Saturday, July 28, 2007

New Order

Not exactly Blue Monday but what is going on at Galatasaray these days. Seems like the squad is in turmoil only a couple of weeks before the start of the season.

The recent dropping of Necati, Orhan Ak, Cihan and Hasan Kabze is on the face of it rather surprising. I would have thought there were stronger candidates for release such as Emre Asik, Okan Buruk, Hakan Sukur etc. but what do I know. I assume that GS will be looking to sell these players especially as Necati is valued at over 5m Euros and was a consistent player last season. The writing was on the wall for him though when his shirt was given to Lincoln.

Hasan Kabze never quite reached the heights expected of him and Cihan was inconsistent last season but I am surprised Orhan Ak is being released as I felt he was more consistent that Tomas and Song in the defence.

Still recruitment of new players to Turkeys most successful club should not really be a problem so I wait to see who will be brought in to supplement the strike force and who else will be leaving.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Confirmation of the real order

Thanks to Ahmet over at Turkishsoccer.com for reminding everyone of the reality of success in Turkish Soccer.

Galatasaray 18th in Europe.
Fenerbahce 77th.

Enough said.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Normal service resumes

Back again.

So Galatasaray had a good tournament in Switzeralnd winning the Obi cup. I wonder if that is linked to the Star wars character Obi Wan Kenobi, probably not but its something to consider!

Having defeated Anderlecht and the might of Young Boys Berne, who the Husband tells me he has actually seen play live in Berne many years ago, we raised the first silverware of the season. Couple of the young guys scored as well as Umit so despite the fact the teams we were playing are probably trying out hew players and just getting going that was encouraging to see.

Next up is FC Koln and the chance to use Mondragon as target practice and after that Dusseldorf and the Bochum to compete the German leg of the preseason. So far no injuries or other issues to report which is good but I cannot comment on the performances as I have not seen the games.

Latest rumour is that Morientes is going to join but I am not too excited about that as we already have a number of strikers who can score regularly and as proved at Liverpool it seems he can only score in Spain.

I guess this would fill the 6+1 quota although in this case as I say I am not sure we really need him. I think Rommedahl would have been a better bet to make sure Necati, Umit and Hasan Kabze get a good supply.

Anyway I think thats about all for now.

Monday, July 02, 2007

Nostalgia

I was reading an article on ESPN Soccernet regarding Jupp Derwal the other day following his death. One thing I had not realized was that he was the coach of Germany during the 1982 World Cup.

Whilst I remember that World Cup for one of the fastest World Cup Goals, scored by Captain Marvel aka Bryan Robson, one of the abiding memories was the assault, there really is no other word for it of the Schumacher, the German Keeper on Serge Battiston who left the filed prostrate and unconscious.

I did a quick search on youtube and found the following video clip. Of interest is the next to last one of Rustu doing a pseudo "Schumacher" on an English player in the game in Kadikoy I think when Beckham missed the penalty and Alpay contributed to International diplomacy.....I give you warning though this inlcudes the tackle by Keane on Halland which ended his career and earned Keano an 8 game ban when he admitted it was premeditated, it was bad though......and I remember he started walking immediately after the tackle and did not wait for the red card....

Anyway, click, sit back and enjoy