Thursday, August 30, 2007

As predicted by Gulay

Evening all, Husband here

Finally a game with atmosphere with a relatively full Ali Sami Yen creating the correct atmosphere for playing football.

Relatively easy win with the only low spot being the penalty which gave Slaven a sniff but not much more. After tonights performance I do wonder though how long Arda will remain at the club as he showed the talent he has especially for the first goal.

Kayseri also won so thats 4 teams through, only Trabzon not making it but then who cares about Trabzon.

Besiktas must be licking their lips at the prospect of Liverpool coming to town but I am sure the Istanbul plod are having serious brown trouser mode.

Anyway, better go and gove Gulay a hand with the nipper........bath time

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Damn the torpedoes.....

So two Turkish teams in the group stages of the Chimps League and will discover their fate tomorrow.

I was predicting that Besiktas would make it as they had the away goal and were playing not a particularly strong team in FC Zurich but I was far from confident for the Kadikoy mob and was hoping they would get eliminated but it was not too be.

Having said that I am glad we have two teams in the next round and hope Besiktas make it out of the group so we get more UEFA points and more spots next year, but that is the extent of my gladness.

Tomorrow its the "most successful Turkish Team in Europe's" turn to strut their stuff and for once I think there may be a crowd at the stadium although if we are playing at the Olympic stadium they may as well stay at home for the atmosphere that place does not have....with the performance in the last couple of games plus two away goals I am moderately confident but as Sir Alex once famously said " Footbah.....bloody hell!!!"

Sad to see Ole Gunnar Solskjaer retire, from what I understand a genuinely nice guy and the sort of sub that even of he did not score scared the opposition enough to let somone else score and who can forget Barelona 1999....who put vhe ball in the Germans net........

Sunday, August 26, 2007

3 more points in the bag....

Galatasaray 1-0 Ankaragucu.

So that another three points in the bag depiste playing in fromt of an empty Ali Sami Yen, well almost empty. Fatih Terim and a couple of other self important types had been allowed ion to watch the form team of the Turkish Super Lig.

Super goal from Lincoln on 22 minutes won the game.

1-0 was kind on Ankargucu though, on another night Umit could and should have had a couple instead of being carried off following a pathetic body block by some long haired girly type named Emre.

Here is the team.

Orkun, Uğur, Servet, Song, Volkan, Ayhan, Sabri, Lincoln, Arda, Hakan, Ümit

Similar team to last week with just Lincoln coming back after injury. And again a team with only 2 foreigners in the starting 11. Even the three second half substitutes were Turkish. I tell you the youth set up and some good transfers are starting to produce a good squad of players instead of relying on foreign imports at the end of their careers. Of course this could all change through the season but right now its the story.

Even Man Yoo won today, Lincoln obvioulsy having seen the game as he scored with a similar goal to Nani.

All in all a bad weekend for the second city with none of the teams winning. Looks like it will be a long hard season with no water....

Ready for an easy evening...

Beer......check
Cigarettes....check
Matchsticks( in case of falling asleep).....check
Three points ....check
Sad Kankas......check....


Must be ready for the match then....

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Played 2 won 2

Thats the second match out of the way and a competent performance brought a 1-0 victory away at Bursa. Injuries and rotation forced Feldkamp to field a team without Linderoth or Lincoln and with only one foreign player, Song in the lineup and one on the bench. I have to say that is encouraging as some of the younger Turkish players performed quite well. So much for the 6+1 rule........Actually the important thing is that despite playing two different line ups both managed to win with arguably the less experienced team turning out at Bursa today. Over the season that could be important but I am fairly sure that Feldkamp knows his strongest 11 and arguably may not yet have played it....

Here is the starting 11

Orkun, Uğur Uçar, Song, Servet, Volkan Yaman, Sabri, Mehmet Güven, Ayhan, Arda, Hakan Şükür, Ümit Karan

And here are the substitutes

Aykut, Okan Buruk, Ferhat, Mehmet Topal, Ismael Bouzid, Barış Özbek, Serkan Çalık

The game was fairly tight with the best chances going to Galatasaray although Bursa could and perhaps should have equalized later in the game after Umit had opened the scoring in the 60th minute. Having said that Hakan reinforced his "Barn Door" tag and Sabri was close to joining him!!!! There was one of the clearest penalties I have never seen awarded when Umit was flattened in the penalty area, I wish Rob Styles had been the referee after his award of penalty to Chavski today for Malouda tripping over air....

Whilst not totally convinced by the team I must say I am pleasantly surprised by the performances so far and at least the tendency to give away soft goals like last season appears to have been stopped at the moment, maybe because Tomas is not playing? 6 points from 6 and no goals against is a satisfactory return and should see GS top the Lig or be there or there abouts depending on the scores from other games later today.

