüzü kabarttılar. Çoğu manşette yer aldığı gibi, hem yüreklerine hemde gönüllerine sağlık. Bize bu peri masalını yaşattıkları için hepsinin alınlarından öpülmesi gerek.

Bu arada dünya ikincisi olan Erkek basketbol milli takımı adam başı 1.5 milyon kapmıştı ya hani. Acaba bu perilere ne reva görülecek çok merak ediyorum...

Beter Olun...

2011-07-03T09:26:00.003-04:00

Hakedenler cezasını çeksin diyor herkes... Artık sözün bittiği yer burası olsa gerek. Bugüne kadar bırakın bir yöneticisini, hangi büyük klübün başkanı gözaltına alınmış? Bu tam bir rezalet, tam bir fiyaskodur. Bu utanmazlar yüzünden olsa bile Türk futbolu adına utanıyorum..

Son yıllarda Beşiktaş ile uğraşan herkesin ne mal olduğu bir bir ortaya çıkıyor. Bursa'daki gözaltı operasyonlarından sonra şimdide aziz başgan ve yandaşları, -artık türbülentler mi dersiniz, meczup odyakmazlar mı dersiniz, kimi ararsanız- toplamış yüce Türk adaleti... İnşallah sonunu getirirler de insanlara tekrar bir güvenoyu ortamı kazandırırlar. Bu konuda umudum az olsada bekleyip görmekten başka bir şansımız yok maalesef.

EDIT:

Aziz Yıldırım (Fenerbahçe Başkanı)
Şekip Mosturoğlu (Fenerbahçe Asbaşkanı)
Mecnun Odyakmaz (Sivasspor Başkanı)
Tamer Yelkovan (Fenerbahçe Muhasebe Müdürü)
Abdurrahman Yakut (Eski Diyarbakırspor Başkanı)
Bülent Uygun (Eskişehirspor Teknik Direktörü)
Ümit Karan (Eskişehirspor Sportif Direktörü)
Mahmut Boz (Gençlerbirliği)
Korcan Çelikay (Sivasspor)
Mehmet Yıldız (Sivasspor/Eskişehirspor)
Sezer Öztürk (Eskişehirspor/Fenerbahçe)
Emenike (Karabükspor/Fenerbahçe)
Serkan Çalık (Almanya'dan Türkiye'ye çağırıldı)
Ömer Ülkü (Giresunspor Başkanı)
Ali Kıratlı
Bülent İşcan
Olgun Peker (Eski Giresunspor Başkanı)
Levent Eriş (Adanaspor Teknik Direktörü)
Serdar Berkin (Adanaspor Teknik Direktörü Yardımcısı)
Volkan Bahçekapılı (Emre Belözoğlu'nun yiğeni)
Erman Ertaş (Altay Genel Müdürü)
Tarık Özertem (Futbolcu Menajeri)
Beşir Acar (Mersin İdmanyurdu Asbaşkanı)
Murat Tanış (Mersin İdmanyurdu tribün lideri)
Özden Arslan (Futbolcu Menajeri)

Cemil Turan (Efsane Fenerbahçeli Futbolcu)

Düz Beyaz, Siyah, Çubuklu ve Kırmızı

2011-07-02T21:45:00.003-04:00

Geçtiğimiz günlerde yapılan açıklamalar neticesinde bu senenin formaları geçen senede beğeni toplayan, düz beyaz, düz siyah ve çubuklu olacağı belirtilmişti. Sadece çubuklu forma için kalın çizgili diye ufak bir detay verilmiş, çıkacak olan 4. formanın ise ne renk olacağı belli değil denerek kırmızı forma için yine bir nabız yoklaması yapılmıştı. Çoğunluk kırmızı forma isteği yönünde görüş belirtince daha sonra 4. forma olarak kırmızının çıkarılacağı, yarı resmi şekilde forum ve klübe bağlı gibi duran web organlarınca ifşa edildi.

Bende 2011-2012 sezonu için adidas'ın üretipte en çok kullandığı kalıbı araştırdım. Hani bizede bu kalıbı ufak rütuşlarla çakarsa şu resmettiklerime çok benzer şeyler olması bir hayli yüksek. Ben baştan söyliyeyim yaka kısmı bana çok acayip geldi, formaya bakınca herşeyden önce göz yakaya takılıyor, ve ne ima edildiği anlaşılmıyor doğrusu.

Bekleyip göreceğiz, bakalım pazartesi günüde Toyota anlaşması resmi olarak açıklanınca belkide sürpriz olarak bir formamızıda anlaşma esnasında gösterebilirler, kimbilir...

Aurelio

2011-06-30T00:14:00.001-04:00

Yada söylendiği gibi Orelyo. Birden kafama takıldı gece gece.

Ya bu adam ligin ikinci yarısındaki ikinci maçta pervasızca bir müdahale ile kırmızı kart görüp sezonu bizim için orada bitirtmedi mi?

Sonrasında fenerbahçe derbisinde, herkes ferrari'ye yüklenirken, bel hizasından gelen topa rövaşatavari bir müdahale yapmayı icat etmek isteyip ıskalayınca mağlup duruma düşmemize ve oyundan tamamen kopmamıza neden olmadı mı?

Kupa finalinde, yine herşey güllük gülistanlıkken penaltı yapıp takımın ivmesine çomak sokmadı mı?

Her maçta kaçak dövüsüp kendini stoperlerin arasına gömüp, Ernst yada Necip'i rakip ortasahaya yem etmedi mi?

Bu adam hatta bize gelmeden Rico Paşayla münasebetsiz bir durum yaşamadı mı?

Daha hala bu adamı kadroda mı tutuyoruz? Ne? Türk kontenjanı mı? Nobrede Türk kontenjanıydı. Vallahi sevmediğim Toraman şu hali ile Aurelio'dan daha kotarır o bölgeyi.

Toyota Kriko

2011-06-29T22:14:00.004-04:00

Temel Japonyada bir bara girmiş. İki tek attıktan sonra varmı bana yan bakan uleayn diye naralar atmaya başlamış. Japon'un biri almış dışarıya bi güzel pataklamış Temeli. Sonra ikiside içeri girince sormuşlar Japon'a nası dövdün? -"Taekwando, Çin", demiş.

