Galatasaray finishes on top at end of the half, In Turkey

From being bad to good..........

Galatasaray and Fatih Terim's boys, earned that, at the end of the Turkish Super League 2011-2012 season first half of the season!

"Third time charm" really working for Fatih Terim, this time, so far....

If you remember after very successful first time with Galatasaray, his second coming was a bust, at Galatasaray!

But, mature Fatih Terim, with the help of bunch of good players are without doubt, are the best team in Turkey, at the end of the first half....

As of matter fact, first time in 10 years ,Galatasaray finished on top at the end of first half!


Galatasaray team finished the 2011, on top with 37 points in Turkey....

On the other hand, the team who has been talked about, off the pitch, with Turkish match-fixing scandal, Fenerbahce, finished first half, in second place with 35 points only two points behind Galatasaray, after not winning their last match in Antalya...


The delayed of starting league, which caused to have very busy fixture in the league was another huge reason why the league is congested this season!

That is why the winter brake in the league won't be one month long!

The second half of the season will start on January 3,2012.....

The teams and players are getting only five days with their families this time!

But, focused Galatasaray coach Fatih Terim said he will not take time of and he said he will still be at Galatasaray's "FULYA" headquarters and work during the brake,,,,,,,



The third place finisher Besiktas made a big stride and captured the third place at the very end of the first half of the season...

Perhaps,Besiktas could be the another best team,in the first half,while they finished third in Turkey, Besiktas finished on top in their group in the Europa League, ahead of Stoke city after they beat Stoke in Istanbul...


Besiktas with care taker coach Carlos Carvalhal,has done well, despite the criticizes by Turkish media!


On the other hand, the team who beat Inter twice in the Champions League, this year, Trabzonspor is doing very poorly in the Turkish Super League!

After finishing second in the last season, they are in eighth place with 24 points and 13 points behind Galatasaray at the half!

It will be very hard for them to make it on top four, for the play off at the end of the regular season, if they don't shape up..

There last match against Orduspor at home, was morale boost for them!

Not only they won it with big score their top score and top scorer in the Turkish Super League Burak Yilmaz had hat trick and one of their player better player Halil Altiontop scored too!

Halil Altintop should play in that position by Senol Gunes, all the time....

First time in a long time I saw Halil Altintop played in that position!

I hope Senol Gunes saw that after Orduspor match,,,,,,,


Any way, after playing weekdays and weekends, the 17 rounds of football,ended this past Thursday..

The second half of the season will start soon and the matches will be played in snow, rain and cold!

Plus, Fenerbahce, Galatasaray and Trabzonspor will lose their African players to African cup matches in January!

Galatasaray will have a problems when Emmanuel Eboue leaves for African cup!

If Sabri Sarioglu does not get better,Fatih Terim might have a problem on the right side....

On the other hand Trabzonspor and Fenerbahce will miss their important players too...

For Fenerbahce defender Joseph Yobo and Issiar Dia ,striker Henri Bienvenu , for Trabzonspor Didier Zokora will be missed...

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Finally, around the league news,,,,,,,,

* German coach Skibbe left Eskisehir and Ersun Yanal took over the job just yesterday ....

On the other hand, Ankaragucu hired Hakan Kutlu as their new coach and Orduspor went all out and got world famous coach Hector Cuper....

One of the best coaches in Turkey who has not coached in over a year, Miusfa Denizli surprised everyone including his current place of work LIG TV, and took the coaching job in Iran!

Mustafa Denizli will be coaching Persepolis team in Iran for the second time...

My biggest question is why Mustafa Denizli, decide to go Iran to coach!

I know Eskisehir team offered him a job and I know other clubs did too...

I just got a bad feeling, even Denizli, was fed up with all the negative things were happening in the Turkish football!

