So after the excitement of the UEFA Cup it was a trip to the bread eaters in Konya.
And it was a second win out of two for Bulent. Again practically the same team that lost to Kocaeli but this time there was more determination about the team. Again is it new manager bounce or a real improvement. Other results went our way so the top of the Lig closed up again but I have a feeling this year will go to the last couple of weeks and may even be decided on the last day when Galatasaray host Sivas.
Oh yes and ESPN Soccernet remembered there is more to life than English, Italian and Spanish soccer with an articale on Sivas
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
New manager bounce?
The theory is that a new manager or coach causes a bounce in performance for the team as the players seek to impress the new man.
For Bulent this lasted 11 seconds until Bellion scored.
So a win was managed 4-3 over Bordeaux who are pressing Lyon hard in the French League Unnnnn.
No idea really about the match as I could not find it online here in the You Ess of Ehh.
A wins a win but considering this was essentially the same team that lost 2-5 to Kocaeli it may prove the above theory although it may also indicate that defense is not exactly our strongest area at the moment.....
For Bulent this lasted 11 seconds until Bellion scored.
So a win was managed 4-3 over Bordeaux who are pressing Lyon hard in the French League Unnnnn.
No idea really about the match as I could not find it online here in the You Ess of Ehh.
A wins a win but considering this was essentially the same team that lost 2-5 to Kocaeli it may prove the above theory although it may also indicate that defense is not exactly our strongest area at the moment.....
Monday, February 23, 2009
Change is good??
So Buyuk Kaptan is back at the club this time as coach after the not exactly unexpected dismissal of Skibbe following the poor start to the second half of the season.
Bulent Kormaz was a great, great player for Cim Bom of that there is no question but his record as a coach is somewhat less exceptional.
His record is something like this from his time at Erciyes, Bursa and Genc:
Played 35
Won 10
Drawn 12
Lost 14
Of course it could be argued that he did not have the resources at these clubs etc. etc. it is questionable whether he really has the experience to manage Galatasaray right now?
So should the club have left the team management to Cevat Guler and his team who did a good job last season when Feldkampf left and won the Championship?
Given that the first person to be offered the job on Sunday night was Hagi who wanted a longer contract this seems like desperation to offer the post to Bulent.
I hope I am wrong............
Bulent Kormaz was a great, great player for Cim Bom of that there is no question but his record as a coach is somewhat less exceptional.
His record is something like this from his time at Erciyes, Bursa and Genc:
Played 35
Won 10
Drawn 12
Lost 14
Of course it could be argued that he did not have the resources at these clubs etc. etc. it is questionable whether he really has the experience to manage Galatasaray right now?
So should the club have left the team management to Cevat Guler and his team who did a good job last season when Feldkampf left and won the Championship?
Given that the first person to be offered the job on Sunday night was Hagi who wanted a longer contract this seems like desperation to offer the post to Bulent.
I hope I am wrong............
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Referee no way
So for third match running CimBom have a player sent off. This time it was Lincoln who was adjudged to have dived when it should have been a penalty and then failed to move away from a free kick quickly enough. I mean really if that is worth two yellows then some teams like FB should not bother turning up as that is their entire game plan, dive and block......
Horrible horrible refereeing made what should have been a routine home victory into a draw and opens up the top of the table again. Obvioulsy the referrees are under instruction to decimate the GS squad and make sure either the arsonist murderers from Sivas or the Black Sea big noses take the championship this year.
Cant be bothered to discuss this bullshit any further as I am somewhat angry
Horrible horrible refereeing made what should have been a routine home victory into a draw and opens up the top of the table again. Obvioulsy the referrees are under instruction to decimate the GS squad and make sure either the arsonist murderers from Sivas or the Black Sea big noses take the championship this year.
Cant be bothered to discuss this bullshit any further as I am somewhat angry
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Cup runneth over
Well overtime as CimBom got so tired of playing Sivas, three times in 2 weeks that they lost concentration during the penalty shoot out and succumbed 4-2.
Oh well at least that leaves FB with the possibility of winning something if they reach the final this season that is.
Not only that but the list of injured players grows wih Baris now with a knee problem. Lets hope they get some players back soon especially before the UEFA Cup, in particular we need Lincoln, Kewell and Baros back although it seems that Linderoth as well may finally be fit to play a match!!!
Oh well at least that leaves FB with the possibility of winning something if they reach the final this season that is.
