Galatasaray SK: 1 match behind closed doors, 1 match played away from Istanbul.
Adnan Polat: 45 day ban
Arda: 3 match ban
Emre Aşık: 2 match ban
Sabri Sarıoğlu: 2 match ban

Fenerbahçe: “Enough to buy a football or two” fine
The Uruguayan Bastard: 5 matches
Animal: 3 matches
Semih Şentürk: 3 matches

Of course these punishments are all bullshit. Must I remind everyone that NO blood was shed, NO weapons were used, and that NO punches were actually landed (Arda’s handbag doesn’t count).

I don’t understand what Emre’s crime was. The man was beaten up by Lugano and yet he sees both a red card and a 2 match ban. No my friends that’s not just any BS, that’s Turkish BS. Arda was attacked from behind by Semih and for throwing his arms around, he sees a red card and a 3 match ban. And finally Sabri did not commit a single red card offense during the match and so the referee doesnt punish him with a red card. And yet the Federation punishes him with a 2 match ban.

And can someone please tell me why Lugano isn’t being banned for at least 5 months? In every match he plays in, he either stomps on an opponent’s foot, bashes them with his elbow, and of course his endless cursing towards the referees (although to be fair, most of them deserve it).

Volkan “The Animal” Demirel should have been banned from Turkish football. If Nouma was banned because of his “tombala”, then why shouldn’t Volkan be banned too. Both have disgusting records of unprofessional actions and now Volkan has gone one step further by comitting an indecent and lewd act, something illegal where I come from.

But thankfully our two stooges Adnan Sezgin and Haldun Ustunel have publically declared that they will appeal the verdicts. Heres what the punishments should be reduced too:

Galatasaray: No Punishment
Arda: 1 match ban
Emre Asik: No punishment
Sabri: No punishment

And I guess Semih should be given a 1 match ban only.

But we all know that the Federation won’t do anything favorable for us. They’ve already screwed our season over with their referees, why would they do anything that might give us even the slightest of chances to mount a title comeback?

Our little boys to grow a sac and start playing like men

I have to be there when this stadium is inaugurated. I wonder if they’ll give Hakan Sukur the testimonial he so deserves.

SİVASSPOR:2 GALATASARAY:0

Goals: min. 51 Abdurrahman, min. 66 Sezer
Red Cards: Ümit Karan
Yellow Cards: Yaser, Emre, Sabri

There was no football being played. For the first half, Galatasaray dominated game play with Sivasspor putting 11 players behind the ball and us trying to take advantage of the slightest of gaps in the Sivasspor defense (team). Of course that came to nothing.

However the linesman had a different plan for the night, to make sure Galatasaray would drop points today. After first calling Milan on the slightest of offsides, he decided to have a go at Umit Karan. After a blatant foul was not awarded, Umit suffering from the pain of slamming down onto the rock hard icy pitch, decided to swing at the ice. Apparently the linesman didn’t like that a couple of drops of water wettened his uniform and decided to call over the referee to send off Umit with a red card.

The referee would later claim that Umit Karan cursed at him despite the linesman repetitvely told other players that he was wettened from Umits attack on the ice. Video evidence prove that Umit didn’t curse at him.

The second half began with a Sivasspor counter attack which was turned into a goal after a blatant offside, which wasn’t called by the same linesman that ejected Umit, and a defensive breakdown by our makeshift defenders. Sivasspor continued to play their negative defensive football and found a second goal after another counter attack in which the ball bounced on the ice and ended in front of a Sivasspor player who turned in for a goal. 2-0 to Sivas which puts them four points ahead of us at the top of the table and gave them their first win over us since they first reached the top tier of Turkish football.