Ertesi gün yine aynı terane, yine bizim Temel ağzı burnu kan içinde kalmış. Japon'a sormuşlar nası dövdün? -"Karate, Japonya" demiş. Üçüncü gün Japon bu seferki cevabında -"Kung fu, Taiwan" demiş sadece, soru sorulmadan.

Dördüncü gün ise Japon'un ağzı burnu dağınık ağlayarak, sürünerek içeri girmiş. Herkesin gözü faltaşı gibi açılmış hayretler içinde Temel'e bakıp bu işin nasıl olduğuna bir türlü anlam veremiyorlar. En sonunda biri sormuş; nası dövdün? Temel bara oturmuş, içkisinden ufak bir yudum aldıktan sonra kısa ama tok bir sesle seslenmiş: "Toyota, Kriko"...

Şu bizim forma sponsor hikayesi ortalarda gezinmeye başladığından beridir aklıma hep bu nacizhane şekilde anlatmaya çalıştığım fıkra geliyor. Umarım hoşunuza gitmiştir. Yapılan anlaşmayla ilgili epey bir bilgi kirliliği var ortada, resmi siteden gelecek olan kap açıklaması gelmeden bizde net öğrenemeyeceğiz.

Bir yerde yıllık 6 milyon dolar, diğer yerde para birimi olarak Euro deniyor. Bir başka kaynakta gelen paranın 3 milyonu halen hakkı elinde bulunduran ülkere verilecek deniyor, diğer tarafta cola turka sırta geçecek deniyor. Bekleyelim, görelim detaylar ne olacak. Eğer yazılan çizilenler gibi doğru rakamlarsa, yani 20-25 milyonluk bir anlaşma yapılmışsa mali tablo için çok büyük bir artı olacak. Demirören yönetimi, stadıda Toyota'ya yaptırmasın sakın?

Birde şu amblem yada düzyazı konusu var tartışılagelen. Google'da ufak bir araştırma ile Toyota'nın sponsor olduğu tüm takımlarda düz yazı ile ismini yazdığını görüyoruz. Yani Wolfsburg yada DC United gibi sadece -wolksvagen- amblemi kullanmıyorlar. Bana sorarsanız bencede düzyazı olması daha iyi. Formadaki tek amblem Beşiktaş'a ait olmalı, onu bir şekilde gölgeleyen bir logo yada işaret olmamalı.

Tabi eski gözağrımız olan BEKO her zamanki gibi bir numaramız. Acaba bir gün geri dönerler mi?

Bu işler ince işler

2011-06-29T21:41:00.003-04:00

İnce işler, ince hesaplar...

TFF seçimleri yada FFF seçimleri mi desek hangisi daha doğru olur bilmiyorum en nihayetinde bugün yapıldı. Zaten beklendiği gibi yine iş dünyasının hatırı sayılır bir zat-ı muhteremi geldi o koltuğa kondu. Tabiki halktan bir adam yönetecek değil ya!

Bu süreçte pek çok alışverişler yapıldı, karşılıklı pazarlıklar kıran kırana geçti. Başkan fenerli, ikinci başkan galatasaraylı olunca, mali işler sorumlusu Beşiktaşlı oldu. Hatta yeni merkez hakem kurulu başkanı da Beşiktaşlı olacak deniyor, bekleyip göreceğiz.

Sonuç olarak herkes birbirini bir şekilde bağlamış durumda. Fener lehine aleni hatalar ve kayırmalar devam ederse, zaten tescilli fenerli olan başkanın başı epey bir ağrıyacak. Buna karşın Aziz kendine klüpte başkanlık için rakip gördüğü birini ancak bu şekilde defedebilmenin haklı gururunu yaşıyor olsa gerek. Galatasaray cephesinden bakarsak ikinci başkanın klüplerine kongre üyesi olması elbette kendilerinde sempati uyandırmıştır, velhasıl pekde umurlarında olduğunu sanmıyorum doğrusu. Gümüşdağ ileride galatasaray başkanlığına oynayacakmış gibime geliyor, orasıda ayrı bir ince hesap kitap gerektirir.

Hüsnü Güreli'nin mali işlerden sorumlu olması Beşiktaş'ı ne kadar ilgilendirir bilinmez demek olmaz. Yaklaşan UEFA kriterlerinde klüplerin alacakları tesciller titizlikle incelenecektir. Başkana biriken Ekrem Dağ gibi borç sonrası Beşiktaş'ın dosyası ne sekilde o merciiden geçecek bunu hep birlikte göreceğiz.

Gelelim MHK başkanlığına. Ben Namoğlu gibi bir adamın o koltukta pek fazla kalabileceğine inanmıyorum. Devre arası operasyonu ile yerinden ederler bu adamı. Sadece yabancı sınırlamasını kaldıracağız sözü pek tabiki Beşiktaş'ın desteğini almaya yetmezdi, yıllardır şikayetçi olduğumuz bir merciiye Beşiktaşlı bir adamın getirilmesi de seçim kozu olarak ince hesaplar yerini alıyor. Tabi işlem tamamlandığı için yeni sezonun devre arasını bekleyin derim, umarım yanılırım.

Diğer yandan hem yeni hemde eski isimlere gelirsek, geçen yönetimden Lütfi Arıboğan'ın ve hukuk işlerinden sorumlu Bursalı Egemenoğlu'nun yönetimde kaldığını görüyoruz. Yılların efendi ismi Cüneyt Tanman'a herhalde kimse karşı çıkmaz, o da ilk başta pozitif görünen bir isim. İlerleyen zamanlarda icraatlarını göreceğiz. Bir diğer Beşiktaşlı isimde Erhan Kamışlı. Kendisi sanırım Sabancı Ailesi kökenli bir işadamı. Californiada master yapmış, okumuş çocuk yani. Diğer üyeleri ise ne yalan söyleyeyim tanımıyorum. Ama eminim iş dünyasında hepsi birbirini tanıyordur, yoksa paylaşacakları pastaya yabancı birini getirmezler herhalde...