Not only that but the list of injured players grows wih Baris now with a knee problem. Lets hope they get some players back soon especially before the UEFA Cup, in particular we need Lincoln, Kewell and Baros back although it seems that Linderoth as well may finally be fit to play a match!!!
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Rooster anyone?
Well after the two limp displays against Sivas in the SuperLig and then the Fortis Cup it was good to get back to business in the SuperLig with a 2-0 win away in Denizli.
Much better display all around with some of the injured and suspended players back in the team showing what we missed against Sivas with goal contributions from Baros and Nonda. Unfortunately Ayhan picked up two yellow cards so he will be out of the nexty match but hopefully Lincoln or someone will be back.
This was a match that we won farily comfortably and controlled the match most of the time with no major dramas. I have to say it would be nice though to get Linderoth, Lincoln and Kewell back in the team. If they were I have a feeling we would be leading the Lig rther tghan being 2 points behind Sivas and Trabzon. Luckily the rest of the teasm at the top failed to perform so its pretty much as you were at the top.
At the bottom it looks like Ankara may be down to 2 teams next season but hey who's really that bothered?
Much better display all around with some of the injured and suspended players back in the team showing what we missed against Sivas with goal contributions from Baros and Nonda. Unfortunately Ayhan picked up two yellow cards so he will be out of the nexty match but hopefully Lincoln or someone will be back.
This was a match that we won farily comfortably and controlled the match most of the time with no major dramas. I have to say it would be nice though to get Linderoth, Lincoln and Kewell back in the team. If they were I have a feeling we would be leading the Lig rther tghan being 2 points behind Sivas and Trabzon. Luckily the rest of the teasm at the top failed to perform so its pretty much as you were at the top.
At the bottom it looks like Ankara may be down to 2 teams next season but hey who's really that bothered?
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Excellent start........not
So the first match of the second half of the season was a bit of a disaster for Galatasaray.
A 2-0 loss at the hands of Sivasspor who also stretched the gap between GS and themselves at the top of the Lig to 4 points.
A look at the starting line up shows the state of the squad:
De Sanctis, Volkan, Emre Aşık, Hakan Balta, Ayhan, Mehmet Topal, Barış Özbek, Ümit Karan, Arda, Milan Baros.
No Emre Gungor, Meira, Servet in defence, no Lincoln or Linderoth in midfield, no Hasan, Kewell or Nonda in attack.
And then of course Umit got himself red carded after which Sivas socred both their goals. Given the fact that te conditions are so bad at the hole in the arse of the country that is Sivas I am not sure why the TFF allows matches to happen there as it is advantage to Sivas. Also teams that play their later in the second half get the benefit of civilized conditions.
Either they should buy floodlights, install underpitch heating or they should be forced out of the SuperLig or should be forced to play all their winter matches in Antalya and level conditions for everyone.
Plus any city that allows a kebab shop to be opened in a building where arson was committed and people killed is just sick!!
A 2-0 loss at the hands of Sivasspor who also stretched the gap between GS and themselves at the top of the Lig to 4 points.
A look at the starting line up shows the state of the squad:
De Sanctis, Volkan, Emre Aşık, Hakan Balta, Ayhan, Mehmet Topal, Barış Özbek, Ümit Karan, Arda, Milan Baros.
No Emre Gungor, Meira, Servet in defence, no Lincoln or Linderoth in midfield, no Hasan, Kewell or Nonda in attack.
And then of course Umit got himself red carded after which Sivas socred both their goals. Given the fact that te conditions are so bad at the hole in the arse of the country that is Sivas I am not sure why the TFF allows matches to happen there as it is advantage to Sivas. Also teams that play their later in the second half get the benefit of civilized conditions.
Either they should buy floodlights, install underpitch heating or they should be forced out of the SuperLig or should be forced to play all their winter matches in Antalya and level conditions for everyone.
Plus any city that allows a kebab shop to be opened in a building where arson was committed and people killed is just sick!!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Cup of cheer
So after the disappointment of the Radyospor Cup in Antalya the team bounced back with a healthy 4-2 win over Malatyaspor in the Fortis Cup on Saturday.
Emre Gungor managed to get himself sent off within 12 minutes of getting on the pitch at the start of the second half, which was not a clever thing to do but the team managed without him and squeezed out the win thanks to 2 red cards to Malatya.
SuperLig action starts again on January 24th with an away match at Sivas. This is going to be a hard game especially with the weather in Sivas at this time of the year. Still a draw or a win would help with the momentum from the end of the first half of the season.
