Its a wrap

So its farewell to Ali Sami Yen Stadium and to a half season that we would like to forget big time. I have to say that this ha sbeen on fo the worst half seasons I have ever seen from Galatasaray, its almost like the squad forgot how to play as a team. It looked to me as if Rijkaards heart was not in it at the start of the season, after all he only had a one year contract with an option for a second, then the useless transfers made by the club can hardly have excited him. Pino has proven to be okay without being able to score, Cana has been okay, Misimovic a disaster and Insua was a panic buy.

I have to say that I am skeptical as to whether we will see Baros in a GS shirt again and as for Arda, make up your mind, stay or go.

Unfortunately the team is going to be weakened at the start of the season as Lucas Neil and Kewell will be wasting their time in the Asian cup. I suppose we have to get used to this as the moron Splatter and his money grubbing, corrupt bunch of bank account fattening thieves have decreed that the world cup in Qatar should occur in the winter.

Personally I hope the major Football associations tell Fifa to fuck off but I cannot see it happening.....I mean seriously, lets change everything so we can have a World Cup in a homophobic, jihadist towel head state.....wonder how many tickets Jack Warner is going to make a profit off selling on the black market.......

Anyway I seriously hope that Hagi is able to kick some spirit into the squad and that a couple of new faces are brought in to freshen things up for the second half of the season..

Transfer and corruption

Transfer: Elano has been transferred to Santos for the huge sum of $2.9m. Oh well it was fairly obvious he had lost the desire to play for Galatasaray and his body language after being substituted against Besiktas is now explained. Lets hope Misimovic follows him out and the club either trust in the younger players or buys a half decent striker.

Corrpution: When Preseident Putin is defening you then I think you have all the evoidence you need to understand just how corrupt FIFA is. I can understand up to a point why Russia got 2018. I mean its an opportunity for the country to fix some infrastructure and improve their stadiums used in the Russin Premier League. Of course the flip side is that probably 50% of the moeny will end up in the hands of the mafia and then there is the ever present threat posed by the right wing facistic skinhead supporters who will be overjoyed to have the African teams in Russia. Oh well at least the beers cheap.

But QATAR???????????? Why does a country of 1.2million need 12 soccer stadiums??????? Who wants to play in indoor air conditioned stadiums???? and given this is a Muslim country I cant wit to see what will happen when some bare chested bunch of English or Polish supporters need a beer or a shag.......oh and Qatar was implicated in a vote swap deal...

IN short FIFA prove themselves to be totally incompetent and corrupt, not that we di not know that already but the slimeballs that are on the executive committee are simply vomit inducing and really should be thrown out with Blatter........I hope now thta England did not get to host one of the events that their jouranlists catch some of these corrupt egomaniacs with either their trousers down or their hands in the till ....

What the fuck is happening to Galatasaray????

After the draw away at Kayseri last week I thought the team may be able to take that performance and build on it and win the Besiktas match. Well I was wrong, the team played badly, with the exception of Ufuk and Lucas Neill and tamely lost at home 2-1. Of course the selection of Cuneyt Cekir as the referee should have set the alarm bells ringing as he has a history of finding it hard to give decisions in Galatasary's favor and we were not to be disappointed in this match.

First off was the penalty, which was rather soft. What it did show is that Ali Turan is not quick enough to be the right back. If he was faster then he could have at least attempted the tackle outside the box but once he was committed Holosko was already heading grasswards even before the contact. So penalty???? And if that was a penalty there were at least two that should have been given to GS later in the match, especially when Kewell was taken out, but surprise, surprise none was given.

The issue I have greater problem with though was how Hilbert stayed on the pitch, after he was yellow carded he seemed to be allowed to do whatever he wanted and could not be given a second yellow even for worse tackles than the one that earned the yellow!!!!

Anyway, overall we probably did not deserve to win as we seem unable to score goals this season in the absence of Baros. Pino runs alot but is not a natural finisher as he has shown numorous times in the last few matches, and why was Mehmet Batdal even bought, he is worse than useless.

So only 3 more matches until the winter break but if this form continues we are going to be closer to the relegation positions rather than the Europe positions which would be an embarrassment after building such a nice new stadium.

I'll take the draw

Just when you thought things could not get much worse they did, so I'll take a draw this week.

After signs of improvement against FB with a 0-0 draw which we could easily have won, then a 2-1 win at home against Antalya the wheels fell off with a 2-0 loss at Trabzon and reached a nadir with a 2-0 loss at home to Manisa. This was such a bad game, only Lucas Neill emerged with any credit at all, Servet looked hopeless but he was not the only one.

So an away match at Kayseri who were second in the Lig at start of the day was not something to be looked forward to. Anyway the match was fairly even and either side could have won. In short GS played reasonably but we are desperately missing Baros. Considering we hit the post and should have had a penalty the draw was a bit disappointing but still it was not a loss. So we are now only 13 points behind Trabzon.....