Mustafa Denizli at the press conference in Iran said "I believe this team can succeed more. I am so happy to be here with these people. My economic condition in Turkey was better,but Persepolis supporters’ wishes for me were more important. I am offered the same money as I was taking from my TV program in Turkey "

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MY "DARK HORSE" OF THE FIRST HALF...ESKISEHIRSPOR AND GENCLERBIRLIGI
MY "BIGGEST FLOP TEAMS" OF THE FIRST HALF.....BURSASPOR....KARABUKSPOR,,,,GAZIANTEPSPOR....
MY "BEST TEAM" OF THE FIRST HALF,,,,,,,,,GALATASARAY AND BESIKTAS.....
MY "BEST COACH" OF THE FIRST HALF........FATIH TERIM

Now, for all the teams on top, goal is to finish in first four for the play offs!

And who will be the fourth team to join Istanbul big three ?

Or, Could big three finish in top three at the end of the regular season?
And most important one, what will happened to the team who is under match-fixing scandal?

Will the number 56 by law will be changed by Turkish football FA ?

Those are the biggest questions, that we don't have the answers yet!

We shall see......

Follow me on Twitter...@Turkishsoccer

STANDINGS AT THE HALF ......

1 Galatasaray 17 11 4 2 27-11 37
2 Fenerbahce 17 10 5 2 24-14 35
3 Besiktas 17 9 5 3 25-17 32
4 Eskisehirspor 17 9 3 5 19-15 30
5 Genclerbirligi 17 8 4 5 25-20 28
6 Mersin 17 7 6 4 20-16 27
7 Kayserispor 17 8 1 8 21-17 25
8 Trabzonspor 17 6 6 5 24-21 24
9 Buyuksehir 17 6 6 5 21-20 24
10 Manisaspor 17 6 6 5 16-16 24
11 Sivasspor 17 6 6 5 26-29 24
12 Antalyaspor 17 5 6 6 13-16 21
13 Bursaspor 17 4 7 6 18-18 19
14 Orduspor 17 4 5 8 14-21 17
15 Gaziantepspor 17 3 7 7 14-18 16
16 Karabukspor 17 3 3 11 18-27 12
17 Samsunspor 17 2 6 9 12-22 12
18 Ankaragucu 17 1 4 12 15-34 7

WEEK 17, RESULTS....

21 Dec 2011
FT Antalyaspor 0 : 0 Fenerbahce
FT Galatasaray 1 : 0 Manisaspor
FT Kayserispor 3 : 0 Ankaragucu
FT Mersin 0 : 0 Eskisehirspor
FT Sivasspor 3 : 2 Samsunspor
22 Dec 2011
FT Besiktas 1 : 0 Karabukspor
FT Gaziantepspor 2 : 2 Bursaspor
FT Genclerbirligi 4 : 0 Buyuksehir
FT Trabzonspor 4 : 1 Orduspo

TURKISH SUPER LEAGUE WRAP: GALATASARAY AND FENERBAHCE KEEPS WINNING!

16 down, one week to go, before the short winter brake in the Turkish Super League...

Yes, it was fast and jam packed 16 rounds in the Turkish Super League...

After playing matches on the weekend and weekdays, Turkish Super League's first half will be over after this Wendsday and Thursday...

Yes,the last weekend matches in the first half will take place on Wendsday and Thursday!

Weekend,(week 16),started with Orduspor vs Galatasaray match and Galatasaray had no problem beating Orduspor!

Orduspor, who has no coach at helm, is still shopping for a big name coach in Europe!

They are talking about bringing, Hector Cuper!

Under Turkish coach, in the first seven weeks they earned 14 points in the league and once they reached to third place!

After a couple of weeks with bad score , they sacked their coach Metin Diyadin!

Why?

When are we going to see a team will go full season with their coaches, wheather they are doing good or bad?


Same thing happened at Karabuk too....

And now they are talking and wanting Ertugrul Saglam heads in Bursa too!

How absurd is that?