While the Turkish media are clammering about how Sivas just might win the title after this performance, I think this match is prime proof of why Sivas is not going to win the title. They did NOTHING to win the match and if it wasn’t for the retarded referees and the third-world stadiums, Galatasaray would have gone on to defeat Sivas. Let’s not forget that the team was made up of young Turkish players and De Sanctis. I guess this was the only way Sivas would ever defeat us. Through sheer luck and fortune. I hope we get the chance to relegate them next year, or even better, the last game of the season for us will be at home against Sivasspor. Hopefully we can celebrate with Sivas as our “distinguished guests”.

Despite this loss, Im still very optomistic. We’re only four points behind the pretenders and two behind the deluded fools. As long as we continue with our hot streak that we had before this debacle, we will soon be where we belong, at the top.

I agree that the players performances’ were terrible, but is Skibbe completely free from blame? Hell no! After using a very succesful lineup against Trabzon and Olympiakos, Skibbe decided to return to a double forward system with Nonda coming in for Lincoln. Why did the Skibbe do this? It’s a basic rule in football that if it’s not broken, don’t touch it.

If you are going to play two forwards, why would you play Nonda? We all know that Nonda, while a great player in different ways, is very slow and there would be no way he could cope with the energetic Eskisehir defense. Why not play Umit Karan, or even the youngster Yaser Yildiz. Which brings me to another point…

If Skibbe knew anything about the Turkish league its that the Anatolian teams play “to the death” against the big teams in their own stadiums. Our foreign players are for the most part, slow and unmotivated to the degree that our opponents are. So why not play the youngsters? (You can find youngsters in the youth academy so don’t tell me there all injured) Im sure Yaser would have done everything he could to get his first league goal against Eskisehir. It’s obvious that after months of being in charge of the team, Skibbe still does not fully comprehend how the Turkish league works.

Of course the players are also to blame, but it’s becoming more and more obvious that there dip in form is due to Skibbe’s poor management of the team. This year discipline has completely broken down. We have seen players almost going fist on fist against each other (Lincoln and the team idiot Sabri), we have seen players completely disrespect the refreees desicions (Arda, Umit, Ayhan), and a complete lack of a captain (Umit was injured, Hasan’s career has been ended by his surgery, and Ayhan’s total inability to lead this team to greater things).

Skibbe is too young and inexperienced for this job. Last year we had Hakan Sukur, Okan Buruk, and Hasan Sas all working together to make sure the team did their best to win. After their departure the board (once again) failed to fill in their place. I think it’s time for another fresh change. We need someone who can lead this club out of love for the club, and with the knowledge to actually win. We need someone who knows what it means to put on that yellow-red and get out and play. We need a CimBom legend.

Possible candidates:

1. Arif Erdem- Asisstant manager at I.B.B. to Abdullah Avci. Has learned much from Avci’s intelligent aggressive play and it might be time for him to move on to full managership. Maybe a move first to an Anatolian team is necessary.

2. Suat Kaya- Manager of Orduspor and led Ordu on a succesful campaign in last year’s campaign in the second league, only narrowly missing out on promotion. Has been working with many young Galatasaray players.

3. Bulent Korkmaz- Has already managed Kayeri Erciyesspor, Bursaspor, and Genclerbirligi, resigning every time. Almost achieved the impossible with Erciyes, taking them from a terrible first half to just missing out on staying in the league. Made great trasnfers and played very agressive football with Bursa after resigning after a spell on unlucky defeats. Currently attending professional courses in England.

4. Tolunay Kafkas- Current manager of Kayserispor. Continued Ertugrul Saglam’s succesful side and won the 2008 Turkish Cup. Is succesful against big clubs and is a very stern tactician but understands the hearts and minds of his players. My pick for the job.

5. Hakan Sukur- Just because that’s what the fans want.

KOCAELİSPOR: 1 – GALATASARAY: 4

Yellow Cards: min. 31 Serdar Kulbilge, min. 45 Bülent (Kocaelispor)

The line-up was as many expected as Galatasaray had several injured players such as Arda Turan, Umit Karan, and Mehmet Topal were all out. The starting 11 had 6 foreigners, something unheard of for Galatasaray. The game started off badly for the Lions as they conceeded a mircale goal to Kocaelispor in the 10th minute. For the rest of the first half they struggled to break Kocaeli’s defensive line of 11 players. In the 31 minute, Lincoln made a pinpoint cross to Shabani nonda who headed the ball down for Milan Baros’ first goal in a yellow-red uniform.