Catch up

Quick recap of the last few days.

GS strolled to a 2-1 win over Antalya. Well at least it was a win and it seems like a shape for the team is finally emerging.....

Over in the US the well informed electorate voted back in the people who got them in the mess they were in before....turkeys and thanksgiving seems appropriate.

Oh and Bursa got stuffed........they have been woeful in Europe but all conquering in Turkey. What does that tell us about the standard of the SuperLig? Man Utd took them apart at will.....

Point earned

Todays 0-0 draw with FB actually felt like a win.....simply because it could have been a lot worse after the last couple of weeks.

The defence was much stronger today with Neill back in the side, someone who can actually defend and is not afraid to leave his mark on the opposition forwards either...

Pino looked lively as the lone striker, with Baros, Kewell and Arda injured I guess he was the only option and with a bit more luck could have had a couple of goals.

All in all a reasonable performance considering Hagi and Tugay only had a couple of days to get the team ready, plus they managed to extract a performance from Elano that was closer to his National team form than he has shown for a long time.

Okay we still need to start winning games but I would say that the FB fans out there should be more worried than the GS fans as GS looked more likely to win the game and created more chances.

Everyone of them is a moron

So after a shambolic display against Ankaragucu where we appeared to be playing a 0-0-11 formation with defence and marking as an optional extra, we are now left with no coach 4 days before the FB derby in Kadikoy.

Absolutely mind numbingly moronic on all levels.

It should have been obvious to all concerned that Rijkaard was not interested after the summer break and the fact that the club management managed to sign Insua (not good enough for Liverpool), Misimivic and Pino......who the f*** they are, lost Caner to FB and basically screwed up the entire summer transfer dealings, you could see from his body language that he was not happy. Add to that his personal issues and he was a resignation waiting to happen.

So well done one and all.

As for the players only Baros showed any desire on Sunday, and I felt sorry for Ufuk as time after time the defence vanished.

I am not sure anyone knows who our strongest 11 is but subject to injuries and suspensions the one below would be closest to it in my opinion:

Ufuk
Hakan Balta (out of sorts but still best LB we have)
Neill
Sarp (Servet is a lame donkey, Zan has vanished so who else?)
Sabri

Misimovic
Elano
Ayhan
Arda

Baros
Kewell.

Rubbish

After the last four excellent matches, last Friday was like a bucket of vomit being thrown on your head. A dodgy penalty and a deflection left us grasping at straws but really we should have been able to come back against this team who we beat last year in the Turkish Cup. The only good thing this weekend was that Bursa did not win.

Baros hat-trick

Bit slow in making a post this week but thats mainly because I have been busy as my father is here in the US at the moment so finding a few minutes to post has proved to be a challenge.

Anyway a much improved performance especially in the first half against IBB secured all three points. It would have been better to have kept a clean sheet as well but one goal can be tolerated. The result improved our position in the Lig and completes 4 straight wins with 8 scored and 2 against.

I guess the high point was that Baros scored a hat -trick including a penalty but I guess we will take all goals as counting, and he could and should have scored more as GS for once this season opened up a team with relative ease. We were equal on points before the match so a victory was by no means certain especially after IBB had turned over Besiktas at Iononu earlier in the season.

Most of the summer buys, excluding Ali Turan were on display. I am still not convinced about Insua but Pino looks like a good aggressive central midfielder who can complement or even replace Ayhan. Misimivic looks useful as well in the attacking midfield position, similar player to Ilic.

Not sure what Sabri and Hakan will do to get back in the team.......

WTF????????????????

Turkish football rocked after boss is stabbed six times on the touchline - by his elder brother!

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1311997/Turkish-football-boss-stabbed-touchline--brother.html#ixzz10D4INlMK

9 points in three matches

After the Old City match I mentioned there was perhaps a spark, well maybe there is, small but valid. After the International break we came back with a 1-0 win over Antep and then another 1-0 over Bucaspor a recently promoted team. Totally not pretty but three points is three points and we will take that. Temporarily we are up to 5th with the BJK/FB match today which might change that.

As I am currently in Turkey access to blog has been a tad tricky, holidays you know so hopefully we will be back on track next weekend.

A spark?

Well maybe there is life left in the old cat after all as CimBom suddenly found it within themselves to win a game. The last couple of seasons trips to Eskisehir have proved less than fruitful so I have to admit I feared the worse before the game especially after the insipid showing against Carpet Life in the Europa League.

As the first half unfolded it looked like my fears would be realized as we got ahead only to give up a soft goal. It would be easy to blame Ufuk for dropping the ball from the initial cross but given that our left back of the day was nowhere to be seen and was not tracking the Eskisehir player he had no choice but to go for it. At that point I feared the worst because the team suddenly appeared to become 11 individuals who were meeting for the first time. For a few minutes they played some of the worst football I have seen GS play for a long time and I could understand why Rijkaard was going nuts on the sideline and why Lucas Neill was screaming at everyone......Arda had as usual disappeared at this point except when he was complaining about something or other.... he really does need to leave so that his ego can be brought under control.

