What happened in Turkish football in 2019? 31/12/2019

Turkish National Team without doubt is being team of the year in Turkey.

With this blog entry would be focussing specifically into best teams and clubs of 2019, it would be silly not to talk about Turkish National Team which didnt only get ticket to Euro 2020, but did get this result in very impressive manner including beating France at home and drawing away.

With Turkey being relegated during Nations League with Mircea Lucescu in 2018, there wasnt much expectations for Turkey prior to start of Euro 2020 qualifiers but with them starting and Senol Gunes being appointed as head coach, Turkey has provided one of the strongest performance at qualifies especially at defence with conceding among least at all qualifiers. With domestic clubs not going through best period in its recent history, seen by league quality and European outcomes, the reason why national team provided such historical performance was due of players playing around Europe, which includes Merih Demiral, Caglar Soyuncu, Cengiz Under among many others. Without losing to holding World Cup winners France, Turkey does provide high expectation for Euro 2020 and has gained trust from public since Euro 2016.

Surely, our page and blog would especially focus from spring months into Turkey and Euro 2020 hoping it would be great year for them which would lead to London.

Basaksehirspor has shown great all-round performance despite losing title.

Even through it could be argued that team which was leading for 8 points during last season but still didnt get league title shouldnt be seen among best clubs of the year, it needs to be noted that its did have good performance when looking in the year overall, possibly best in whole Super League,

The fact that its being only Turkish club in European competition to play in February, proves the fact for sure. It needs to be noted that if this article has been written early September, then this would not be considered as team as been mentioned didnt win title with 8 points advantage and had bad start with Okan Buruk. But Basaksehirspor didnt lose 15 weeks in the Super League and provided confident strong performance in the Europa League and currently being among title contenders when season would restart. It does need to be mentioned that in this season it could solve lack of fans with its Europa League campaign with getting some fans as it already got lots of sympathy with its recent results in the team. It is hard to state if it would be strong enough for getting title but Okan Buruk does provide lots of hope for future of the team for sure.

Basaksehirspor could be team to look for 2020 as team carries on moving forward with providing strong successes with raising aims with Okan Buruk.

Galatasaray did have mixture of season but their are title holders.

Even more questionable addition of in this list would be Galatasaray since its very poor performance at league and Champions League this season but it did get league title in the end of the previous season.

It is hard to state that Galatasaray did provide great performance even during 2nd half of the season but it did show strong attitude to win title which has been lacked among Basaksehirpsor among others in the end of the season. Actually there was question if 3rd team should be Sivasspor but again its only season half performance and still didnt get outcome in the end of the season but surely it needs to be praised a lot. Galatasaray did also get Radamel Falcao during summer transfer window which could be seen as success from club administrators but player didnt yet fulfill his expectations but in all fairness he was injured for long period of time. Coming to next year, Galatasaray does aim for league title for next season but it would be much tougher for them for sure as their many contenders.

Galatasaray did have mixture season which performance wise could be seen but winning title naturally does put them among best of 2019.

In other news:

- PFDK referalls:
- Besiktas, Kasimpasa, Galatasaray, Gaziantep,Fenerbahce has been referred for behavior of fans.
- Genclerbirligi player Nadir Ciftci has been referred for swearing and anti-sportmanship behavior.
- Genclerbirligi player Yasin Pehlivan has been referred for breaking rules.
- Ankaragucu and Yeni Malatyaspor has been referred for behaviour of fans and events at field.
- Denizlispor player Modou Barrow has been referred for breaking rule and anti-sportmanship behaviour.
- Trabzonspor has been referred for not following guidelines.
- Yeni Malatyaspor player Adis Jahovic has been referred for breaking rules.
-Rizespor has been referred for behaviour of fans and not following guidelines.

- Antalyaspor has terminated contract with its head coach Stjepan Tomas.

- Galatasaray has announced that it has become again sole owner of Metin Oktay facilities in Florya

- Besiktas has stated that TFF announced limit for 2019-20 to the club of 31.5 from finances spending is being too low for them and would need to be revised.

-Rizespor has transferred Pazarspor player Mithat Pala for 4.5 years

- RBLeipzig sports director Markus Krosche has stated that club made transfer deal but added that some financial documents needs to be sorted.

