Hunters and collectors

Goood evening everyone.

Firstly, I just want to check something with you all. The title of this blog is Gulay, Galatasaray and the dogs. Correct so far? Good.

Galatasaray is the name of the football team I support in Istanbul. With me so far.

Now I have to use a word that I don't really like to use but here goes. The title does not include the word Fenerbahce. This means that I do not support that particular team. Therefore I am biased. Therefore I make comments in the heat of the moment. I write my matchday blogs as the game is ongoing so they are fresh, juicy and at times totally biased and one sided. That is my right after all this my blog and my place to express my OPINIONS! If you are in the You Ess of Ay check out EPL Fanzone on Fox Soccer Channel, if you do you will understand that I am in reality quite restrained!

When my team loses in the way they did on Saturday to their arch rivals I get upset with the Galatasaray players and the result and try to find a reason for the loss, the referee was biased/incompetent/blind, the opposition cheated, our kit was the wrong shade of grey (name that match and the person who uttered those words!), the players got the wrong tea at half time etc. etc.

Now according to Cagri who sent a couple of comments on some of my recent posts this means that I am making comments without knowledge, and do not understand football.

So I have to ask....

What knowledge do I need to see Nobre get Kerem sent off with a clear dive of which Klinsmann would be in awe of . What knowledge do I need to see Anelka punch the ball into the net. What knowledge do I need to see Hakan Sukur earn a penalty against Gencler. What knowledge do I need to see that Hasan Sas should have been sent off in the same game. What knowledge do I need to see that Drogba and Robben "simulate" to gain an advantage. What knowledge do I need to understand that the Bundesliga is boringly predictable, that MLS stands for must learn soccer, and that the Apetura and Clausura are more exciting this year because Boca and River are inconsistent! I could go on but I am sure you get the picture.

Just what knowledge is it that I need to be able to understand what I see with my eyes. Players dive, players feign injury to get the opposition booked or to stop play when they lose the ball. In one of my earlier posts Planet Football calling FIFA I talked about this and in my view the cowardice of FIFA in not wanting to use retrospective punishments for players who cheat to gain an advantage, because that's what it is, cheating.

In life I do not like people who cheat, I do not like corruption, I do not like liars, I do not like rich arrogant people who think money can solve all issues and makes them more important than others. A rich pig is still a pig as my husband is fond of quoting.

As for the level of violence and hatred in Turkish football and what I said about Nobre. I do not like it when players get injured, and I alluded to that in my original post on the match, but it was so ironic that after his various theatrics in the season that he gets injured when there was no-one near him. Maybe even poetic justice. Someone somewhere has a sense of humor! To be honest if he never plays in Turkey again I and I guess a lot of others would not be shedding many tears. It is not so much Nobre or the team he plays for that I have a problem with but his attitude and the way he plays the game that I really dislike. Sometimes I feel the same way about Hasan and just wish he would hurry up and reach puberty or leave Galatsaray and play for a team where his histrionics would not be so embarrassing.

By the way if you think what I said is bad you should hear what my husband as a lifelong Man Utd supporter has to say about Liverpool!

Coming soon the 6 foreigners rule and its effect on Turkish football.