Anyway the second half was better and after Volkan Yaman scored for his former employers confidence appeared to return with the team playing better as the match went on and a third, scrappy, goal added by Servet.

Three points but still problems. The defense, Neill apart looks fragile. Servet seems to be missing a spark, Hakan Balta is struggling and Sabri has disappeared. The new signing Insuea will fill some gap but he hardly set the English Premier League alight with Liverpool. Midfield is looking promising with Cana, Misimivic, Elano able to bring some order to things with Mustafa Sarp and /or Ayhan to do the water carrier or Makelele role. In attack Baros continues to score with Kewell and Arda (when he can be bothered to play) adding some subtlety. Problem is that this is quite a few changes and it has to be hoped that the team gels quickly

Cheating bastards

So Bursa won again.

Volkan Sen scored. However that cheating little shit should not even have been playing after his deliberate handball last weekend. An offence that only bthe referr can explain was not worth a yellow and hence a red for second offense, even the payer knew he should be off.

Here is the effect that a shithead referee has. No red card, player gets to finish game and play the next match where he scores. Possible point swing 6 due to incompetent wanker blowing whistle.

To say I am pissed is an understatement. The only good thing is that I am waiting for Bursa to get absolutely mothered by Man Utd.

Season over already

So with the 1-1 tie against Karpaty Lviv where we allowed a team reduced to 10 men to equalize in injury time and so progress at our expense, plus the played 2 lost 2 status in SuperLig it would seem that the season is practically over. Maybe the club should focus on rebuilding the team, clear out the dross, sell Servet to anyone who will offer money for example....

And I guess we will be looking for a new coach in the very near future.

No where do we go

So the poor results continued with a 2-0 loss at home to Bursaspor.

Having said that this match was one way traffic most of the time with GS attacking and Bursa defending. I think Bursa had like three opportunities, unfortunately they scored with 2 of them although the second goal was really an own goal as without the Neill deflection Ufuk had it covered.

Not to make excuses but how was Volkan Sen not sent off. Already on a yellow card and then an absolute deliberate handball which from his reaction he knew was worth a second and hence red but somehow the useless referee failed to produce the card. As I mentioned previously its clear the refs have already been given their orders because that was an absolutely blatant piece of cheating.

Ho hum.

So next up is the Europa League....

Can it get worse.....probably

So the same result as last time in the home leg, 2-2. But this time CimBom had to rescue the match, thank goodness Baros remembers where the goal is.

What the hell is going on?

Well first thing is Arda should be left off the team, he is slow and useless irrespective of the transfer rumors, plus his big head wobbles too much when he runs.......

Frankie boy needs to get this lot motivated or he will be gone before long, or maybe that's his plan

Next up Bursa at home....I can see us being 6 points behind after only 2 matches if this garbage continues

Blaagh

So the new season opened with a trip to Sivas, the place that turned a murder and arson location into a Kebab shop...such sensitive souls.

And the new season started with failure. First half CimBom played okay and gained a 1-0 lead after only seven minutes through Sarp. For some reason the referee decided to get involved and awarded Sivas a free kick after a foul on Lucas Neill from which an own goal was scored thanks to a rather large push in the back on Ali Turan. After that it was all downhill and the referee's have obviously decided to not bother waiting until later in the season but start with the crap decisiosn from match day one.

Second half GS were poor and looked very tired, with the defense being opened up on a number of occasions.

Not sure why Baros only got 20 minutes and where was Pino? Some strange selections but there should be enough quality in the Galatasary squad to see off the likes of Sivas.

Paperwork woes

Byzantine hardly begins to describe the difficulties I have been having to acquire one of the new Turkish Passports. My old style passport expired and so I had to apply for one of the "biometric" passports deemed so essential these days.

Easy you may think. Well think again, maybe in Turkey but when dealing withe the Consulate in New York.....!!!

First step, let me check the ekonsul web site to see what it says about passport applications. Ah yes. obtain pictures, fill in forms, provide money order, return envelope and submit your application. So I did all of that and as requested included my old passport and my ID card. That was on July 12th. After hearing nothing for 3 weeks I call the "Hotline" as the consulate phone is never answered and no-one ever answers email and am told, in contradiction of what I was told previously that "Postal applications are no longer accepted and you have to make an appointment at the Consulate." Couple of questions I had, will I ever receive my documents back from the consulate so I can make the personal appointment. no idea was the reply, please call the consulate!!!!!!!!

On checking the website again I now see that as of August the 3rd there is a new notice that says "As of June 1st, appointments have to be made to process passport applications." That's useful, 2 months after this started the website is updated!!!