İnce işler, adamı şişler... Kimbilir, bu buzdağının görünen kısmında bu kadar hesaplar, dalavereler dönüyorken, kapalı kapılar ardında ne ihaleler, ne işler çevrilmiştir?

Neyse, ne demişler zenginin malı fakirin çenesini yorarmış, bizimkide o hesap...

Tek dileğimiz var o da tüm takımlarımıza karşı adil olsunlar yeter. Vatana millete hayırlı uğurlu olsun...

Kara Temmuz Gelirken

2011-06-29T21:27:00.003-04:00

Aramızdan ayrılan pek çok Büyük Beşiktaşlı abilerimiz, büyüklerimiz hep bu kara temmuz ayını bekleyip durdular. Şunun şurasında 2011 Temmuz'una iki gün kalmıştıki, yine bir büyüğümüzü, Kaya Köstepen'i kaybettik. Kendisine Allahtan rahmet, geride kalan yakınlarına da sabır dilerken, hem Beşiktaş hemde futbol camiasına başsağlığı diliyorum.

İstatistik ve mini etek ilişkisi

2011-06-26T00:13:00.006-04:00

1999-2000 74 gol. 2.

2000-2001 68 gol. 4.

2001-2002 69 gol. 3.

2002-2003 63 gol. 1.

2003-2004 66 gol. 3.

2004-2005 70 gol. 4.

2005-2006 52 gol. 3.

2006-2007 43 gol. 2.

2007-2008 58 gol. 4.

2008-2009 60 gol. 1.

2009-2010 47 gol. 4.

2010-2011 50 gol. 5.

Son 12 yıl atılan gol sayısı 720, ortalama 60 gol.

Son 10 yıl atılan gol sayısı 578, ortalama 57.8 gol.

Son 5 yıl atılan gol sayısı 258, ortalama 51.6 gol.

Süper Lig Şampiyonlarının son 12 yıl ortalaması 73.25.

Süper Lig Şampiyonlarının son 10 yıl ortalaması 72.00.

Süper Lig Şampiyonlarının son 5 yıl ortalaması 67.60.

Sırasıyla Beşiktaş'ın Lig Şampiyonlarına göre kıyasla gol ortalama farkları:

12 yıl -13.25 fark.

1o yıl -14.20 fark.

5 yıl -16 fark.

Demekki Lig Şampiyonlarının ortalaması düşüyor olsada, Beşiktaş'ın yaşadığı düşüş daha keskin olduğundan, aradaki ortalama fark dahada açılıyor. Mesela bu trend 2011-2012 sezonunda da devam etse, şampiyon 65 gol civarı biz ise 45 gol civarı atan bir takım hüviyetinde olacağız. Ağzımdan yel alsın!

Bu rakamların içinde ufak hatalar olabilir. Hatta son sezonki hükmen atılan 3 gol de hesaba dahil, onuda çıkarsan 47 oluyor.

"İstatistikler mini etek gibidir, çok sey gösterir ama en önemli şeyleri göstermez." diye bir laf vardı, çokda doğru bir laf aslında ama hakem odalarını, fenerasyon oyunlarını, beceriksiz ve kifayetsiz tüpçüyü, ve hatta kısa mesaj servislerini bir yana bırakırsak yukarıdaki rakamlar belli başlı şeyleri apaçık ortaya koyuyor. İster takke düşmüş kel görünmüş deyin, istersenizde mini eteğin boyu ultra mini olmuş deyin.

Görünen o ki, bu takım gol sıkıntısı çekiyor. Bu takım GOL sıkıntısı çekiyor. Bu takım, GOL SIKINTISI çekiyor. Bu takım gol sı-kın-tı-sı çe-ki-yor! Bu takım gol sıkıntısı çekiyor.

Ligde garanti başarı için minimum 80 gol lazım. Geçenlerde çok meşhur bir post vardı alın kağıdı kalemi hesap yapın diye, hakikattende öyle. Alıp kalemi saymak lazım kim kaç gol atar diye, öyle bonkörde değil en ortalama senaryolar ile sayın şu anki kadroyu, sonucunuz ne çıkacak merak ediyorum.

Sonra oturup sağbek mi, solbek mi, 3. kaleci mi lazım yoksa süper bir golcümü lazım, hani leblebici tazında ona karar vermek lazım. Ne dersiniz?

Bir günde 2 Final; İspanya-İsviçre ve USA-Mexico

2011-06-25T23:16:00.005-04:00

Danimarka'daki U21 şampiyonasında gülen taraf Dünya Kupasını da abileri ile beraber havaya kaldırmış olan Juan Mata ve Javi Martinez takviyeli kadrosuyla İspanya oldu. Son yılların yükselen değeri ve takımı İsviçre'yi 2-0 gibi net bir skorla devirmeyi başardılar.

Ne yalan söyliyeyim bu maça yarım yamalak bakabildim, haftasonu olmasına rağmen burada gündüz saatine denk gelmesi ve gün içersindeki koşuşturmacada belkide çok keyifli bir maçı kaçırmış olabilirim...

Gecenin ikinci finali ise Amerika Birleşik Devletleri ile Meksika arasında oynandı ve eğlendirici niteliği açısından mükemmel bir maç oldu. Meksika 2-0'lık şok sayılabilecek bir mağlubiyetten 4-2'lik üstünlüğü ele geçirerek kupayı bilmem kaçıncı kez kaldırmış oldu.

Babalar ve oğulları diye bir seri çekilse herhalde sahadaki Bradley ile takımın koçu Bradley hakkında ilginç bir bölüm olabilir. Maça fırtına gibi başlayan Meksika, ilk verdiği köşe atışı pozisyonunda Bradley'nin kafasından yenik duruma düştü ama oyundan kopmadı. Yine atak gözükürken bu sefer Dempsey'nin mükemmel arapası ile bulusan L.A. Galaxy'li Donovan'ın farkı 2'ye çıkarması çok kolay oldu.