The Fenerli’s like to claim that to be a real player for Fenerbahce, you’ve gotta score against Galatasaray. The Besiktasli’s like to say that you can’t become a Besiktasli player, you’ve gotta be born one. What do we say? Just put on that uniform and understand how valuable it is (”O Formanin degerini bileceksin. O forma herkese nasip olmaz!!!!!”). And so with his first goal in his first match with Galatasaray, I’d like to welcome Baros to the family.

The second half started with Nonda missing more chance including one that could be up there as one of the worst misses in footballing history. (How the hell do you miss from 4 meters out???? Give me the money that he makes and I’ll score it for him!) And yet he managed to get another pinpoint cross from Lincoln, control it expertly on his first touch, and then slam it into the top left corner. Quite frankly I’d prefer him missing that instead of the 4 meter screwup.

After falling behind, Kocaeli realized that defending anymore would not help them, and they began to abandon their tactic of lining up 11 men in front of the goalposts and actually tried to get forward. And as expected, the Galatasaray forwards tore them apart with two more goals, one coming after a great pass from youngster Alpaslan Erdem to Milan Baros who scored his second goal and a final goal from Harry Kewell who managed to lay a defender to the ground and snipe it into the bottom right corner.

It’s plain to see that the squads playing better than before, but theres definitely room for improvement. For one, the defense is still making simple mistakes which have consequences on the teams performance. After conceding the early goal, the entire team began to panic and make more mistakes up front. But once we got ahead, the forward line tore apart the Kocaeli defense. This is what we need to replicate every match. We need to get in front so our opponents do not have the luxury of defending with 11 men. In addition, getting in front will raise morale and allow our superior squad to easily score against the weaker Anatolian teams.

One final comment. For over a year, many people and the Turkish media have criticized Lincoln for underperforming to the point that they have called for his transfer out of Galatasaray. For the past two matches, Lincoln has been performing very well and is scoring goals and providing them. He’s also applying himself in training to get himself in form for the team. I really hope that Lincoln will soon return to his old ways and become the superstar we all know he can be.

Goals:: Lustrinelli (min.. 32), Kewell (min. 39), Gürkan (min. 47), Baros (min. 51, 80)
Yellow Cards: Kewell, Meira, Diarra
Red Card: Gashi

The yellow-reds just completely dominated gameplay. Passes were good, opposing players were passed by with easy, the team showed that they wanted to win the match. However from the start they began to miss. Nonda had a pretty hard day as his lack of speed showed itself today on the pitch. And as we all know, if you don’t score, you’ll be scored upon. Bellinzona took a 1-0 lead after the defense made another hash of an ball they should of handled easily.

And Galatasaray once again began where they left off, as Nonda missed his third easy chance for goal. However it was Harry Kewell who stepped in for the team as he masterfully took control of a long passs then slammed it into the far right side netting from just outside the penalty box. The second half started off with another defense idiocy as Gurkan Semter, a Swiss player of Turkish descent, scored an easy goal.

Finally Lincoln was put oto the match and he immeidatly began playing reat football. In the 51st min. his great cross was met by Milan Baros’ head for Milan’s first goal with the Lions. A Bellinzona player saw a red card after kicking out as Emre Asik in the 60th minute. Perhaps this is what really changed the game as Bellinzona decided that the 2-2 draw would be good enough for them and began to play with a more defense-oriented gameplan. In the 80th min. a huge and costly mistake by the Bellinzona defense was intercepted by Milan Baros who managed to round the keeper and score Galatasaray’s third goal of the night.