So I make an appointment, 1 month after I sent the documents, which by the way have still not been returned to me. I arrive promptly at 2.30 and am processed promptly at 5.30. From 2.30 to 3.15 the 6 people who are scheduled for appoint ents at 2.30 are completely ignored by thej consulate staff, in fact we are asked "What are you doing here, there are no appointments this afternoon?" All of us are attemptiong to renew our passports we reply. Oh well the passport person is not here, please rescheule your appointments we are told. Err, No we reply. Now considering that some people had driven 4 + hrs from Boston as the NY consulate serves the whole NE of the US that would be a bit of an inconvenience.

So at 4pm I am called to a window and asked for my paperwork. You still have it I tell them,, I sent it here one month ago and you have not returned it to me even though there is a prepaid envelope. One hour later they find my paperwork.

At 5.30pm we are finally called in one by one to be processed, including fingerprints.

So what now. Well they will see whether the photo I provided is okay, if not I will have to take another and make another trip to NY. After that they will contact me and ask me to resend my old passport so they can cancel that and then send me my new passport, I mean why can they not just keep my old one when I was there? All in all the process may take 3 months which is just ridiculous.

On the other hand my father just renewed his passport in Istanbul, took him three days. The difference, the Polis issue passports in Turkey not the uncivil service.......

Smooth progress

Could not watch the match but a 1-5 scoreline away rather reinforces the fact that the lads choked last week at home. Despite the pink shirts.

So after allowing two away goals CimBom remember their history and pride and cruise through. Compare and contrast to the disaster that is Kadikoy. Sack a cokehead, bring in an unproven coach, gain two away goals and then lose at home to Young Boys, a competent side but really one that should have been put away fairly comfortably. I just hope Hiddink was watching these matches so that he omits to select Volkan..... for ever.

Chokers

Once again a good start followed by crap defence........when will we ever learn...now we have to score and allow no goals....fat chance. Congrats boys looks like Europe is over for another year

Almost there

Now that the cloggers ceased clogging the dahlings we may be able to et back to some sensible and meaningful football instead of the bad tempered, cheat fest that was the WC Final. I have to say what a disgrace both theams were, the Dutch with their clogging and the Spinach with their whining, diving and constant play acting. Second half should have been a 5 a side game!!!

Oh well.

So GS continue to steamroll all before them, healthy wins against local sides and then a 4-0 effort over the future of Turkey?

Shades of last year when we rolled over everything in our path until the winter break and then.....pop went the season. Some good news, I hope, is that Kewell is staying so as long as he remains injury free that will be good news. Franco is leaving and Carrusca is leaving although I have to say I though he left a couple of years ago! Keita also left which was a surprise although I guess we need all the money we can get. Lorik Cana appears a good buy but El mago we will have to see, dont get to watch much French soccer in the US so really dont know that much about him....time will tell. I am sure this is not the end fo the transfer action, we may need a new goalkeeper although as far as I am concerned Aykut is a perfectly good keeper.

So the new season creeps closer and its looking positive, at least for now.

Musings on the World Cup

So, my last post aside and there was a significant reason for it not just a brain dead rant, the World Cup is finally showing signs of springing into life, partly for the right and partly for the wrong reasons.

I find it incredible that the French having blatantly cheated their way into the finals anyway now look like they are about to totally implode. Anelka sent home, the team refusing to train, staff resigning etc. And this was the team that FIFA preferred to have at the finals rather than the admittedly technically less proficient Irish but seriously does anyone think they would be doing worse, at least they would have been proud to have been there and represented themselves with pride and passion unlike the riff raff passing itself off as French.

The ball, nothing wrong with it as far as I can see, its just excuses. The New Zealand keeper had no trouble with it today despite all the long distance shots.

The Italians are also doing badly, drawing with Paraguay and New Zealand and to be honest their attitude sucks as well, demanding yellow cards, attempting to get players sent off and the dive for the penalty, Oscar worthy. The thing is they are only team resorting to such blatant cheating so its a bit embarrassing, but as Platini played in Italy don't expect any harsh words on this aspect of their game anytime soon.

England - enough said.

So far the so called underdogs have done a good job of upsetting the odds, Chile, Uruguay, Switzerland etc. have been well organized, and up for it. I find it amazing that people are using the long Premier League/Serie A, Primera Lig seasons as excuses for tiredness. I would imagine that more than 50% of the players on show play there and most seem to be okay.

Anyway not much has been decided except that Holland are through and Cameroon out, the only definite we know right now so who said this was a boring World Cup.....roll on the final group matches.

B*stards

Sometimes I wish all the Armenians had been killed, what a bunch of pathetic loser, traitors they are. Fuck them. That way the Kardashians would not be inflicted on us......

And yet the rest of the world takes these assholes seriously.......