Emre Gungor managed to get himself sent off within 12 minutes of getting on the pitch at the start of the second half, which was not a clever thing to do but the team managed without him and squeezed out the win thanks to 2 red cards to Malatya.
SuperLig action starts again on January 24th with an away match at Sivas. This is going to be a hard game especially with the weather in Sivas at this time of the year. Still a draw or a win would help with the momentum from the end of the first half of the season.
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Back to business?
Ok so in the middle of the winter break from football what do the TFF decide to do....that's right play the Fortis Cup Matches. My question is that if the weather is okay and conditions generally good enough to play these games why not continue the SuperLig Programme. It seems to be the same every year that the winter break is completed and then the weather turns really bad and games get postponed etc.....madness.
Anyway Galatasaray are in Izmir today to take care of Altay. A win would put us top of the group on 7 points and in good position to advance to the next round of matches. However with the teams continued existence in the UEFA CUp as Turkeys sole representative team I am not sure how much a priority the Fortis Cup match and then the meaningless Radyospor Tournament matches against Beyer Leverksuen are. Given the teams injury luck this year I would prefer them to concentrate on the SUperLIg and UEFA and then use some of the less regular players in these Cup games.
As for the UEFA Cup we will be up against Girondins Bordeaux who are managed by one of the most cultured defenders ever in Laurent Blanc. Currently sitting second in the French Ligue and playing some good football they will be difficult to get passed. We played them in the Champs League a couple of season agoa with little success and they have had more stability since then than we have. Anyway on the assumption we have a full healthy squad there is no reason to fear them.
Anyway Galatasaray are in Izmir today to take care of Altay. A win would put us top of the group on 7 points and in good position to advance to the next round of matches. However with the teams continued existence in the UEFA CUp as Turkeys sole representative team I am not sure how much a priority the Fortis Cup match and then the meaningless Radyospor Tournament matches against Beyer Leverksuen are. Given the teams injury luck this year I would prefer them to concentrate on the SUperLIg and UEFA and then use some of the less regular players in these Cup games.
As for the UEFA Cup we will be up against Girondins Bordeaux who are managed by one of the most cultured defenders ever in Laurent Blanc. Currently sitting second in the French Ligue and playing some good football they will be difficult to get passed. We played them in the Champs League a couple of season agoa with little success and they have had more stability since then than we have. Anyway on the assumption we have a full healthy squad there is no reason to fear them.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Holiday Cheer
I love Christmas!!
Well not the commercial travesty that passes for Christmas in the US and most of Europe but for the over the top schedule that gives 4 English Premier League matches in 10 days. Especially when here in the US thanks to Fox Soccer Channel and Setanta Broadband the Husband and I were able to watch 6 matches in all.
These were :
Stoke v Man Utd
Chavski v Baggies
Liverpool v Bolton
Man City v Hull
Arsenal v Aston Villa
West Ham v Portsmouth
So that was Boxing Day sorted with a similar assortment planned for tomorrow Sunday. Perfect.
No boring Turkish SuperLig to get me frustrated and annoyed just pure theater from what is probably the best League in the World.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Eagles stuffed and trussed
The second Istanbul of the Derby was a feisty affair with the Lions of Galatasaray devouring the Besiktas Black Eagles.
6 goals and a red card tell the story of the game that Galatasary won 4-2 with a hattrick from Milan Baros and a rare toe poke from Servet as CimBom ran out 4-2 winners over the third Istanbul team who on current form may be in relegation trouble. Or perhaps not as 3 of the bottom five places in SuperLig are being occupied by teams from the second city.
So sitting here in New Jersey as the snow fell (again) giving 12 inches for the weekend and watching a match played in raw weather in Istanbul I felt sorry for the fans standing on the terraces but then again you can never forget the real atmosphere of being at the games. At least we now can watch the matches over the Internet but on the TV rather than the computer screen thanks to a new set top box received in the recent past. Much better even if the feed does sometimes freeze.
So back to the match which after the romps up the TEM over the last couple of weekends promised to be a real game. Well it was feisty alright with tackles flying in and bodies crashing to the turf with regularity. Once again Arda showed his immaturity and also lack of pace for a winger with his inability to beat people for pure pace and then every time he gets tackled dropping down to the turf and screaming for a foul. Thankfully Baris Ozbeck and Mehmet Topal are back and playing well in the midfield which is helping the team as they were important last season and are showing how much they have been missed whilst injured. Once Emre Gungor is back and fit we will have a much more solid look about us.