Bu ana kadar Amerika için tek kötü yan defanstan bir elemanlarını daha 10. dakikada sakatlık yüzünden değiştirmek zorunda kaldılar. Donovan'da yarının sonlarına doğru aptalca bir sarı kart görünce -ki sanırım skor zaten 2-2 olmuştu o arada- ilerleyen dakikalarda orta saha ve savunma dirençleri iyice düştü diyebiliriz. İkinci yarı aynı performansda devam eden Meksika'ya karşı koyamayan Amerika maçı ve finali kendi evinde belkide binlerce kaçak göçmenin önünde kaybetti. Maçtan sonra kaç tanesi toplanır bilinmez, ülkeden atılsalar bile bi yol bulup yine gelen Meksika'lıların şu saatten sonra Gringo'lara koydukları için hiç bir şeyin umurlarında olduğunu sanmıyorum doğrusu.

Sahaya baktığımızda epey kaliteli oyuncular vardı. Meksika'da şu an Red Bulls'da olan Rafa Marquez, ManU'dan "Chicarita" Hernandez, herkesin yine yakından tanıdığı, milli maçtan milli maça ortaya çıkan Giovanni Dos Santos ve Amerika tarafında Britanyada top koşturan Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey ve Jermain Jones gibilerinin yanına monte edilmiş Rizesporlu Adu göze çarpan isimlerdi. Gözlerim bursalı Altidore'u da maç boyu bekledi ama ya sakattı yada hocaları onun yerine New York Red Bulls'un genç yıldızı ve hatta bir sonraki Altidore diye lanse edilen Agudela'yı oyunun sonlarına doğru sahaya sürdü.

Taktiksel anlamda bakıpda anlayabildiğim kadarıyla, hızlı kanat adamları, -ki Dos santos resmen döktürdü bu gece- ve araya atılan pasları leblebi gibi toplayan Hernandez'e karşı maç boyu çözüm üretemeyen Amerika Birleşik Devletleri teknik ekibi bence 2-0'dan maçı vererek böylesine bir finalde kendi infazlarını gerçekleştirmiş oldular diyebiliriz. 2 farklı öndeyken bile bir türlü ileride çoğalamamaları belkide bir 3. gol ile maçı bitirememelerine neden oldu. 3-2 geriye düşünce yaptıkları suni baskı bir iki pozisyon getirsede, Dempsey'nin direkte patlayan şutu adeta bugün olmayacak dedirtti.

İki ülkenin devamlı yaşadıkları sorunlar neticesinde maçları her daim çok çekişmeli olmuş ve zaman zaman çok sert olmaya müsait pozisyonlar doğmuştur. Maçın sonlarına doğru ben bu maçın karakolda biteceğini düşünürken maç bitti ve akılda kalan Dos santos'un harika golü oldu. Kupa törenini izlemeden bu postu attığım için şu anda kan gövdeyi götürmüşde olabilir, bir haberim yok açıkçası...

Uzun lafın kısası "Sensiz geçen günlerin" derken şu maçlarla kendimizi avutuyoruz. Yarına da River Plate'in küme düşmemek için son ama son şansı olan Belgrano maçı var. Bakalım onlar 2-0'ı çevirebilecekler mi? Ardındanda Almanyadaki Bayanlar Dünya Kupası var, derken sezon açacağız ve tekrar nefes almaya başlayacağız inşallah...

Kırmızı Forma Polemiği

2011-06-23T20:46:00.006-04:00

Bu konuda iki kamp var. Bir taraf rengimiz siyah ve beyazdır, kırmızı forma isteyen gidip cincondan giyinsin diyecek kadar cüretkar. Diğer grup ise armamızda anlı şanlı milli bayrağımızı taşırken nasıl olurda kırmızı formanın bu denli dışlanabildiğine anlam veremiyor.

Beni bilen zaten biliyor da ben yinede baştan yazayım, bana kalsa her sene bir kırmızı forma çıksın isterim.

Sadece Çarsı grubunun her zamanki gibi pratik ve atik zekası ile yarattığı "erkek adam renkli takım tutmaz" söyleminin peşine takılan bu retçi güruhun artık bu huyundan vazgeçmesi lazım. Tabi bir kere bu laf çıktı, yolumuzdan dönersek alem bize ne der diye sert tavır takınanların sayısı bir hayli fazla. Zaten kırmızı forma istemezüük diyenlerin esas kökeni buradan geliyor.

Halbuki kendine bile karşı olan Çarşı'nın da bu hatasını anlaması ve bu kırmızı forma karşıtlığına son verecek yeni bir zeka ürünü söylem yada slogan bulması gerek. Çünkü Beşiktaş kırmızı rengi bu ülkede milli takımdan sonra en çok hakeden klüptür. Bunun sebebi ise zaten armasında gizli. Peki o bayrak o armaya nasıl kondu? Bunu hiç düşündünüz mü? Pek çoğunuz elbet biliyorsunuz da, bilenlerin bilmeyenlere anlatmasından sonra bile arta kalanlar için yineleyelim. Milli takımı bir maçta tek başımıza temsil hakkı verildiği için bu bayrak bize layık görüldü. Tam tarihini ve detaylarını öğrenmek isteyenler, Metin Tekin'in deyimiyle o efsaneyi açıp bir araştırsınlar, karşılarına koltuklarını kabartacak bu belgeler elbet çıkacaktır.

Sırf bu yüzden bile kırmızı renk ve kırmızı forma Beşiktaş'ın vazgeçilmez bir parçası olmalı. Nasılki başka cumhuriyetlere karşı Türkiye Cumhuriyeti'ne hoşgeldiniz diyorsak, bu toprakları toprak yapan bu al renge en başta sahip çıkan da bizler olmalıyız. Ecdadlarımız Milli takımımıza sahip çıkarak bu görevi yerine getirmişler. Bize düşen ise bunu hem unutmamak, hem unutturmamaktır. Her daim bahsedilen duruş'un bir parçası da budur.

Yoksa Q7 gelmiş, Guti gitmiş, Forlan olmamış... Bunların hepsi gelip geçici şeyler. Eğer bizim eski tüpçü, yeni otelci 5 sene sonra klübü tamamen satın alıp ismini değiştirmezse, değişmeyecek yegane sey Beşiktaş'tır.

Kırmızı formaya sahip çıkmak boynumuzun borcudur.