Safe pair of hands

Looks like Guus will have to look for a goalkeeper with half a brain cell as he would have more intelligence than Volkan. Once again he effectively cost Turkey the match against the USA with his idiot attempt to reach the ball before Donovan. Zan had it covered so why come for a ball you have absolutely no chance of reaching.

Otherwise a good performance in a game that could have gone either way. Glad Mehmet Topal is moving to Valencas as he was rubbish when he came on.

Time to draw breath

So after a frantic finish to the season which saw CimBom sign off with two 2-1 defeats at home to Antalya and away at Gencler it was refreshing to see Bursaspor win the SuperLig. Actually it was mostly refreshing because it stopped FB from winning the League and the incorrect stadium announcement just made it better.

This was on reflection a poor end to a season that had started so well, with 7 unbeaten matches. The trio of Baros, Keita and Kewell tearing defenses apart and almost scoring for fun, but then things started to go awry, Baros and Kewell got injured, the team seemed tired and began to struggle to score and even more importantly the defense had a soft center to it. After the winter break the overall performance of the team continued on its slow descent to mediocrity, although hopes were briefly raised as Baros got back on the pitch and Kewell made a couple of cameo appearances. The winter recruits did ok except for Jo who was a waste of space, dos Santos looked like he might have a future but depends on cost. Lucas Neill was probably the best of the signings and lets hope he hangs around after the World Cup.

So now we are into the silly season, Mehmet Topal has already been sold and three players brought in. I would assume that Leo Franco will also be let go as he was generally poor during the season.

And finally I hope the board realize that the ego has got to go, Arda has turned into a spoilt, indulged prima donna with his theatrics becoming more important than his play. He was generally poor this season and really needs to work on his fitness, speed and technique and he may one day become a good player but for now he should be sent away to Italy or England for a spell to improve him as a player.

Crocodiles eat budgies and Lions

Congratulations to Bursaspor......

Fuck you all in Kadikoy......

Season wind down

A fairly boring 1-0 win yesterday at the white elephant stadium where the GS supporters comfortably outnumbered everyone connected with IBB. I actually nodded off during the second half for five minutes but I dont think I missed much. Baros once again demonstrated why we have missed him and it was good to see Kewell finally back on a pitch and playing even if it was only for five minutes. Thats about it really, Baros scored, few near misses for both sides.

Bursa and the horse thieves won as well so its all the same at the top of the SuperLig.

Split Personality

I have to say that I was not exactly sure which result I wanted today. With the horse thieves winning yesterday against Kasimpasa, no surprise there really with the Erdogan connection at work, I mean no-one seriously expected the fat whinger to leave anything to chance did they??????

A win for GS and whilst that would improve our chances it would virtually hand the championship to you know who and we don't want that to happen so a draw was in some ways the best result as the points are now 67,66 and 61 with BJK on 58. Bursa are guaranteed 3 out of the remaining 9 points as they "play" Ankara and finish with kayseri and BJK at home. The others finish Eskisheir at home, Ankargucu away and Trabzon at home. As long as GS win their remaining games we are at least guaranteed Europa League for the new stadium next season.

As for todays match its a pity Bünyamin Gezer was not the referee for the Kadikoy derbi given what he gave out yellow and red cards for today. Lets face it Lugano would not survive in a league where the referees are not bought for your teams matches and he would definitely have seen red due to his octopus antics in the box. The red cards for Neill and Zapo were ridiculous goiven what normally is allowed to happen in the SuperLig at corners. For a 0-0 draw this was a good game though with lots of attack and why of why has Aykut not been in goal all season a couple of superb saves today. On balance I think GS had the better chances but the 0-0 was probably a fair result with the whole team except for Jo having good games. Baros looked sharp and on another day could have had a couple and I hope the Board do not let him leave in the summer.

Getting tense

So GS went to Manisa, picked up a Vestel and three points and back to Istanbul.

Overall an acceptable performance although again as against Diyarbakir we seemed to switch off at about the 65/70 minute mark and gave the opposition some hope. I cant really blame Mehmet Topal as the ball hit him and went in but even so Manisa sensed an opportunity and went for it. Of course if we had converted one of the many chances that were easier to score than miss we would have been out of sight but at least we won and picked up the three points.


One way or another the top of the SuperLig will show some changes, at least from a points and played perspective as unless BJK beat FB by at least 7 goals there will be no position changes. A draw would be good as it would spread the teams out although a BJK win may actually be better for CimBom than a draw as it would put FB within one point.

I watched the Bursa match on Friday and although they won they were not excatly convincing and with having to play GS and BJK there may be a few twists and turns yet although out of the 12 points remaining they could win they already have three as they play Ankaraspor!

Better

It would be easy to say that if Baros had been fit all season that we would not be in third position in the SuperLig. It might be true but it might not be, all I know is that he has been missed as his hat-trick against an admittedly poor Diyarbakir showed. When he plays the team has a focal point, a real centre forward who is available and working for the team. The other players we tried up there this season are not really out and out goal machines like Baros, in fact at times we looked like we had no leadership in the forward line when he was not playing. So like I said it would be easy to make the assumption that if he had been fit we sould be leading the Lig.