Any way, looking back to week 16th and recapping in short , Galatasaray and Fenerbahce kept winning and Besiktas loss blood in Samsun with a draw and Trabzonspor still big disappointed!

Like I said in my early blog articles, I see Eskisehir is the fourth play off, team in the Turkish Super League!

There is if,coach Sikibbe, and player DEDE does not leave,Eskisehir!

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In the match if the week, Fenerbahce beat Trabzonspor with only one goal!

Trabzonspor defense caught of guard on Alex's corner where goal came by Mehmet Topuz on a header!



Referee Cuneyt Cakir made a huge mistake on a red card to Trabzonspor player Aykut!

That left Trabzonspor with ten man in the match...

This loss kept Trabzonspor on tenth place with 21 points...

Karabuk vs Mersin match was the most goal score match in the week 16...

Mersin Idman Yurdu, scored five goal while Karabuk scored three goals...

I think, this was the most goal score match in the first half of the season!

Like, I said,last week,Karabuk,Bursaspor and Gaziantep are the biggest disappointments,in the league!

The point differences on top and bottom is not that huge in the Turkish Super League..

So every match for every team is very important the league.....
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Looking at last weekend in the league, the most important match will be played in Antalya!

Where Antalya will host Fenerbahce on Wendsday ...


Galatasaray and Besiktas will be at home...

Galatasaray host Manisa and Besiktas will face Karabuk....

Galatasaray might have problem against Manisa!

Genclerbirligi vs Buyuksehir and Eskisehirspor vs Mersin matches will be very interesting too!

If Mersin wins they could surpass Eskisehir and Gencler vs Buiyuksehir match will be fight for sixth place.....


Overall, there will be a lot of good matches in the last weekend of the Turkish Super League!

I think, Galatasaray will close the the year 2011 , on top of the Turkish Super League...

Galatasaray under Fatih Terim, has been the best team of the first half....

The third time for Fatih Terim, could be charming!


Follow me on Twitter for daily updates and latest news from Turkish football or Turkish soccer...

WEEK16; RESULTS......
16 Dec 2011
FT Orduspor 0 : 2 Galatasaray
17 Dec 2011
FT Ankaragucu 0 : 0 Gaziantepspor
FT Bursaspor 0 : 0 Antalyaspor
FT Eskisehirspor 1 : 0 Kayserispor
FT Karabukspor 3 : 5 Mersin
18 Dec 2011
FT Buyuksehir 1 : 1 Sivasspor
FT Fenerbahce 1 : 0 Trabzonspor
FT Manisaspor 0 : 1 Genclerbirligi
FT Samsunspor 1 : 1 Besiktas



WEEK 17 MATCHES.......

21 Dec 2011
17:00 CET Antalyaspor ? : ? Fenerbahce
17:00 CET Kayserispor ? : ? Ankaragucu
17:00 CET Mersin ? : ? Eskisehirspor
19:30 CET Galatasaray ? : ? Manisaspor
19:30 CET Sivasspor ? : ? Samsunspor
22 Dec 2011
17:00 CET Genclerbirligi ? : ? Buyuksehir
17:00 CET Trabzonspor ? : ? Orduspor
19:30 CET Besiktas ? : ? Karabukspor
19:30 CET Gaziantepspor ? : ? Bursaspor


STANDINGS....

1 Galatasaray 16 10 4 2 26-11 34
2 Fenerbahce 16 10 4 2 24-14 34
3 Besiktas 16 8 5 3 24-17 29
4 Eskisehirspor 16 9 2 5 19-15 29
5 Mersin 16 7 5 4 20-16 26
6 Genclerbirligi 16 7 4 5 21-20 25
7 Buyuksehir 16 6 6 4 21-16 24
8 Manisaspor 16 6 6 4 16-15 24
9 Kayserispor 16 7 1 8 18-17 22
10 Trabzonspor 16 5 6 5 20-20 21
11 Sivasspor 16 5 6 5 23-27 21
12 Antalyaspor 16 5 5 6 13-16 20
13 Bursaspor 16 4 6 6 16-16 18
14 Orduspor 16 4 5 7 13-17 17
15 Gaziantepspor 16 3 6 7 12-16 15
16 Karabukspor 16 3 3 10 18-26 12
17 Samsunspor 16 2 6 8 10-19 12
18 Ankaragucu 16 1 4 11 15-31 7

Besiktas beat Stoke and win Group E

I said, it could be done and Besiktas did it!