- Trabzonspor has transferred Stoke City player Badou Ndiaye.

- Konyaspor has stated that it doesnt consider to end contract with its head coach Aykut Kocaman.

- Lazio are interested to transfer Galatasaray player Emre Mor.

- Fenerbahce are interested to transfer Olympique Lyon player Marcelo.

- Fenerbahce has started transfer negotiations Bayern Munich player Jerome Boateng.

- Galatasaray will not sell its player Jean Michael Seri during mid-season transfer window

- Galatasaray are interested to transfer Velez Sarsfield player Luis Abram

What happened in Turkish football today? 30/12/2019

Fenerbahce needs to perform away game performance even if it won this time.

Fenerbahce has managed to beat Rizespor with 2:1 scoreline during Super League 17th week game which has been also last official game of 2019 and would be entering to mid-season with 6 points behind leaders Sivasspor.

It needs to be noted that even through Fenerbahce did get very important win for them with keeping them at title race, it didnt provide good performance which was visible during away games during this season so far. Without doubt Jailson goal at 70th minute, which more or less what team needed looking at how has been developing did save them 2 points and look at 2nd half of the season. In fact, our blog during those games did state several times that during closed defence one of the ways is to provide creative kind of game and this brave shot is one ways to solve this issue. Despite of that, its hard to state in overall Fenerbahce didnt provide too much creative game and even through it did control ball for whole game, it was tactic for Rizespor to let Fenerbahce have ball and not go forward, which it did succeed despite of loss. Fenerbahce needs to solve its away game issue during mid-season break if it wants to fight for league title until end.

Fenerbahce did get important win but their are areas which it needs to improve gamewise for 2nd half of season.

Trabzonspor head coach Unal Karaman has left side due of misunderstanding.

One of the most unexpected news and shocking development since yesterday evening without doubt has been news that Trabzonspor head coach decided to live club following disagreements with club administrators.

Despite of Trabzonspor entering to mid-season break with 5 points behind league leaders Sivasspor, it did recieve some of the criticism such as not being able to keep its winning scoreline until end of the game and also to much defensive performance during 2nd half of games. Trabzonspor CEO Ahmet Agaoglu in announcement, stated that he noted beforehand that he is willing to take all responsibility for such poor performance of the team but it does look that Karaman did take this statement as direct criticism to himself, and with also events happening inside club has led him for resignation. It does look that this could be seen in way as "if you dont want me, I will not be staying". It needs to be noted that even through club didnt show perfect game for sure, with injuries and some other issues club is right now it did get very good performance with such circumstance, and there is big question if other coach who would take place of Karaman would be able to fill his space.

Unal Karaman did respectful things during his stay at club and there are questions if someone would be able to repeat those results as coach.

Kayserispor has appointed Robert Prosinecki as club's head coach.

Kayserispor has appointed Robert Prosinecki as club's head coach until end of the season, as he would be returning to club where he left some mark 6 years ago.

Without doubt Robert Prosinecki, would be coming to club which does have some issues not only inside field, as it is currently being last place and not providing promising football, but also internal due of financial condition it is right now and hence issues for paying some salaries to people involved with team. With all this factor, Prosinecki needs to make strong competitive team for this league prior to restart of the season. He can achieve that and keep side at top league in the end of the season, but it wont be easy task for him for sure. Other note, is that Kayserispor did sack 3 head coaches in such short notice and does need to provide some patience with Prosinecki even if results would not come in the way as been stated is not easy task.

Robert Prosinecki would have difficult task to make side competitive strong but he and club need to believe that it can happen.

In other news:

- Sivasspor mid-season training camp will take place in Antalya between 4th-11th January where it would be playing friendly against Waldhof Mannheim.

- Basaksehirspor would have mid-season training camp in Antalya between 5-15th January, where it would play 2 friendlies:
-9/01: Fortuna Sittard
- 11/01: Young Boys.
- Konyaspor head coach Aykut Kocaman wants to live club but administration wants to keep him in position.

- Besiktas are interested to transfer Alanyaspor player N'Sakala

- Kayserispor head coach Robert Prosincki doesnt consider to sell Bernard Mensah during mid-season transfer window and like to transfer one winger, two midfielders, and defender.