Although CimBom won 4-1 on Sunday the overall performance was still moderate and Rijkaards constant adjustments of the team probably dont help. Since the winter break he seems unsure of his best defence and tried another version on Sunday comprising Hakan Balta, Sabri, Neill and Caner. Personally I would go for Hakan, Neill, Emre Gungor and Sabri with Caner playing in front of Hakan, but hey what do I know. These changes are not helping the team to consolidate a style or become totoally familiar with each other.

Anyway a win is a win and we moved ahead of Besiktas on goal difference and are now 5 points behind Bursa who have still to play both Besiktas and ourselves so I would not make any assumptions about the title until the last game especially as Besiktas and FB have to play each other this weekend.

Oh well

So this last couple of weeks has been disappointing for both the Husband and myself.

CimBom's loss of heart in Sivas despite scoring first and having other chances was disappointing although a draw is a draw. The last couple of matches the only player who really seems to want to win has been Lucas Neill, the others seemed somewhat apathetic. This result plus the loss to the cheats and the laz have seen us drop to fourth and in danger of not qualifiying for Europe next season. Of course we can say we have not been helped by injuries to Kewell and Baros but the quality of the bargain bin replacements has not really been there although dos Santos appears to be regaining his form.

Of course our exist from Europe and the loss to the cheats could have been prevented if we had competent referees, the handball and psycho Lugano incidents.

Anyway the match this weekend should be a chance to pick up 3 point against Diyarbakir. We also still have to play Bursa at home so if we can get the attitude sorted out there could still be some surprises at the top of SuperLig. Looking at the run in for the top 4 other than Bursa GS have a relatively easier end of seaon then FB, BJK or Bursa. Especially as the last game is Bursa vs BJK and BJK and FB still have to play each other.

Its interesting how the so called media experts consider Rijkaard should go but I have to ask it is that easy why are you sitting on your fat ass on a chair in a TV studio and not managing a team.

Why?

Why is Volkan Demirel allowed to play football?

Why is Lugano not sent off in every game?

I seriously hate all things blue and yellow right now and Cuneyt Cakir as well. This was not a game we deserved to lose and had we had some luck we would have won the game at least 2-0 based on the two penalties we should have been awarded but were not. Both events were on Giovanni and whilst the first one, the push in the corner was questionable, although if it was Alex it would have been given, the second in the third minute of injury time was a clear absolute penalty when Lugano grabbed his shirt and pulled him down. This was not Cakir's only bias against GS, I lost count of the number of time he would play advantage, realize GS were in a good position and then stop play to make them take the free kick giving FB chance to organize their defense. And why was Arda brought on, he achieved absolutely nothing.

Having said that it was a very poor pice of goalkeeping taht allowed FB to score. Cant see Franco being around next season.

So with three losses out of the last 4 matches I think we can kiss the championship good bye, after the start we had this season is turning out to be a big disappointment, of course the injury list has not helped but we should not be in fourth right now. I guess if Kewell and Baros had been fit we would not be, we would probably be looking down from the top of the Lig. The replacement players have not really performed, especially Elano and Jo.

Typical

Just when you thought GS were getting into gear for the next Super Lig title along came Eskisehir and Trabzon where we only take 3 points from 9 and suddenly Bursaspor have opened up a 5 point gap and this weekend its the Istanbul derby which now has become a must win. Bursa meet IBB who have done a good job of spoiling the big teams parties this year.

But really GS should be home and dry by now with the quality in the squad. I guess the big problem has been the injuries especially to Baros and Kewell who were both scoring freely and carving other teams up. Both are now almost back for the run in so we should improve but right now the title is Bursa's to lose although we do have to play them before the end of the season.

3 goals 3 points

As a training exercise for the run in, today was useful if not conclusive. Frankly this was a one sided match so it would be difficult to draw any useful conclusions, however it was good to see Baros get 20 minutes at the end of the match and get a goal on his restart.

Myself and the Husband watched the match at a Turkish restaurant in New York and due to the horrible weather and traffic we have been having we missed the first ten minutes so I cannot report much about Jo's first goal. I did however see the second and third goals of which Keita's was probably the better but Baros the most welcome. With Baros back and Kewell close to return it looks like we will be at or close to full strength for the rest of the season. All this and no Arda or Hakan Balta in the starting squad.

As I said a good competent performance from the team that condemns one of the second city teams to a nervous season close as they attempt to miss the drop into oblivion.

Rubbish

So its not only Henry........having said that, what rubbish.