İsim Babası

2011-06-21T22:57:00.002-04:00

Bloglar aleminde Eser Gökulu'yu tanımayan pek azdır herhalde. Buradan kendisine selam olsun tekrardan. Bugün ismi Sergen olup da zannımızca Beşiktaşlı olmayan biri hakkından twitleşirken, konu isim babalarına geldi. Hazır Babalar günüde yeni geçmişken bu isim babası konusunda bir post atalım dedik.

Eser'in isim babası Eser Özaltındere imiş. Hani şu galatasaraylı meşhur kaleci ve son zamanlarda kaleci antrenörlüğü mesleğini hem galatasarayda hemde milli takımlarda yapmış olan meşhur Eser. Hikayesi nedir, nasıl bu isim ona verilmiş açıkçası 140 haneli twitter'da bunu anlatmaya fırsatı olmadı. Belki buradan yorum kısmında bizimle bu konuyu paylaşır.

Bugün ona da belirttiğim gibi benim bir kuzenim var, galatasaraylı. Babasından, yani dayımdan geçti doğal olarak. Dün gibi hatırlıyorum, bir lig maçı esnasında ilk golü atanın ismini oğluma vereceğim diye adak adamıştı. Az kalsın Mapeza oluyordu, top direkten döndü. Sonradan Hakan Şükür attı da bizim kuzen yırttı...

Daha başka bildiğim ve hatırladığım Metin Tekin'in ismini Metin Oktay'dan aldığıdır mesela...

Ha, benim isim babam mı? Benimkisi Rahmetli Barış Manço, nur içinde yatsın. Sizlerde eğer sizin yada tanıdıklarızın bu isim babası hikayeleri varsa yorum kısmında paylaşabilirsiniz. Şu, "sensiz geçen günlerin" birinde hoşsohbet bir iki anı olur hepimize.

Rıdvan Dilmen'e Soru Sorsaydınız?

2011-06-20T21:08:00.002-04:00

Ne sorardınız?...

Hani ortada henüz bir fol yada yumurta minvalinden bir durum yok ama olurda bir sürpriz gerçekleşirse belki bu hafta sonu yada önümüzdeki hafta amatörce yapımcılığını üstlendiğim Batı Yakası programına konuk alabiliriz kendisini. Bu konudaki çalışmalarımız sürüyor. Lakin, hazırlıklı olmak lazım tabiki, bende buna istinaden diledim ki acaba aranızdan hakikattende Rıdvan Dilmen'e sormak istediğiniz ilginç yada herhangi bir soru varsa belki sizin adınıza bunu dile getirme şansım olabilir. Bu açıdan simdiden böyle bir post açmayı uygun gördüm. Sorularınız veya iletmek istediğiniz bir yorumunuz varsa, buyrun yorum kısmına diyorum...

Babalar Günü Kutlu Olsun

2011-06-19T14:54:00.003-04:00

Baba Hakkı'nın, Baba Hüsnü'nün, Baba Recep'in ve diğer tüm babaların, babalar günü kutlu olsun...

Muhammed'i Satanı Bizde Satarız!

2011-06-14T23:29:00.002-04:00

Bir insan 7'sinde ne ise 70'inde de o dur diye boşuna dememişler. Bunca senedir türlü rezilliklerine şahit olduğumuz Demirören yönetiminin, bir senedir dünya yıldızlarını getiriyorum bahanesine gösterdikleri sahte performans en sonunda bugünkü haberle patlamıştır.

Koskoca Beşiktaş klübünün zengin başkanına neredeyse 100 milyonluk bir borcu varken, 2 milyon Euro'ya mı muhtaç kaldı da bu çocuğun geleceği vadeli olarak kırdırıldı? Defalarca yazdık, yine yazacağız. Son seçimlerden sonra klübe üye olun diye buradan çağrı yaptık. Kombine alacağınıza klübe üye olun ve oyunuzu bu adamdan kurtulmak için kullanın dedik. Üzerinden 1.5 sene geçti halen daha geç değil yani. Bir kurutmadığı özkaynak düzeni vardı, maşallah orayada el attılar sonunda.

Amatör branşlar, iflas.

A takım gestifute'nin kucağında.

Başkan portekiz'de otel peşinde.

Muhammed'in geleceği, satılık.

Ey Sinan Vardar, senin sesin niye çıkmıyor? Altyapı sorumsuzusun ya, ne oldu dilin mi tutuldu?

Yoksa banka hesabın mı kabardı? Bir ses et de bizde bilelim...

Muhammed'i satanı bizde satarız. Bu kadar basit...

Resim Kaynak: Burası Kapalı

Beleştepe 1971

2011-06-14T23:14:00.003-04:00

Sevgili İbrahim Akyol abimin gönderdiği çok güzel bir Beleştepe görünümü... Hakikatende nerede o eski günler dedirtecek cinsten.

Çıksın Artık Bu Sene

2011-06-12T22:22:00.002-04:00

Valla hangisi olursa olsun farketmez, bu sene bir kırmızı forma çıksın artık. Gerçi kulağıma yeni bir nostalji çıkaracaklarmış diye fısıltılar geliyor şöyle tamamen bembeyaz gibi ama tam teyitli değil henüz... O da olsun ama kırmızı da çıksın artık. Söz iki tane alacağım.

Kadro Derinliği mi, Kadro Şişkinliği mi?

2011-06-12T17:13:00.007-04:00

Geçtiğimiz haftalarda yeni sezonun ve olabilecek transferlerin heyecanı ile burada bir kaç alternatif 11'i sizinle paylaşmıştım. Pek tabiki o alternatiflerdeki isimlerin bazıları takıma dahil olmadı, hatta aramızdan ayrılanlar oldu. Şu an itibarı ile, kadronun son halini aşağıdaki görselde betimlemeye çalıştım.

Beyazlar ilk 11.

Sarılar 2. alternatif isimler.

Kırmızılar 3. alternatif isimler.

Siyahlar 4. alternatif isimler.

Turkuaz 5. alternatif isim. (Muhammed Demirci)

Gördüğünüz gibi ilk bakışta baya bir kadro derinliği olduğu görülsede, aslında bariz bir şekilde bir şişkinlik söz konusu. Hatta bu tabloda yer almayan, ve gitti gözüyle baktığım Fink, Holosko, Ferrari ve Tabata gibi isimlerde halen kadroda maaşlı elemanlar olarak yer alıyorlar bunuda not düşelim.