- Galatasaray are interested to transfer Nice player Hatem Ben Arfa

- Galatasaray are close to transfer Eskisehirspor player Jesse Sekidika

- Fenerbahce are interested to transfer Olympique Marseille player Dimitri Payet, Manchester United player Marcos Rojo,

- Besiktas are interested to transfer Tolga Zengin.

- Antalyaspor are interested to appoint Hikmet Karaman as club's head coach.

- Antalyaspor has made loan deal with Sochi player Fedor Kudryashov for 1.5 years

- Santos are interested to transfer Kasimpasa player Ricardo Quaresma

- Trabzonspor are interested to transfer Sevilla player Simon Kjaer

What happened in Turkish football today? 29/12/2019

Fenerbahce has got important win but didnt provide much effective game against Rizespor.

Fenerbahce has ended 2019 with important win against Rizespor during Super League 17th week with providing not very strong performance with lack of the chances for both sides and did been played in pretty slow tempo.

Fenerbahce without doubt did provide game with focus to win game but it needs to be noted that Rizespor in other side did provide slow and closed game so the result without doubt did come from differences between quality of players from Deniz Turuc from free-kick and long distance, surely one of the goals of the season from Jailson did lead for team to win. Still, Fenerbahce has provided ineffective performance during this season at away games with providing slow tempo game without much creativity. It is true that it was important for 3 points in away game, especially when it did get win during last 4 games but it needs to be aware that it needs to focus into improving this performance and provide strong game which it has showed during home games. Still, Fenerbahce is being 6 points from league leaders and being at title race.

Rizespor meanwhile even through did get good goal from corner which it has practiced in training session for this game, but in overall did provide organised game in general and let Fenerbahce to get ball while reducing tempo of the game.

With Fenerbahce entering to mid-season period, it would need to focus especially to improve its performance in away game for its league title aim, while Rizespor needs to provide much brave game.

Trabzonspor needs to improve its defence in break.

Trabzonspor has ended 2019 and also 1st half of this season at high note with beating last place Kayserispor with 6:2 scoreline despite of still continuing to concede goals at almost every game during this season.

Trabzonspor from start of the game has made it clear to their opponents who are having nightmare season that it wont be going easy on them with providing strong and confident game, going forward looking for chances and scoring at 7th minute thanks to league most goalscorer, who with last goal of the game, has found 12 goals. It needs to be noted that Trabzonspor especially at front has provided confident attacking game but key player has been Sorloth who also provided good assist to Daniel Sturridge. Despite of confident scoreline, with conceding 2 goals does make it clear that side carries on having issues at defence and would need to find solutions for it during mid-season training break. Still as head coach Unal Karaman he would be glad with how side has performed during this season and game.

Trabzonspor is showing good performance but team would need to improve its defence game to get league title in the end of the season.

Galatasaray ends 2019 at high note.

Galatasaray has provided its best performance during this season in its last game of 2019 with beating Antalyaspor with 5:0 scoreline with showing strong confident collective game.

Without doubt this game would been provided some hope for 2nd half of the season, with Fatih Terim possibly, without including new signing, has found best 11 squad as players did provide strong understanding between each other with Falcao and Taylan Antalyali. Stating that, it does raise questions if this performance has been only showing for 1 game especially taking account how poorly and ineffective did Antalyaspor performed on the night. Still, Galatasaray did provide poorer game performance against, to all respect, with teams which were in poorer condition so it is clear Galatasaray did provide improvement, but time would show if this is being one off. Taylan Antalyali very likely with this game did secure his place at starting 11 unless some unexpected turn of events would take place.

Galatasaray this win which was unexpected with recent performance of team would provide some optimism for 2nd half of season but again it needs to go through revision in break due of overall poor performance.

Results:
Turkish Super League, 17th week:
Sivasspor 1:0 Goztepe
Alanyaspor 2:1 Konyaspor
Gaziantep 1:1 Yeni Malatyaspor
Rizespor 1:2 Fenerbahce

In other news:

- RobertProsinecki has been appointed as Kayserispor head coach until end of the season

- FatihIbradi has been appointed as Gaziantep sports director.

- Trabzonspor administration is reported to be unhappy and have disagreements with its head coach Unal Karaman but their is no resignation or termination of contract.