Lincoln had an excellent game and I just hope he will still be around at the restart of the Lig and the Board are not tempted to sell him. The pass for Baros second goal was superb and his all around play was excellent.
As for the sending off, well players have to learn not to make the gesture about yellow cards as the referees in Turkey are penalizing players who do this every time and its not the first time a player has ended up with a red as a result this season.
The penalties, well the first one and the second was clear. Having said that anyone who watched the FB Konya game will understand that referees are having a hard time this seasons with the outrageous decision to give FB a gaol when it was clearly a deliberate handball that should have been a card. Lets face it in the normal run of things Onder Turaci would have had a yellow and if that had been in his own penalty area a red, however when FB play Konya it seems that a handball goal is de-rigeur, remember Anelka anyone a couple of years ago. It was a disgraceful and shocking decision especially as the ref had already awarded Konya a free kick and changed his mind on the word of the assistant who could see nothing whereas the ref was directly behind the situation.
6 goals and a red card tell the story of the game that Galatasary won 4-2 with a hattrick from Milan Baros and a rare toe poke from Servet as CimBom ran out 4-2 winners over the third Istanbul team who on current form may be in relegation trouble. Or perhaps not as 3 of the bottom five places in SuperLig are being occupied by teams from the second city.
So sitting here in New Jersey as the snow fell (again) giving 12 inches for the weekend and watching a match played in raw weather in Istanbul I felt sorry for the fans standing on the terraces but then again you can never forget the real atmosphere of being at the games. At least we now can watch the matches over the Internet but on the TV rather than the computer screen thanks to a new set top box received in the recent past. Much better even if the feed does sometimes freeze.
So back to the match which after the romps up the TEM over the last couple of weekends promised to be a real game. Well it was feisty alright with tackles flying in and bodies crashing to the turf with regularity. Once again Arda showed his immaturity and also lack of pace for a winger with his inability to beat people for pure pace and then every time he gets tackled dropping down to the turf and screaming for a foul. Thankfully Baris Ozbeck and Mehmet Topal are back and playing well in the midfield which is helping the team as they were important last season and are showing how much they have been missed whilst injured. Once Emre Gungor is back and fit we will have a much more solid look about us.
Lincoln had an excellent game and I just hope he will still be around at the restart of the Lig and the Board are not tempted to sell him. The pass for Baros second goal was superb and his all around play was excellent.
As for the sending off, well players have to learn not to make the gesture about yellow cards as the referees in Turkey are penalizing players who do this every time and its not the first time a player has ended up with a red as a result this season.
The penalties, well the first one and the second was clear. Having said that anyone who watched the FB Konya game will understand that referees are having a hard time this seasons with the outrageous decision to give FB a gaol when it was clearly a deliberate handball that should have been a card. Lets face it in the normal run of things Onder Turaci would have had a yellow and if that had been in his own penalty area a red, however when FB play Konya it seems that a handball goal is de-rigeur, remember Anelka anyone a couple of years ago. It was a disgraceful and shocking decision especially as the ref had already awarded Konya a free kick and changed his mind on the word of the assistant who could see nothing whereas the ref was directly behind the situation.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Why bother
3 more points from the Second City. I mean why do they bother with 4 teams when they would struggle to provide 2 full teams??
Monday, December 08, 2008
What can I say
And you wonder why its called the second city.
0-3 thats why.
A routine romp up the TEM, with three points returning, as they should to Istanbul.
Three excellent goals in 5 minutes when CimBom decided to actually play instead of train and that was that.
Looks like the second city could be down to 2 reps next season, Hacetepe and Ankaraspor?
0-3 thats why.
A routine romp up the TEM, with three points returning, as they should to Istanbul.
Three excellent goals in 5 minutes when CimBom decided to actually play instead of train and that was that.
Looks like the second city could be down to 2 reps next season, Hacetepe and Ankaraspor?
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Comedy Capers
Well the statistics will show a 3-1 win for CimBom and the fact that 2 players from Hacetepe were sent off. What the statistics and record books will not show was the general poor spectacle that the SuperLig is this season. Of course I am happy that Galatasaray won to narrow the gap to Trabzon to only 4 points and I am happy that Baros scored a hat-trick. What I am not so happy about is the general lack of quality on display in the matches I watch and the rather erratic, to say the least, standard of refereeing we have seen over the last few weeks in various matches.
