Galatasaray goes Oranje

By: Musab | June 6th, 2009

After all the whining and name calling over who will be our next manager, the 46 year old Dutchman Frank Rijkaard put ink to paper on a 2 year deal yesterday to great fanfare by the media and fans. Frank Rijkaard is a man who needs no introduction with a very distinguished footballing career. After coming through the Ajax youth system, he eventually made the move to Italian giants A.C Milan where he was part of the magic Dutch trio along with Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten.

As a manager he coached the Dutch National Team before moving onto Sparta Rotterdam and then to the Catalan giants Barcelona. At Barcelona he formed the club’s playing style to how he saw fit, even though it took some time for his tactics to take hold. He insisted on a 4-3-3 style formation with the two wingers also coming into the penalty box to join in the attack. By playing a methodical passing game, Barcelona was able to both play attractive football which brought the fans to the stadium, and defeat their opponents through sheer quality.

Rijkaard is the one who brought Ronaldinho to the club and fashion him into the superstar he was during his heyday. He’s the one that pulled Messi into the first team and give him the chance to develop at a young age. He brought in top class players such as Samuel Eto’o, Deco, and Rafa Marquez. He was able to get the best out of the youth system product players such as Carles Puyol, Xavi, and Iniesta. After forming the team he wanted, he went on to win two La Liga titles, two Spanish Cups, and the 05/06 Champions League title. Without a doubt, Frank Rijkaard has all the credentials.

So how will this affect our club? I would argue that it isn’t going to be too hard for Rijkaard to bring the same kind of change he brought to Barcelona to our club. He will most likely build the team around our own superstar Arda Turan, just as he built Barca around Ronaldinho. I expect him to use Milan Baros as our lone striker and for Arda and Kewell to come into help them. That would effectively be our “forward 3″.

The next part of the equation is the “middle 3″. So far the only player that I can confidently say will have a place in this three is Mehmet Topal. Will Ayhan be able to match this year’s performance? Rijkaard will probably make that decision during this summers training camp. Another question mark is whether or not Lincoln will have a place in this team. Quite frankly, he doesn’t deserve it all. If it was up to me he would be sent off as soon as possible. However theres every chance that Lincoln might feel the great need to impress his new manager. Another decision Rijkaard will have to make this summer. Other possibilities for the “middle three” include Tobias Linderoth (if he ever returns from the hospital), Baris Ozbek, Aydin Yilmaz, Mustafa Sarp, or of course we could always go shopping for a new player.

The final piece in the jigsaw is the “back four”. We can say with confidence that Hakan Balta will start as left back and Servet will play as central defender. However I believe that we will need to go shopping for a new central defender, preferebly an expensive (I’m talking around 10 million Euros), superstar central defender. I’ll leave the name of that signing to Rijkaard himself. Ugur Ucar would be my choice to start Right back, along with his number 3 jersey, but Serkan Kurtulus might be able to surprise us this season. One thing is certain, Sabri has no place in this squad and he needs to understand that. If he’s content with sitting on the bench and keeping his mouth shut, he’s welcome to stay. If not, he can piss off.

I guess if we can get a good goalkeeper on the cheap, we should get him. Leo Franco’s a name that get thrown around a lot. He would be ideal, but I doubt he will actually come. Otherwise I guess it’s back to Aykut and Orkun again.

As I’ve laid out, Rijkaard will only need to make one signing, a central defender, but he probably will want to make a couple of his own signings so that he can put an imprint on the squad. I’m very optimistic for the future of this club. Rijkaard is the kind of big name this team needs to reach its full potential.

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