- Fenerbahce has offered 3-year contract to PSG player Choupo Moting

- BayernMunich, Sevilla and Everton are interested to transfer Roma player Cengiz Under.

- Fenerbahce are interested to transfer Basaksehirspor player Arda Turan

- Schalke04 are interested to transfer Juventus player Merih Demiral

- Galatasaray has declined Kayserispor offer to purchase their player Taylan Antalyali for Bernard Mensah and has offered Jimmy Durmaz, Yunus Akgun and Emre Tasdemir+money instead

What happened in Turkish football today? 28/12/2019

Trabzonspor has got strong and confident scoreline against Kayserispor.

As been expected prior to game, Trabzonspor has been expected to be having comfortable result during Super League 17th week game against Kayserispor, and their got 6:2 scoreline and would enter to 2020 with high hopes for league title.

Trabzonspor did start game with attacks back to back aiming to get an early goal as it would provide much more comfortable game since opponents with such condition tend to provide strong defensive game.With providing back-to-back attacks it didnt manage to find crucial goal at 7th minute from Alexander Sorloth who tends to be player to find 1st goal for his team. It needs to be noted that Sorloth did provide in overall high level performance with providing creative game looking for chances and converting them, as whole team did provide confident attacking game. But it needs to be noted that Trabzonspor continues to conceding goals as it did concede 2 goals tonight and taking with Kayserispor it does provide that it does have some serious defence issues with all respect to its opponent. With 2 goals scored coming to game, Sorloth found another goal and become most goalscorer in the league.

Kayserispor it needs to be remembered did come out with very poor condition without head coach and other internal issue and hence it would be reasonable to provide empathy but it is clear 2nd half would be tough one for them.

Trabzonspor did get confident win against with scoring 6 goals and for sure would be looking for 2020 with high optimism and aims.

Galatasaray has shown its best and agressive in last game of half.

Galatasaray has joined into habit of big teams last week of 2019 of getting confident scoreline against its opponent, as it has get 5:0 scoreline against Antalyaspor with providing its best performance of season.

Its been noted that it was important for Galatasaray which in overall did have very dissapointing performance during this season, to end calendar year and entering to mid-season break to regain confidence with strong performance and good scoreline. It could be argued that Antalyaspor didnt provide good performance during game, but in many cases it was Galatasaray who provided very bad games so it was important for them to provide such good game. It needs to be given specific note to Taylan Antalyali who looked for chances and created ones hence providing his role as being important role to head coach Fatih Terim who in all fairness didnt provide him playing time as much as he deserved in his level of player. Surely, Taylan Antalyali would be recieving more time in 2nd half of the season providing strong view that he is in level to be regular 11 in this team. It was also crucial for Radamel Falcao to find 2 goals in this game to regain confidence for 2nd half of the season.

Antalyaspor on their half couldnt provide very good game without providing much threat especially in 1st half and when it did show some attacking game in 2nd half it was too late to show this reaction. It does look that team would need to identify and find solutions for 2nd half.

Galatasaray did get important win with confident scoreline which it needed more in sense of mentally and surely lead team to look more for 2nd half of the season in much positive manner.

Hutchinson has beat Genclerbirligi alone with taking leadership role.

Besiktas player Atiba Hutchinson has once again showed role of leader at his team as he played most important role with 3 assists and 1 goal against during last week of Super League prior to New Year break.

With taking account that Genclerbirligi was played with 9 men from 30 minutes and winning game in start of 2nd half, it is hard to state that Besiktas did provide good performance at least until their have scored its first goal. With things going as their didnt wish even through it did have possession and extra 2 player advantage, it did need some kind of player who would change role of game. This player without doubt has been Atiba Hutchinson who has turned around game entirely taking leading role with providing great assists which included some with difficult conditions. In fact, if he didnt score he would be still selected as player of the game by long distance but it was pleasant for game to end with his goal also. Despite of scoreline, it needs to be admitted that Besiktas did have some difficult time before scoring and after celebration New Year Eve it would need to go through this issue during mid-season training camp if it wants to get league title this season.

Besiktas player Atiba Hutchinson without doubt did take leadership role and has won more or less single handedly Genclerbirligi and let team enter to break with good mood.