Breathing space

All in all it was a good weekend. The Husband excavated the cars after 38inches of snow fell between Thursday and Saturday so we could actually get out and buy beer. Then Citeh beat Chavski 4-2 with 2 of the Kings Road cheaters red carded. Man Utd then won the Carling Cup and after FB lost to IBB with that fine upstanding player Alex getting a straight red card it was the turn of CimBom to see if they could, for once take advantage of the situation. The answer was a resounding yes with a 4-1 victory putting GS on top with a 5 point advantage over Brazilbahce and a 4 point lead over Bursa. However before we get too carried away we have Eskisehir next week a team that over the last couple of seasons we have not done too well against away.

Good all round performance to day and dos Santos should have had a hat-trick if it was not for Sahin in goal. Anyway he continued to play well and set up Keita for a string of chances as well. I have to say that Keita's first goal is a contender for goal of the season, what a stunning volley that was.




So as I said a good weekend.

Robbed, again

Let me see we are playing a Spanish team so we get an Italian ref who books 4 CimBom players and sends one off as well as missing a quite blatant handball that should have been a penalty.

While GS did not play that well the one eyed referee display was another shocker from so called UEFA's best, a theme that seems pervasive this season. Anyone who saw the Champions League this week and last week may also have been perplexed by some of the decisions. For example the non penalty and non red card not awarded to Chelsea against Inter when Samuel clearly took down Kalou. If these guys, and I include the Norwegian Overbro in this as he also had a shocker last week are the best then it seems like its the team who cheats and cons the referee best who will win matches. I wacth the English Premier League a lot and there from corners ther is pushing and shoving but nothing that approaches the outright dragging down we saw in the GS BJK game or the physical assault handed out to Drogba by Mourinhos team of cheats, posers and divers. Obvioulsy there are either different laws or different levels of interpretation.

Whatever these controversies are soiling the game, lets face it you don't mind losing if you are outplayed but when its the ref that hands victory over it is far far worse. And yes I know that GS have recoeved favorable calls in the SuperLig but still it is not right.

Green - my new favorite color

Bursa, the birthplace of Turkey and the home of my second favorite team.......for now!

Frustrating

Although it was good to see Jo back in action a 1-1 draw at Besiktas feels like 2 points lost rather than 1 gained. Given the injury situation at the club it was no surprise that Rijkaard started with a 4-6-0 formation. The problem was that whilst this made it difficult for Besiktas to break us down it meant that whenever the ball was played out of defence there was no real attacking threat from CimBom. I lost count of how many times Keita, Caner or Arda would receive the ball, look around and have to wait for support.

It was a surprisingly frustrating match though and one that CimBom should really have won having got their noses ahead. They probably should have been 2-0 up by then though after the very clear foul by Toraman on Topal in the penalty area. Again the frustration was apparent when dos Santos was penalized for an inoccuous tackle and Besiktas got lucky from the free kick when the clear out of Franco was not penalized and then the ball deflected in off Mehmet Topal.

Otherwise the team played quite well, Emre and Lucas Neil were solid at the back, Elano got through a large amount of work in midfield and the one poor player was probably Keita who struggeld with possession and control during the match.

Good enough

A 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid was a reasonable result in light of the injuries affecting the squad. Overall the team performance was quite good especially the second half with Elano having an influential match.

Lets hope we get a striker or two fit before tomorrows match away at Besiktas which on current form should be at least a draw but we need a win.

Return to the top

Brushing aside the pathetic dispaly against Antalya where Necati, of course, scored twice to knowck CimBom out on away goals it was nice to return to he summit of the SuperLig even thoiugh we did not play. The three points gained as a result of the Ankara fiasco leaving us top after the Kadioky MOb could only draw with Manisa.

I watched that game and again I was struck by the whining, diving, cheating nature of Brazilbahce, NOT. Alex is a disgrace and Emre should after a dive worthy of the summer olympics high diving competition should have had at least a yellow card. Of course this being FB Isaac was shown a yellow card and therefore a red as it was his second yellow after the full time whistle as he had the nerve to inquire of the referee why the deliberate and very clear handball in the build up to FB's second goal was not spotted by the referee, and was actually waved away. Actually we all know the answer to that, its why Maraton is lacking a journalist and why referees in Turkey get richer by the week. Seriously, 7 minutes of injury time, no yellow for Emre's pathetic attempt to win a penalty, foul after foul going unpunished and the handball was just the icing on the cake.

I am sure there are FB supporters who are embarrassed and ashamed about the theatrics on the pitch but they are few and far between as the desperate attempts by a coke head and someone who thinks money makes a pig important, it doesn't just makes a rich pig, seem to be justified as they attempt to win the Lig title.

As for CimBom here's hoping the physios have been doing their job and can get a couple of strikers fit for next weekend.

Level pegging

Kayseri away was always going to be a hard match and it was made even harder because all of the strikers were injured. So all in all a 0-0 draw was a good result, even though we perhaps should have taken advantage of the fact that Kayseri had a man sent off in the 60th minute. Keita looked tired as if he was still adjusting to playing in the cold after the Africa Cup of Nations but all in all a satsifactory result which kept Kayseri 4 points behind us.