I watched the Manchester derby on Sunday morning which was full of speed, skill, passion and non stop action played on a superb pitch. The day before I watched a poor match where the losing team was actually the better team but the match was decided by a very poor decision by the referee in the first half when Cisse was sent off after a dive from an opposition player. Plus the match was played on a truly awful pitch. Todays match also was affected by referee decisions, some good some bad. The second yellow for Tozo was deserved for asking for a card, Lincoln got one of those the other week as well which ended up with him being red carded, the first card much less deserved.
The standard of football is poor, the referees erratic, pitches sub standard, lighting bad and in general you can see the supporters are also in agreement as there are lots of empty seats in the stadiums this season.
This despite the fact that Sivas maintain their form of last season, Ankaraspor and Kayserispor continue to ask questions of the bigger teams and Trabzon are on top which should be seen as examples of healthy competition but when its obvious that you are playing 14 men in Istanbul its no surprise that people stop watching as the results are almost foregone conclusions.
I am looking forward to the winter break so I don't have to watch the matches for a while, maybe my enthusiasm will come back because right now there is not much there.
I watched the Manchester derby on Sunday morning which was full of speed, skill, passion and non stop action played on a superb pitch. The day before I watched a poor match where the losing team was actually the better team but the match was decided by a very poor decision by the referee in the first half when Cisse was sent off after a dive from an opposition player. Plus the match was played on a truly awful pitch. Todays match also was affected by referee decisions, some good some bad. The second yellow for Tozo was deserved for asking for a card, Lincoln got one of those the other week as well which ended up with him being red carded, the first card much less deserved.
The standard of football is poor, the referees erratic, pitches sub standard, lighting bad and in general you can see the supporters are also in agreement as there are lots of empty seats in the stadiums this season.
This despite the fact that Sivas maintain their form of last season, Ankaraspor and Kayserispor continue to ask questions of the bigger teams and Trabzon are on top which should be seen as examples of healthy competition but when its obvious that you are playing 14 men in Istanbul its no surprise that people stop watching as the results are almost foregone conclusions.
I am looking forward to the winter break so I don't have to watch the matches for a while, maybe my enthusiasm will come back because right now there is not much there.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Lugano is a cheat
Well no surprise there.
I just want to throw up watching the one sided referee performance in the FB BJK match. Somehow a deliberate trip by Lugano is not a red card when Nobre is clean through however when you blow on one of the precious budgies its a second yellow hence red.
When are we gouing to see a competent performance froem a man in blue this season in Kadikoy...oh the answer is never.
I just want to throw up watching the one sided referee performance in the FB BJK match. Somehow a deliberate trip by Lugano is not a red card when Nobre is clean through however when you blow on one of the precious budgies its a second yellow hence red.
When are we gouing to see a competent performance froem a man in blue this season in Kadikoy...oh the answer is never.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Instantly forgettable
Galatasaray and IBB served up 90 minutes of dross today but at least Cim Bom won 2-0 with goals from Kewell and Lincoln.
That was about it.
That was about it.
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Same old story
So after a good run of results with only the Eskisheir blip we went into todays Derby match with confidence high as FB had been rather inconsistent. Of course I had forgotten the most important rule in Turkish soccer which is that FB are not allowed to lose at home to Galatasaray.
This means that the referee was the most important player and once again the referee showed where his allegiance was. How can a direct free kick that goes directly into the goal be disallwed for obstruction???????? I mean what makes it more obvious is when Devid wrestles Umit to the floor from a corner nothing is given and 7 yellow cards to three including one for Arda who was yellow carded because he wanted to take a quick corner which he is entiltled to do but the assistant referee stopped him to make sure FB could organize themselves.
Blatant bias like this is killing games and this total favouritsm at Kadikoy makes you wonder just how much is being spent on referees this season.
Can anyone tell me how Selcuk avoided being sent off as he made probably 6 tackles each worthy of a yellow card, of course when Lincoln complained he got the yellow rather than Selcuk for the late high tackle. 5 minutes later he finally got the yellow for underseeing Lincoln as that was simply too blatant for the referee to miss.
I guess the knives will be out for Skibbe but really GS played as well as they could despiet the refereeing and continous fouling from FB which went unpunished by the referee.
Its matches like this that make me wonder why I follow the SuperLig with the appaling quality of the referring etc. I watched the ManUtd Arsenal game yesterday and there was a single dodgy decision that affected the outomce of the game unlike today where the referee assured FB of the victory.