Results:
Turkish Super League, 17th week:
Ankaragucu 2:2 Denizlispor
Basaksehirspor 5:1 Kasimpasa
Trabzonspor 6:2 Kayserispor
Galatasaray 5:0 Antalyaspor

Schedule:
Turkish Super League, 17th week:
14:00 Sivasspor - Goztepe
16:30 Alanyaspor - Konyaspor
16:30 Gaziantep - Yeni Malatyaspor
19:00 Rizespor - Fenerbahce

In other news:

- Trabzonspor player Ugurcan Cakir has become injured during Super League 17th week game against Ugurcan Cakir.

- YeniMalatyaspor player Gokhan Tore will not play against Gaziantep due of injury.

- Fenerbahce are interested to transfer Goztepe player Alpaslan Ozturk

- Genoa considers to sell its player Sinan Gumus during mid-season transfer window.

-- Everton are interested to transfer Galatasaray player Jean Michael Seri

- Fenerbahce has started transfer negotiations with PSG player Choupo Moting

- Monaco are interested to transfer Fenerbahce player Vedat Muriqi.

What happened in Turkish football today? 27/12/2019

Besiktas ends 2019 with confident win.

Besiktas has completed 2019 with a win against Genclerbirligi during Super League 17th week with 4:1 scoreline, thanks to goals scored during 2nd half with great performance from Atiba Hutchinson.

It needs to be noted that Besiktas even through did look like to be side which was controlling ball during 1st half, it didnt create much chances and has played game which was suitable to Genclerbirligi. It always needs to be noted, that Genclerbirligi also got 2 red cards in 1st half and in fact with did find its goal when has been played with 10 men. Things did change dramatically during 2nd half with Atiba Hutchinson becoming main star of the game by long distance with providing 3 assists and scoring 1 goal and hence provided new year present to everyone involved with club with 3 points and provided some confidence prior to mid-season break with side would be preparing for 2nd half with much better mood taking account it has lost some points in previous games. It needs to be noted that Besiktas all players also raised its performance during 2nd half. It was important for them to turn around game since Genclerbirligi did start 2nd half in good mood and concentration despite being 9 men.

Genclerbirligi does need to praised to provide good performance for 2nd part of 1st half until it conceded 1st goal from Besiktas as it been shown strong concentration during game but did lose concentration its focus and motivation when started conceding goals.

Besiktas has ended its 1st half and 2019 with confident scoreline of 4:1 and with whole side would now look for 2020 with optimism for sure.

Trabzonspor expects to have comfortable game against Kayserispor

Trabzonspor would be completing 2019 with an away game against last-placed and team with big issues Kayserispor and hence would be coming with strong favourite to the game taking account that side is providing effective attacking game.

Kayserispor has recently ended contract with its head coach Bulent Uygun and in such short while didnt find replacement for him and couldnt prepare for this difficult game during this week, and even through football, especially Turkish Super League this season, its open to big surprises, it would be highly expected that Trabzonspor will get comfortable win. In fact, to all respect towards Kayserispor, it could be crucial step for Alexander Sorloth to make his position at most goalscorer race into getting into leadership and even make some goal difference. This would certainly also lead for team to get into mid-season break with good win and this would certainly affect to their training camp in break. Therefore, Trabzonspor does have strong opportunity to turn around its opponent weaknesses into personal strength while showing respect to them.

Trabzonspor is ending 1st half of the season against good opponent to provide them calmer mid-season break.

Galatasaray will aim to enter to break with win.

Without doubt, Galatasaray whose season so far is being fully dissapointing with poor results, would be aiming to enter to mid-season break with good performance and win against Antalyaspor but it wont be easy game.

Galatasaray so far being one of the most dissapoining, and with exclusion of very few games, it has shown among low quality games in this season there was also show indifference from players when losing and providing poor performance which does show that club have some issues mainly emotionally and mentally. It needs to be mentioned that Antalyaspor did improve with recent weeks especially when Stjepan Tomas has joined team. It is true that result wise it didnt always get outcome it seek for, but it did show much better performance. With Galatasaray being in such poor form, Antalyaspor players will not come out to game with too much scare and worry for this game for certain. Meanwhile, some Galatasaray could use this game as opportunity to prove its head coach Fatih Terim that their are crucial players and still aim to play important role for 2nd half of season.