Besiktas beat, unbeaten Stoke City 3-1 and claim the top spot in the group E and earned a spot in the round 32 of Europa league..

They,prett much did the damege to Stoke in the second half, after going down in the first half....

Ricardo Fuller score for Stoke City, in the 29th minute.

In the second half ,Besiktas put the pressure and in the 59th minute,

Matthew Upson was shown a red card for bringing down Hugo Almeida in the box and Manuel Fernandes scored the PK for Besiktas....


With a man down and Besiktas with the help of rowdy Besiktas fans Besiktas put the clutch on and help of the subs in the second half started to click!

The second goal came in the 74th minute from Mustafa Pektemek who came in to the match for Holosko in the begining of second half and another substitute Edu added some gloss to the scoreline eight minutes later.

With this win,Besiktas finish on top of the Stoke in the group E..

This was first in Besiktas's history to advance as group leader in the Europa League,,,,


After the match Stokek city coach Tony Polis said "We won't be complaining to anyone. We're Stoke and we don't complain,"

During the match, Ricardo Fuller and Jermaine Pennant, as he prepared to take a corner, had items directed at them inside the Inonu Stadium.

Despite the defeat, Stoke progressed to the round 32 of the competition.

After the match Besiktas coach Carvahal said, "As I said in my previous press conference, we wanted a victory tonight, and no other result would be acceptable. We played an attacking football and took some risks at the back, but everything came out the way we planned in the end.

I believe the victory was well deserved, and I thank my players for their amazing fighting spirit and total commitment. Now, we are looking forward to the next round."


TEAMS QUALIFYING FOR EUROPA LEAGUE ROUND OF 32

Ajax, Anderlecht, Atletico Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Besiktas,
Bruges, FC Twente, Hannover, Lazio, Legia Warsaw, Lokomotiv
Moscow, Manchester City*, Manchester United*, Metalist Kharkiv,
Olympiacos*, PAOK, Porto*, PSV Eindhoven, Red Bull Salzburg,
Schalke, Sporting Lisbon, Standard Liege, Steaua Bucharest,
Stoke, Trabzonspor*, Valencia*, Viktoria Plzen, Wisla Krakow.

Besiktas host Stoke City in Istanbul

After mix-up in the air Stoke City finally made to Istanbul late on Tuesday night!

They landed at the wrong airport .....

Stoke City's plane ended up on the Asian side of Istanbul Sabihan Gokcen airport rather than the European side,Ataturk International airport!

After getting stuck on the runway there one hour, they made it to Ataturk International airport....

Stoke city cme to Istanbul without their stars...

Stoke boss Tony Pulis left Striker Jon Walters at home...

They have already qualified but they need at least one point to clich the top spot in the group...

Tony Pulis is expected to play a second-string side against Besiktas in Istanbul.

Besiktas on the other hand will be missing Quarisma who is out with injury..

A win against Stoke, could put Besiktas on top of the group...

Besiktas is already is in the last 32 in Europa league...

But a win in Istanbul in front of their rowdy fans, could be morale boost for the team..

According to reports Besiktas coach Tayfur Havutcu who was realesed from jail yesterday pending a probable trial in February on charges of match-fixing, will be attending the match also..

Tayfur Havutcu,will not be coaching any time soon....

Portuguese coach Carlos Carvalhal will be in charge....