Next week is Ankaraspor which means three points and a rest for the team which is perhaps fortunate as it will give the medical squad time to get the various damaged players back to health so maybe Servet, Hakan Balta, Kewell and Jo will be available in two weeks time. IN between we have the second leg of the Cup match and we need to overturn a 1-2 deficit against Antalya which even with the shortage of players should be achievable.

Then Sunday I watched the FB match against Diyarbakir. What a bunch of whining, complaining, cheats was on show.....obviously Aziz will be upset as despite the referees best efforts to let FB win due to continuous free kicks awarded for phantom fouls it did not work and in fact almost backfired as a 1-1 draw was the result which means the Kadikoy mob are still one point ahead.

Poor result

First Baros gets injured, then Kewell gets injured and now Jo is injured.........what is this some form of curse???? Probably just bad luck but still its frustrating. Of course with Nonda gone we are now somewhat short of strikers although Keita will be available this weekend after returning from the Africa Cup of Nations.

Having dispatched Denizli at the weekend 2-1 with goals from Arda and Jo the team was brought down to earth with a bump losing 2-1 to Antalya in the Cup with our old friend Necati scoring the second Antalya goal. It would be expected that we will win the return leg on the 10th but it means we will probably have to field a slightly stronger side than expected with the risk of injuries that brings.

Its still too early to say whether the new signings will turn out to be a success or not but I have a feeling that Rijkaard will be shuffling the pieces in midfield quite frequently as we seem to have an abundance of players for that area. Santos was hardly played at Spurs so its a bit difficult to assess him. The one player that does need to get a grip this half of the season is Elano, he has played some very good matches but has also disappeared in others. He needs to find some consistency and if he does a midfield of Arda, Elano, Keita and Sarp would be quite an effective one with the forwards taken from Kewell, Jo, Santos and Baros. In defence it looks like Neill, Servet, Hakan Balta and Ugur or Sabri when fit which has a solid look to it.

Overall it looks like the Superlig may be developing into a two horse race although Bursa are still lurking 4 points behind with a game in hand. Besiktas had a major dip in form and the other top 4 team from last season, Sivas will be lucky to survive this season with their current form. However iven that Ankaraspor are relegated and Denizli's horrible form it is going to be a fight for that third spot with Ankargucu, Kasimpasa, Manisa and Diyarbakir in the mix with Sivas.

Snow business

With the bad news that Kewell will be out for at least 2 months to join Baros on the sidelines, Linderoth leaving the club and the horrible weather in Istanbul it was good to finally have a match to watch.

All in all this was hardly a free flowing easy to watch match but at the end of the day it was three more points gained by CimBom. There is little point making any real comments about individual performances as it was not really the weather or conditions for that today. However Neill had a solid match, with juts a couple of mis-communications during the match, Jo looked okay when he finally came on although he should have done better with his one chance. Nonda again failed to look like the replacement for Baros. After one of the clearest penalties you will ever see his penalty kick was awful and saved easily by the Antep keeper.

Anyway, as I say three points was the important thing here and that was achieved by Sarp with a good run and well taken goal from an Arda free kick.

Choices......

So here we are in the New Year, season start is tomorrow and what am I posting about.......toilets.

I recently started to keep on eye on Vassells world even though he plays in the second city. I must admit that its interesting to hear from a player rather than the endlessly optimistic Kankas...

There was a recent post about hamsi....and also toilets.

So anyway here is a picture of, what is I suppose the ultimate in toilet choice, I believe its taken in a club in Istanbul but whatever....

Stroll in the park

Looks like the CiMBom are taking the Turkish Cup more seriously this year as they recorded a 5-1 win over Denizli BD spor.

So top of the pool with a healthy goal difference and only Ankaragucu to play to finish off with, no worries.

Wizards of Oz

So whilst Genclerbirligi lose their anotpodean influence CimBom add a second Aussie that people have actually heard of. Whilst he is purely in Istanbul for the money irrespective of what he actually says Lucas Neill is a good addition to the squad and is a ball playing defender who will complement Servet or Gokhan Zan.

Progress remains smooth in the Turkish Cup and I am looking forward to the restart of the season.

Transfer Window

Its officially known as the Transfer Window but in reality its more of the silly season when Galatasaray are linked with all kinds of players who they have absolutely no chance of signing. I am not even going to bother with the list of people who have been linked to CimBom as it si about half the players in the world.

Having said that we probably need a central defender and a striker to cover for Baros and the permanently injured Zan and Gungor.....

Apparently we have or are about to sign Ali Turan from Kayseri which should help with the defense but as for a striker who knows, maybe Ruud really is going to arrive but somehow I doubt it and with the rumors about Kewell we definitley need to add someone.