Galatasaray does have some mental issues collectively, and win against Antalyaspor might raise their mood for break at least bit.

Results:
Turkish Super League, 17th week:
Besiktas 4:1 Genclerbirligi

Schedule:
Turkish Super League, 17th week:
15:00 Ankaragucu - Denizlispor
17:30 Basaksehirspor - Kasimpasa
17:30 Trabzonspor - Kayserispor
20:00 Galatasaray -Antalyaspor

In other news:

- TFF has announced that VAR rules would carry on in same manner which includes not making conversations between referees into public.

- Fenerbahce has extended contract with its player Ozan Tufan for 3+1years

- Besiktas has opened criminal case against referees during Super League 16th week game against Fenerbahce.

- Fenerbahce administrator Metin Sipahoglu: We seeing again that TFF doesnt provide referee following our games as we this week with Cuneyt Cakir, world-class referee.

- Galatasaray has announced its mid-season training camp. It would start on 3rd January in Istanbul and from 10th January will continue in Antalya, where it would play 2 friendlies:
- 10/01: Altay
- 11/01: Adana Demirspor.
- Basaksehirspor are interested to transfer RB Leipzig player Bruma

- Sivasspor head coach Riza Calimbay has stated that club would transfer at most 4 players during mid-season window.

- Goztepe are interested to transfer Fenerbahce player Mehmet Ekici while Sivasspor with Alper Potuk.

- Fenerbahce are interested to transfer Sporting Lisbon player Nico Gaitan.

- Galatasaray head coach Fatih Terim didnt approve return of Mbiaye Diagne to team during mid-season break.

- Galatasaray has made principal deal with Manuel Da Costa for 1.5 years

- Trabzonspor are interested to transfer Eskisehirspor player Jesse Sekidika

- CeltaVigo interested to transfer Galatasaray player Ryan Babel while Konyaspor interested with Ahmet Calik.

- Galatasaray has made deal for 1.5 years with Basaksehirspor player Arda Turan.

- YeniMalatyaspor has requested 500,000 euro + 2 players from Besiktas in return of its player Guilherme.

What happened in Turkish football today? 26/12/2019

Fenerbahce outcome would effect Besiktas performance.

Turkish Super League last week of 2019 would be started with Genclerbirligi and Besiktas game where both sides without doubt would be coming out to win game while Besiktas do of its status would be coming as favourites.

Despite of all that, Genclerbirligi in surprising manner does come out in much better from recent games, thanks to positive impact which was given by its head coach Hamza Hamzaoglu which includes point during last week against league leaders Sivasspor, as it was close to win its opponents. Besiktas meanwhile has lost last 4 games in all competitions which includes loss in league against Fenerbahce with 3:1 scoreline. Besiktas partly due of poor performance and referee decisions during that game does find itself of focus in preparation for this game but in same time might also see this game as an opportunity to show strong reaction to recent events team went through. It would be crucial without doubt be most important how team would respond to game mentally.

Besiktas could have some difficult time in this game as Genclerbirligi would like to continue its positive wind where them would be seeking to turn around its performance before break.

Bulent Uygun has been 4th coach to live Kayserispor this season.

Kayserispor continues changing its head coaches, as it has sacked its coach Bulent Uygun with only less then 2 months and taking account that team did show some improvement in such difficult time for club.

Kayserispor has changed so far 4th coach during this season which is being incredibly high amount taking account we only 1 week until mid-season break. It needs to be noted that club administration needs to show some patience with its coaches especially when team does go through difficult period with players not recieved salaries and some players leaving side. With this condition, club does need some patience from everyone involved as it would be difficult to turn around performance in such short notice for sure. With such high level of changes and change of coaches, Kayserispor would also for sure have difficulty with finding new coach as hardly would like to work with such unstable side both with decisions and finances.

Kayserispor would have difficult season but its important not to make even more harder as season progresses.

Its time to find productive ways to solve issues in football 

Galatasaray CEO Mustafa Cengiz with his statements has taken this conversation of VAR into next step, stating that Zorlu meeting between Fenerbahce CEO Ali Koc, TFF CEO Nihat Ozdemir and Central Referee Committee CEO Zekiriya Alp.