German midfileder for Besiktas Fabian Ernst said "I think our chances are good. We played a good away match at Stoke but lost a bit unluckily so we are looking forward to revenge.''

Stoke city is on top with 11 points while Besiktas is on second with 9 points..

A win will put Besiktas on top and a draw will be good for Stoke to stay on top!

With the help from 12th man(Besiktas fans) Besiktas just might surprise Stoke City!

The match will start 20:00 local Turkey time(13:00)ET

Follow me on Twitter for updates all the time....
https://twitter.com/turkishsoccer

TURKISH SUPER LEAGUE WRAP: GALATASARAY GOES ON TOP

The busy week ended with a change on top only with goal difference....

Galatasaray perhaps is the best team of the week, in my opinion....

They have beat, two important opponents in four days, last week...

Galatasaray scored six goals and only allowed only one goal...

First they beat Fenerbahce in the Turkey's derby match then four days later they trashed Trabzonspor in Trabzon!

Galatasaray wounded Trabzonspor with former Trabzonspor boys too..

Former Trabzonspor players Selcuk Inan and Ceyhun Gulselam scored in the match!


This was the first win against Trabzonspor for Galatasaray in three in half years....

After 58 weeks, Galatasaray captured the first place in Turkey....

Galatasaray and Fenerbahce are dead luck at the top with 31 points and Galatasaray is in first place because of goal difference....

On Monday night, Fenerbahce beat struggling Bursaspor in Bursa with net score 0-2

Fenerbahace's captain Emre Belozoglu and Cristian argument started on the pitch and went on, in the locker room.

After the match Fenerbahce coach, told Turkish media he was not happy what he witness on filed and of filed...

Today, Fenerbahce suspended Emre Belozoglu indefinitely.......


The third place team Besiktas after beating Manisa in the week 14 mid-week match they draw with Istanbul Buyuksehir in Istanbul!

Besiktas will host Stoke City on Wendsday in the Europa League match..

Besiktas along with Stoke is going to the last 16 party in Europe....


Besiktas is only three points behind Galatasaray and Fenerbahce....

As I have been saying on Twitter, Trabzonspor is losing blood....

They will face Genclerbirligi this Wendsday ,in the postponed match...

This match and this weekend match against Fenerbahce in Istanbul will be very crutial for Trabzonspor!

A loss of points from these two matches, will hurt Trabzonspor playoff chances!

WHO IS UP..... WHO IS DOWN.....

UP.....GALATASARAY...FENERBAHCE... BESIKTAS...ESKISEHIR

DOWN...BURSASPOR....ORDUSPOR....GAZIANTEP...KARABUKSPOR....

If Bursaspor and Karabukspor does not shape up, they will say good bye to Turkish Super League!

two weeks to go to winter brake, this coming weekend matches will be very crucial for teams on top and the bottom too...


Week 16, will start on Friday with Orduspor vs Galatasaray match and will end on Sunday with Fenerbahce vs Trabzonspor match...

The match of the weekend will be Fenerbahce vs Trabzonspor match....

There are two coaches has been sacked in the Turkish Super League...

Orduspor ,before very important Galatasaray match on Friday , sacked their coach Metin Diyadin, after losing their five strait matches...

On the other hand, Ankaragucu sacked their coach Ziya Dogan too..

For daily updates and news from Turkish football and more follow me on twitter...

https://twitter.com/turkishsoccer

WEEK 16......

16 Dec 2011
19:00 CET Orduspor ? : ? Galatasaray
17 Dec 2011
12:00 CET Ankaragucu ? : ? Gaziantepspor
12:00 CET Karabukspor ? : ? Mersin
15:00 CET Eskisehirspor ? : ? Kayserispor
18:00 CET Bursaspor ? : ? Antalyaspor
18 Dec 2011
12:00 CET Buyuksehir ? : ? Sivasspor
12:00 CET Manisaspor ? : ? Genclerbirligi
15:00 CET Samsunspor ? : ? Besiktas
18:00 CET Fenerbahce ? : ? Trabzonspo

STANDINGS.,....