Yukarıdaki tabloya göre 10 adet yabancı oyuncu meşhur 6+2+2 kuralını doldurmuş durumdalar. Buna rağmen belli mevkilerde kadro derinliğinin tam anlamı ile oluşması için ikinci yada üçüncü alternatiflerin takımda yer alması gerekmekte. Bu mevkilerin en başında tabiki Kaleci pozisyonu var. Buradaki soru işareti, Mersin'e giden Hakan Arıkan'ın yerine gelecek olan oyuncumuz için. Yine 3 kulvarda mücadele edecek olan takımın koca sezon iki kaleci ile yola devam etmesi düşünülemez herhalde. Bu mevkiye şu ana kadar isimleri geçen Sinan Bolat, Serdar Kulbilge veya Korcan dışında Umut Kaya'nın da ismi pekala yazılabilir.

Yine açıkça görüleceği üzere hem yukarıdaki tabloda hemde takım çizelgesinde ağırlık yapan yegane mevki defans hattı. Sol taraftan başlarsak, Köybaşı'nın yerine halen adam akıllı bir alternatif oyuncu bulunmadığını görüyoruz. Tamam Egemen burada iki-üç maç idare etti, tamam Tanju'nun hem sol hemde sağ tarafta oynadığı söyleniyor ve yine tamam Doğukan altyapıdan bir başka alternatif olarak sunulabilir ama dedim ya adam akıllı bir alternatif maalesef yok.

Uzun zamandır, sağ bek sağ bek diye yırtınan bir topluluk var ve bunu birazda transfer sezonunun hemen basında ortaya atılan Maicon ismine bağlıyorum. Bu bölgede oynayabilecek pekala çok iyi kalibrede oyuncularımız var. Burada ilk tercih olarak Toraman'ı yazmış olsamda aslında Hilbert ile de başlanılabilir, nede olsa şu tabloya göre ilk 11'de 5 yabancı gözüküyor. Ha illa Guti ile başlanırsa, o zaman Toraman'a dönülebilir, hatta ve hatta Ekrem Dağ bile kendine forma şansı bulabilir diye düşünüyorum. Ama bana sorarsanınz kendini bulmuş bir Rıdvan Şimşek, buranın değişmez elemanı olabilir. Nedense bana bizim Recep'in hücumcu versiyonunu hatırlatıyor hep. Bu yüzden bu bölge bence geçer not almış durumda. Keşke Ekrem'in sözleşmesi alelacele yenilenmeseydi ama belkide şu takımdaşlık olayında vede özellikle Avusturya'dan gelen yeni gurbetçilerin kolay ısınmasını sağlamak için bile takımda tutmuş olabilirler.

Gelelim stoperlere. Aslında buradaki olası kombinasyonları ve permutasyonları sıralamaya kalksak bu postun satırları buna yetmez. Bana göre yeri en sağlam olan oyuncu Ersan. Onun yanına gelecek isimleri ise baya bir rekabet bekliyor. Egemen, Toraman, yeni transfer Sidnei, eski toprak Sivok, aşağıdan gelen gençler burayı baya zorlayacaklar. Hadi Furkan'ı ve Sezer'i kiraladığımızı düşünelim, yine elde bu mevkide oynayabilecek 6 oyuncu mevcut. Allah kazadan beladan korusun ama istikrarın öneminin görüldüğü bu mevkide şansı biraz dönen ikilinin burayı bir daha bırakmayacağını düşünüyorum. Sürpriz bir ikili kimseyi yanıltmasın. Parlatılacak olan Sidnei ve Atınç gibi... Ki bu ikilinin uzun boyları Almeida ve Bébé'nin boyları ile birleşince boğaz köprüsünün 4 ayağıda ortaya çıkmış oluyor. Geriye kalan bu köprüyü iyi kullanabilecek Guti gibi Fernandes gibi adrese teslim pasörlerin sahada iyi performans sergilemeleri.

İstikrardan bahsetmişken, herhalde geçen yıldan bu yana değişmeyen tek topluluk, çift ön liberoda oyanacak olan dörtlü. Benim tercihim Aurelio ve Ernst'e nazaran daha genç ve dinamik olan Necip ve Fernandes'ten yana. Ama Koch'un gelişi ile eski kurtlarında fiziki performansları coşar mı bilinmez. Belki ligin ikinci yarısına doğru bu olabilir, nitekim daha yaşlı oyuncuların daha geç form tuttuğuna dair söylemler her daim mevcut. Pekala en sorunsuz bölge burası diyebiliriz.

Gelelim kadronun en derin, yada bir başka görüşle en şişkin olan bölümüne, yani forvet arkası pozisyonuna. Herkes ilk Guti'yi tahtaya yazsa da ben Pektemek diyorum, hem daha golcü kimliğinden hemde kontenjanı rahatlatıp maç içerisinde daha rahat hamle yapabilme imkanı sağladığından. Simao'yu da bu bölgede oynayabilenler listesine dahil edersek -ve Tabata'nın daha evvel belirttiğimiz gibi gittiğini farzedersek- burada tam 6 isim mevcut. Tabiki en şanslıları Guti ve belirttiğimiz gibi Pektemek. Peki onların alternatifleri ne kadar kaliteli yada hazır? Onur, Veli ve hatta Muhammed olası sakatlık yada cezalı olma durumlarını nasıl doldurabilirler orası tam bir muamma. Tabiki Forlan olsaydı kimse karşı çıkmazdı, ama Pektemek için en hayırlısı belkide buydu.