However what is a Galatasaray without a late match goalfest? In the 89th minute Bellinzona tied the match up at 3-3 after a corner kick that was meat by a Bellinzona player. Finally in the 90+4 minute Lincoln managed to take a long range shot which found the net and saved the team. Mind you this is not the only time Lincoln has scored a dramatic game-winning goal from yards out.

Some small points:

1. Milan Baros- On his first match in the starting 11, Milan scored two very well taken goals. His speed and agility were second to none on the pitch. For us to get the best out of Milan we need Lincoln to deliver more of those sweet, sweet through balls for Milan to run to and score.

2. Lincoln- Speaking of the devil, Lincoln had a really great performance out there. His through balls were excellent and he once again saved his team with a long range goal. Let’s hope this will be what is needed for him to once again get back to his old form.

3. The defense minus Meira- The defense was horrific today. Bellinzona only attacked us four times in the entire 90 minutes of the game and yet they scored three goals. You just can’t concede three goals and hope to seriously challenge for the UEFA Cup.

-Swiss club founded in 1904 (one year before Galatasaray) based in the beautiful alpine town of Bellinzona.

-Galatasaray legend Kubilay Turkyilmaz played for Bellinzona back in 2000 in the final stages of his career

For Galatasaray to play against Swiss opposition is something a bit important for us fans. It is said that the origin of Galatasaray’s nickname “CimBom” is in Switzerland. According to legend, a couple of students from the Galatasaray Lycium went on a trip to Switzerland where they watched a football match. The students heard the Swiss fans shouting “Jim Bom! Jim Bom! Jim Bom!”. When they returned to Istanbul they decided to use that chant as a nickname for their school’s football team, and it stuck to this day.

Galatsaray coach Michael Skibbe is expected to make a couple of changes to the team roster, especially after Hasan Sas’ suspension and Arda’s injury.

Goalie: Morgan de Sanctis
Defense: Serkan Kurtulus, Fernando Meira, Servet Cetin, Volkan Yaman
Midfield: Harry Kewell, Ayhan Akman, Aydin Yilmaz, Lincoln
Forwards: Shabani Nonda, Milan Baros

I can’t really say that I disagree with the lineup. Umit Karan has been very lackluster these past couple of weeks and maybe its time to sit him on the bench. One very big question mark is Serkan Kurtulus, the 18 year old right back who hasnt seen first team action yet. This match just might be able to spark his career if he is able to have a good match. However his young age could backfire if he isnt careful.

Instead of saying that I expect Galatasaray to win, I’m going to say that I am expecting Galatasaray to win 3-0. They just have to. Bellinzona just isn’t a real rival to us. The difference in quality should be enough to see us go through. However as the Bellinzona manager stated: “Football is filled with surprises”. The team needs to be aware of their opponents, not take them ligtly, and do the job they’re being paid to do.

Metin Oktay

The classic Galatasaray uniform. Half red, half yellow. Ever since the league began in 1957, the players have been wearing this uniform. The jersey has been dedicated to the legendary Galatasaray forward Metin Oktay who played for the team around the same time as the league started. My pick for the best uniform.

White

This year the white jersey has gone through a bit of a transformation with the addition of a yellow-red stripe to go along the right hand side. Not my type though. If they just left the stripe out it would be a clean uniform that I would love to have as my second uniform. But the stripe, while it adds the CimBom factor, isn’t someting that I personally like.

Striped

This is something new by the manufacturers. Galatasaray always had a uniform which had yellow-red stripes comeing down, but this is the first time that a uniform only has three stripes with two yellows sandwiching a red. According to the club website, the team will use this uniform primarily in the European theater. A good uniform in my opinion.

Orange

A week before the end of the season, club president Adnan Polat revealed that he would like to see an Oranje uniform next season. His reason? He always loved watching the Holland national team and wished to see his team one day wear an orange jersey. And well the pres always gets what he wants. Galatasaray have worn several colors before, red, yellow, yellow-red, black, gray, white, but this is the first time that Orange will be used. I assume that the orange uniform was chosen in the place of a black one.