1 Galatasaray 15 9 4 2 24-11 31
2 Fenerbahce 15 9 4 2 23-14 31
3 Besiktas 15 8 4 3 23-16 28
4 Eskisehirspor 15 8 2 5 18-15 26
5 Manisaspor 15 6 6 3 16-14 24
6 Buyuksehir 15 6 5 4 20-15 23
7 Mersin 15 6 5 4 15-13 23
8 Kayserispor 15 7 1 7 18-16 22
9 Trabzonspor 14 5 6 3 19-17 21
10 Sivasspor 15 5 5 5 22-26 20
11 Genclerbirligi 14 5 4 5 18-19 19
12 Antalyaspor 15 5 4 6 13-16 19
13 Bursaspor 15 4 5 6 16-16 17
14 Orduspor 15 4 5 6 13-15 17
15 Gaziantepspor 15 3 5 7 12-16 14
16 Karabukspor 15 3 3 9 15-21 12
17 Samsunspor 15 2 5 8 9-18 11
18 Ankaragucu 15 1 3 11 15-31 6

Besiktas coach and seven others released from jail in match-fixing probe

Good news to Besiktas fans and some others ....

Besiktas Deputy Chairman Serdar Adalı, Besiktas protocol and security chief Ahmet Ates, coach
Tayfur Havutcu, İstanbul Büyüksehir Belediyespor (İBB) players Ibrahim Akın and İskender Alın,

Sivasspor goalkeeper Korcan Celikay and Diyarbakırspor player Abdurrahman Yakut, who were released.

But, this does not mean they are of the hook ,just yet!

They are still suspect in the Turkish football scandal...

They will wait for their day in the court...

The trials will start on February 14,2012!

However, the suspects have been prohibited from traveling outside of the country.

After Turkish president Abdullah Gul, signs the new Law , there will be more releases from custody pending trial....

Parliament passed a law at the weekend reducing prison sentences for match-rigging from a maximum 12 years to three years!

There are now 23 jailed suspects out of a total of 93 suspects in the investigation, and 14 players stand accused for their alleged involvement in the match-fixing scandal.

What is so interesting , European football's ruling body UEFA has yet to comment on the latest developments in the case!

WE are waiting......

Trabzonspor did it, Inter did not!

Let me say this before I say anything...

Trabzonspor and Trabzonspor fans will never forget Inter Milan!

The score came out of Milan in the last minutes of the match, against CSKA Moscow ,really hurt Trabzonspor and their fans...

Let's not forget ,Trabzonspor is the only team who got four points from Inter in this group...

Maybe just because of that, Inter Milan did not want Trabzon in Champions League anymore!

Going down to CSKA in the very last minutes was not pleasant!


On the other hand, I wrote it here, before the match, a lot of pundits in Europe thought , Lille was going with Inter !

They were fooled by Trabzonspor and Inter too.....

But, Trabzonspor had a Turkish wall with Tolga Zengin guard in the goal!

Lille, could not go through that Turkish wall.......

Goalkeeper Tolga Zengin made some huge saves as Trabzonspor scraped a 0-0 draw at Lille that put Trabzonspor and Lille out of the Champions League.


Lille finished bottom of Group B and failed to even qualify for the Europa League,while Trabzonspor earned a spot in the Europa League!


Tolga Zengin kept out attacks from Moussa Sow and Eden Hazard, and it looked like Trabzonspor was heading into the next round until CSKA's late goal secured a 2-1 win at Inter.


That was bad news for Trabzonspor and Trabzonspor fans!


But, I could say this being there for the first time, Trabzonspor did well..

After Manchester teams and some of the Europe big names eliminated from Champions League, I think , Trabzonspor will have a better competition in the the Europa League..

After all, Trabzonspor still in Europe.....