Kanatlara, yani en güçlü göründüğümüz yere gelirsek, tabiki Simao ve Q7'nin yerleri tahtada ilk sıraya yazılacak isimler olacaktır. Her ne kadar Simao'nun göreceli olarak defansa hemşehrisinden biraz daha fazla yardım ettiğini bilsek bile, ikisininde defansif özellikleri hemen hemen yok denecek kadar az. Bu durum daha çok gol atmak isteyen bir takım için gayet doğal ve kendi kişisel tercihim olarak tek farklı galibiyetler yerine her zaman 3 gol yiyip 5 gol atma taraftarı olsamda Denizli tarafı daha ağır basacak olan Tayfur genelde daha defansif bir kadro ile takımı sahaya sürecek gibime geliyor. Nede olsa hücum maç kazandırır ama defans şampiyonluk getirir, değil mi? Neyse fazla dağıtmayalım, orta özürlü olduğunu duyduğumuz ve hayatının tam bir roman olduğu söylenen nurtopu gibi bir Bébé'miz oldu sonunda. Bir önceki paragrafta belirttiğim gibi Simao'nun içeri kaydığı pozisyonlarda Bébé pekala kanatta iyi bir alternatif olabilir. Ama Burak Kaplan için ne diyebiliriz pek bilemiyorum doğrusu. Çokça methiyeler duymak başka şey, gözle görmek çok daha başka şey. Bu yüzden -eğer daha evvel yazmışsa affola- Borges'ten iyi bir referans bekliyorum doğrusu. Q7 ve Simao'nun iki kanattada oynayabildiklerinden yola çıkarak bu bölgeye en az bir ilave daha yapılması taraftarıyım. Buradaki soru işareti ondandır. Kim olabilir derseniz, aslında önce takım içinden bu bölgeye devşirilebilecek bir isim aradım ama bir türlü olduramadım. Sağ taraftan belki Rıdvan, belki Hilbert olabilir ama sol taraf için bir alternatifsizlik söz konusu. Egemen yada Tanju sol beke geçip İsmail ileri atılırsa orası ayrı tabi, ama o zamanda önler iyi ama arkalar ı-ıh tadında olabilir, bunu iyi düşünmek lazım.

İleri uçta Almeida ve Mehmet Akyüz gözüküyor. Mehmet çokda genç bir isim değil doğrusu. Geçen sezon Bank Asya'da 15 gola yakın bir istatistiği var. Benzer bir rakam da Almeidada var ama o yarısını Bundesliga'da diğer yarısını da STSL ve ZTK'da attı. Yani Mehmet için ak koyun kara koyun bu sezon belli olacak gibi. Eline ne kadar şans geçer, nasıl kullanır bunu şimdiden bilemeyiz ama bildiğim tek gerçek bu mevkiye en az Almeida kadar kaliteli bir ismin daha alınması gerektiği. Nasıl ki 3 kulvarı iki kaleci ile götüremezsiniz aynı şekilde iki forvetle de bu iş yürümez. Eğer ilerleyen haftalarda Fink, Ferrari, Holosko ve Tabata'nın durumları kesinleşirse ve buna ilave olarak Hilbert ile yollar ayrılırsa, işte o zaman iyi bir forvet alınmalıdır. Ki şu saydığım isimlerin çoğu gitti diyebiliriz. Sadece Tayfur hocanın iyi bir forvet için feda edeceği bir isim var mı, yok mu onu ilerleyen günlerde daha açık ve seçik anlayacağız gibime geliyor.

Nobre'nin, Bobo'nun, Hakan Arıkan'ın, Erhan Güven'in, Nihat'ın yolları açık olsun. Aynı şekilde Fink, Ferrari, Holosko ve Tabata'nın da öyle. Şu halde 9 ismin gittiği ve zaten bizden sayılan Fernandes ve Ersan harici 8 yeni ismin katıldığı takımın, takım olabilmesi için çok iyi bir kamp dönemi geçirmesi gerekiyor. Bakalım Avusturya'nın Alplerinden bu sene ne keramet çıkacak?

Gelenler Gidenleri Aratmasın

2011-06-12T15:14:00.004-04:00

Şu an itibarı ile Holosko ve -her ne kadar Adalı'nın kesin açıklamasına rağmen- Sivok'un durumlarının da sallantıda olduğunu varsayarsak son şampiyon kadrodan kalanların sayısı bir elin parmaklarını ancak geçer durumda... İyi mi, kötü mü siz karar verin.

+1

2011-06-12T15:02:00.002-04:00

Yada altına imzamı atarım mı diyelim, hangisi uyarsa artık...

Şeref Bey'e gidiyoruz.

2011-06-10T23:48:00.003-04:00

Ah be Mendes

2011-06-10T23:35:00.002-04:00

Çakacaksan bari Oliveira'yı çaksaydın... Gelecek vaadeden dedin, genç dedin... Diye diye bu mu çıktı derler adama?

Hadi ismi biraz sempatik, başkada bir numarası yok gibi bu Bébé'nin. Şimdiden başlıkları görebilmekde cabası. "Bebelere balon!", "Be-Be-Beşiktaş!", "Bebe or not be!" sadece akla ilk gelen birkaçı...

Bir önceki postu yazarken ne kadarda umutlanmıştık oysa. Kimbilir belkide Şairler Park'ının belirttiği gibi tarih tekerrür eder ve bu çocuk ikinci bir Ferdinand olur başımıza. Yani dolu tarafından bakmaya çalışıyoruz ama biraz zorlanıyoruz işte. İyi olan adamı niye bıraksınki her daim geviş getiren Sir Alex? Ha, Kleberson'uda biliriz oradan gelen, Johnsen'ide biliriz onlara giden orası ayrı. Ama bu çocuk? Çok bilinmeyenli bir denklem açıkçası. Artık klasik bir hal aldı ama yinede yazacağım, bekleyip göreceğiz.

Nelson Oliveira vs. Cícero Semedo

2011-06-09T21:48:00.006-04:00

Nelson Miguel Castro Oliveira. 91 doğumlu Portekiz'in genç yeteneklerinden. Ülkesinin genç milli takımlarının hepsinde boy göstermiş, ve son olarak Toulon'daki turnuvada U21 takımında da forma giymiş. Benfica'nın topçusu olmasına rağmen tecrübe kazansın diye önce Rio Ave, sonrada Paços de Ferreira takımına kiralanmış. 1.86 boyunda, yani nerden baksan Almeida'ya yakın bir boy uzunluğu var. Hani ona eşlik edebilecek türden.