Actually its three wins from three if you include the UEFA cup and 1 goal against.

Friday, August 17, 2007

Away goal advantage

Here I am again, better late than never although opinions may vary on that....

Galatasaray eased to a 2-1 win, away, over the Croatian team of Slaven Koprivnica. I finally got to see the goals today because LigTV cannot show the UEFA cup games outside of Turkey......Sometimes this team make me want to swear as they do things the hard way, like going 1-0 down after 16 mins to a penalty...Anyway two away goals sets us up nicely. Basically as long as GS do not lose by more than 2 goals they are through and whilst is it is possible its not probable.

I think of all the Turkish Teams in the European competitions, FB is the one most at danger as they will only carry a 1-0 advantage to Belgium. Besiktas and Kayseri both got 1-1 draws away from home so have a precious away goal to bring home. So we could end up with no Turkish teams in the next round which would be a disaster but not surprising really. Turkish football needs a good cup run to get the juices flowing and increase the UEFA points haul so we get direct access to the later rounds and do not have to play qualifying rounds.

Cometh the weekend and GS hop across the Marmara sea to Bursa in what could be an interesting match although after last weekends performance I am expecting a victory but with the injury list already growing and including Linderoth, Lincoln, Arda and Serkan it could be a tougher game than it needs to be. Still another win would be nice.

The Husband is sweating as its the Manchester Derby this weekend and our Setanta box is not working and Fox Soccer Channel are showing the Chavski Scouse game.....could be a retreat to internet radio....

Anyway have to go and sleep, babies are wonderful but tiring.....

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Not too shabby.....

Welcome back SuperLig.

Welcome back Galatasaray and

Welcome back to winning ways.

All things considered and given the rather woeful form shown in the pre-seaon friendlies today was a good day. Yes the Lions opened up with a 4-0 win over the teamen at the empty and white elephantish Olympic stadium.

I will be the first to state that I missed the game. I watched the Trabzon Sivas bunfight and then our internet connection died!!!!!!! AArgh and I still have not seen the goals as even the official site has still not posted them and neither has Lig TV although the IBB goals are already there.

Here was the team which was expected although Tomas did not even make the bench...

Orkun, Sabri, Song, Servet, Volkan, Barış, Linderoth, Lincoln, Ayhan, Hakan Şükür, Ümit Karan

And the goals were scored by:

14' Lincoln (1-0) 72' Volkan Yaman (2-0) 77' Hakan Şükür (3-0) 84' Hakan Şükür (4-0)

All in all thats a good start, a good goal difference, 3 points in the bag and even better with the success of the other Istanbul (Ayrupa) teams.

Lets hope that it carries through to Thursday and the Uefa Cup match.

I wonder how many matches Trabzon will be paying with an empty stadium.....that was an absolute disgrace.....I mean compared to the FB GS game and at least no one was kicking supporters.......

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Ha, ha, ha

Ha, ha, ha.............

future of Turkish Soccer..........

Sunday, August 05, 2007

A win at last

So the Lions beat the might of Karsiyaka 1-0 with Barn Door Hakan actually scoring a goal.

So after drawing with Istanbul and Bolu at least it was a won. Lets just hope that performances during the real season are somewhat better.

Man Utd disposed of Chavski in the Community Shield today in a fairly competitive match. It was good to see Fat Frank Lampard have his penalty saved, if ever there is an overrated player that is one.

As for the Turkish Super Cup, I am not bothered who wins as long as it affects both clubs for the rest of the season, not very charitable you might say but I am sure that if GS were playing supporters of the two clubs in question would feel the same.

Roll on next weekend thats all I can say.

Saturday, August 04, 2007

Getting closer

So the silly season is almost over.

Transfers have been made, warm up games completed and that tingling feeling in my palms is the prospect of the first game on the 12th August against the teamen of Rize.


What a silly season it has been with some surprise departures, some solid additions and contracts getting under way for the new stadium.

The UEFA Cup draw appears kind with the Lions being drawn against Slaven Koprinicva of Croatia who I am sure will give us a game but that is a fixture I would hope we should come through. Of course Anderlecht have been handed an easy fixture and I for one am not confident of there being two or even with Besiktas poor performance one Turkish Team on the Champions League.

Its even the Charity shield in England tomorrow as well, excellent.

All that remains is to renew my webtv membership for the coming season and we are good to go.

In honor of the new season I have renamed this blog to better reflect the long standing superiority of Galatasaray over all other Turkish Clubs especially in Europe.