This means that the referee was the most important player and once again the referee showed where his allegiance was. How can a direct free kick that goes directly into the goal be disallwed for obstruction???????? I mean what makes it more obvious is when Devid wrestles Umit to the floor from a corner nothing is given and 7 yellow cards to three including one for Arda who was yellow carded because he wanted to take a quick corner which he is entiltled to do but the assistant referee stopped him to make sure FB could organize themselves.
Blatant bias like this is killing games and this total favouritsm at Kadikoy makes you wonder just how much is being spent on referees this season.
Can anyone tell me how Selcuk avoided being sent off as he made probably 6 tackles each worthy of a yellow card, of course when Lincoln complained he got the yellow rather than Selcuk for the late high tackle. 5 minutes later he finally got the yellow for underseeing Lincoln as that was simply too blatant for the referee to miss.
I guess the knives will be out for Skibbe but really GS played as well as they could despiet the refereeing and continous fouling from FB which went unpunished by the referee.
Its matches like this that make me wonder why I follow the SuperLig with the appaling quality of the referring etc. I watched the ManUtd Arsenal game yesterday and there was a single dodgy decision that affected the outomce of the game unlike today where the referee assured FB of the victory.
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Little bit better
First of all today was about getting three points following Besiktas loss and TS winning. That was achieved. Does style matter, well yes but as I think it was Bill Shankly said if you want entertainment go to the circus. So today was a win and three points although the entertainment was rather low.
The team was reinforced with Lincoln back in midfield and we had more of a goal threat throughout the game because he was back in the team. Still the central defence pairing of Servet and Emre Asik makes me nervous and the central defensive midfield went missing too often for my liking. Ayhan was quite anonymous this week whihc was good but sometimes it let Antep get way too far forward.
The goals were well taken with Arda's a masterpiece of long ball football, Bolton would have been proud of that one.
Should ease some of the pressure on Skibbe although the idiots who are never satsified with anything except for getting Terim back etc. will now be complaining about how the team played rather than the result. I like watching exciting football which is why I watch the English Premier League, probably the most excotomg football there is when the top teams play, not quite as exciting when the others play but interesting nonetheless. Before the GS match I watched the Bolton Man City game and there was one major difference in the way the game was played. Was it exciting, not really, but the players worked so hard, with Kevin Davies acting as the lone striker and defending from the front closing down the opposition defenders and when he lost the ball chasing back. Arda on the other hand could be seen wandering back to his own half or just standing watching when he lost the ball. That attitude has to change and I for one do not think this team is as fit as last year under Feldkampf. But really the GS game was so slow after theBolton Man City match!
The worst part of the game was the injury to Kewell which may hurt the team with the UEFA cup match and the Derby coming up.
Anyway, three points in the bag and three points behind TS at the top so all in all its not too bad.
On a side note Eskisehir proved that the win over GS was not a one off as they held FB at home to a 2-2 draw and should probably have won the match if the linesman had real eyes instead of his yellow and blue glasses on.
The team was reinforced with Lincoln back in midfield and we had more of a goal threat throughout the game because he was back in the team. Still the central defence pairing of Servet and Emre Asik makes me nervous and the central defensive midfield went missing too often for my liking. Ayhan was quite anonymous this week whihc was good but sometimes it let Antep get way too far forward.
The goals were well taken with Arda's a masterpiece of long ball football, Bolton would have been proud of that one.
Should ease some of the pressure on Skibbe although the idiots who are never satsified with anything except for getting Terim back etc. will now be complaining about how the team played rather than the result. I like watching exciting football which is why I watch the English Premier League, probably the most excotomg football there is when the top teams play, not quite as exciting when the others play but interesting nonetheless. Before the GS match I watched the Bolton Man City game and there was one major difference in the way the game was played. Was it exciting, not really, but the players worked so hard, with Kevin Davies acting as the lone striker and defending from the front closing down the opposition defenders and when he lost the ball chasing back. Arda on the other hand could be seen wandering back to his own half or just standing watching when he lost the ball. That attitude has to change and I for one do not think this team is as fit as last year under Feldkampf. But really the GS game was so slow after theBolton Man City match!
The worst part of the game was the injury to Kewell which may hurt the team with the UEFA cup match and the Derby coming up.
Anyway, three points in the bag and three points behind TS at the top so all in all its not too bad.
On a side note Eskisehir proved that the win over GS was not a one off as they held FB at home to a 2-2 draw and should probably have won the match if the linesman had real eyes instead of his yellow and blue glasses on.
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