Cícero Casimiro Sanches Semedo. 86 doğumlu olan bu arkadaş, Braga'nın altyapısından yetişip, bizim Bôbô gibi Ocak ayı transfer döneminde gittiği Dinamo Moskova'da 3 sezon geçirip yine bir Ocak ayında Portekiz'e geri dönmüş. Bu sezon Rio Ave takımında 10 küsur maçta forma giysede hiç golü yok. Zaten kariyeri boyunca tek iyi geçirdiği sezon bir evvelki yıl, lig ve kupada toplam attığı 9 gol ile Oliveirense takımındayken gerçekleşmiş. Ondan evvelki sezonda ise hiç oynamamış, muhtemelen bir sakatlığı söz konusu olabilir, araştırmak lazım. Bu arkadaş da 1.88 boyunda ve alt kategorilerdeki Milli takımlarda pek sanş bulamamış.

Bu iki ismi karşılaştırdığınızda, elbetteki Nelson Oliveira daha ağır basıyor. Hem genç oluşu, hemde milli takımlar seviyesinde sürekli şans bulması kumaşının kaliteli olmasını hemen belli ediyor. Kontratı 30 haziran 2011'de bitiyor yani 2 hafta kadar sonra serbest kalacak. Transfermarkt'a göre su anki piyasa değeri 1M Euro civarında. İsmi ünlü filozof Cicero ile çağrısan ama meslek olarak futbolcu olup günümüzde yaşayan arkadaşın ise ne kontratta olduğu belli değil. Değer olaraksa Nelson'un 3'te 1'i kadar, yani 300 bin euro civarı.

Nerden çıktı şimdi bu isimler? Gestifute desem hemen anlarsınız... Bu iki arkadaşda Jorge Mendes'in Gestifute'sine bağlı. İkiside santrafor. Birisi genç ve gelecek vaadeden, diğeri ise ne olduğu yada ne olacağı belli değil. Hani önünüze gelen bir menü tarzı hangisini seçersiniz deseler, 10 kişiden 9'unun kimi seçeçegi belli zaten.

Ne diyelim o zaman, Nelson Oliveira hayırlı olsun diyelim mi? Bu tür bir kurgu yapmak için müneccim olmaya gerek yok sanırım. Noat'ın Jorge Mendes bataklığı isimli yazısından sonra, Gestifute'nin elindeki forvetlere baktım. Sadece 3 isim var ve Almeida zaten bizde. Diğer ikisinide yukarıda kısaca anlatmaya çalıştım.

Bekleyip göreceğiz, Forlan mı, Eto mu, Berbatov mu, yoksa bildiğin gelecek vaadeden ve Almeida'ya partner olabilecek Nelson Oliveira mı?

Tebrikler Çocuklar

2011-06-05T16:54:00.002-04:00

Kadrosunda Furkan Şeker ve Sezer Özmen'inde bulunduğu U19 Millileirimiz 20 Temmuz - 1 Ağustos arasında Romanya'da düzenlenecek olan Avrupa Şampiyonasına katılmayı Almanya'yı 1-0 yenerek ve gruplarını lider tamamlayarak hak etmişler. Emeği geçenlere şimdiden tebrikler ve teşekkürler edelim.

7 Ağustos'ta başlayacak olan yeni sezon hazırlıklarına demekki Furkan ve Sezer katılamayacak, ama bizim takım için çok büyük eksiklik olurmu bunu sezonun ilerleyen zamanlarında göreceğiz.

Sadece 25.000 Papel

2011-06-05T16:24:00.003-04:00

Evvel gün bizim kızı New York'un meşhur oyuncakçısı olan FAO Schwartz dükkanına götürdük. Hani şu "Big" filminde Tom Hanks ve patronunun üzerinde zıplayarak çaldıkları piyanonun olduğu dükkan. Dükkan dediğime bakmayın, basbaya 3 katlı devasa bir mağaza aslında, ağız alışkanlığı iste.

Tabi kızınız olunca illaki barbie bebeklerinin olduğu reyona uğramadan olmuyor. Şansa bu sefer futbol ile alakalı birşey yapmayı da akıl etmişler. İki tane langırt masasını arka arkaya birleştirip pembeye boyayınca al sana bir barbie langırt masası olmuş... Sadece 25.000 dolarlık bir fiyat var üzerinde, meğersem dünya üzerinde sadece 10 adet yapmışlar. Gerçi taktiksel olarak hata var masada, 2-5-3 düzeninde iki takımda ama o kadarda kusur olsun değil mi ama?

Haa, piyano mu? O piyano'ya 250.000'lik bir fiyat koymuşlar, yani bir ferrari ile onun arasında bir tercihte bulunabilirsiniz...

İcraatın içinden

2011-06-05T16:15:00.004-04:00

Amatör branşlar hem bu sene ve belkide ilelebet nanay...

Stada kazma ancak ve ancak, en iyi ihtimal seneye vurulur...

Başkana borç devam edecek...

Vesaire, vesaire...

Amaaan boşverin canım bir yıldız daha kesin geliyormuş, mühim olanda o değil mi zaten? Forlan mı, Eto mu? Klose mi, Berbatov mu? Siz bunları düşünün, diğerleri sizin işiniz (haddinize) değil çünkü...

Bu Sene Ayaga Kalkma Zamanı!

2011-06-05T09:30:00.003-04:00

Allah nazarlardan saklasın, bu sene sakatlık belası olmasın basımızda...

2010-2011 Görsel Kronoloji

2011-06-04T01:23:00.002-04:00

Bu sezon yapılan 57 maç ve buna ilaveten gelişen önemli olayları tek kare halinde betimlemek istedim. Son altı karede herhangi bir sıra yok, sadece sezonun iz bırakan resimleri var. Sol üst köşeden itibaren ise oynanan ilk maçtan son maça kadar kronolojik bir dizin var. Orjinal hali 5000 pixel genişliğinde ve 3500 piksel yüksekliğinde. Blogger orjinalini gösterir mi bilemem ama, biraz daha büyüğünü Flickr'da şuraya ekledim. Tam halini isteyenler bana mesaj atıp mail adreslerini verirlerse kendilerine yollarım. İyi seyirler.