This issue has been discussed a lot in Turkish football with their is strong arguments that this meeting coming in the meeting before derby game did lead with how Cuneyt Cakir performed in his team as meeting has been discussed between sides. It is very unlikely that TFF would listen to this suggestion especially taking account statements from Fenerbahce has been announced. It does look sadly that all conversations and scandals does provide not great atmosphere in community and prevents into discussing actually about game and filled with rumours. It would be important for all parties to focus into football game and solve referee issue, which does exist in country, in more productive manner then throwing rumours.

Cengiz suggestion is not being productive since its been rhetorical suggestion and aims to throw more light into burning area with implies that this meeting did lead some injustice with referees.

Results:
Turkish Super League, 17th week:
20:30 Besiktas - Genclerbirligi

In other news:
- PFDK decisions:
- Sivasspor and Besiktas has recieved 25,000 TL fine for events on field
- Fenerbahce has recieved 150,000 TL fine for not providing post-game interview and 100,000 TL for not leaving stairs empty(4th time)
- Besiktas has recieved 45,000 TL fine for behavior of fans(3rd time) and 25,000 TL fine for leaving stairs empty during game.
- Goztepe has recieved 24,000 TL fine for accredidation system not working.

- NECNijmegen administrator Wilco van Schalk: Fenerbahce is currently is under big debt. Advocates trying to solve issue as club didnt pay all fee for Ferdi Kadioglu. This been lesson to us, we would be careful about Turkish clubs in future. We want team to get to Europe as their need to pay, as their cant have debt.

- Galatasaray players Sener Ozbayrakli, Lemina and Marcao has resumed training sessions after recovering from injury.

- Besiktas has announced that it would open criminal case against TFF if it wont announce VAR conversation within 24 hours.
- Genclerbirligi CEO Murat Cavcav: We agree with Besiktas stance for fairplay and justice in our football. Noone trusts to referee right now. This request is democratic.

- Besiktas has announced thats its not interested to transfer Kayserispor player Bernard Mensah

- RiverPlate are interested to transfer Galatasaray player Radamel Falcao.

- Fenerbahce are interested to transfer Everton player Oummar Niasse

- Fenerbahce are interested to loan Napoli player Faouzi Ghoulam

- Besiktas player Mohammed Elneny dad Nasser Elneny has stated that his son can join Milan at any moment.

- Trabzonspor are interested to transfer Hull City player Kamil Grosicki.

- Milan has offered loan+8 million euro for its player Ricardo Rodrigues to Fenerbahce.

- Kayserispor has terminated contract with its head coach Bulent Uygun.

- Besiktas are interested to transfer Twente player Ator Cantalapiedra

- Denizlispor are interested to transfer Besiktas player Tyler Boyd.\

- Trabzonspor are interested to transfer Yeni Malatyaspor player Teenage Hadebe and Rosenborg player Anders Trondsen.

- Trabzonspor are interested to transfer Sochi player Fedor Kudryashov.

- Trabzonspor player Yusuf Sari will not be able to play for 4 weeks due of injury

- Besiktas are interested to transfer Bochum player Silvere Ganvoula

- YeniMalatyaspor administrator Ali Ravci states that club didnt recieve transfer offer for Guilherme.

What happened in Turkish football today? 25/12/2019

Pressure towards TFF regarding VAR conversations is getting more.

Trabzonspor has joined active talks regarding of VAR conversations between main referee and VAR referee to be made publicly since it would be making football into more justice which seems to be as known among discussed issues at Turkish football.

This conversation even through did start since start of this season more or less has been went into highest from Besiktas administration unhappiness with decisions during Super League 16th week game against Fenerbahce. As it is known, Besiktas has requested for TFF to make public statement about this issue which has been followed with Fenerbahce supporting this idea for making VAR conversations into public but stated that it should be done from 1st week of this season. As been mentioned yesterday's blog, with giving deadline until 26th December from Besiktas, TFF is at hard situation since according to IFAB rules it is not allowed to make this conversations public but declining could provide more speculations and criticism. TFF still didnt make any statement regarding this issue but it would be specifically interesting how their would respond as it would need some kind of announcement to be made.

This story does seem to be dominated this week and possibly during mid-season break as TFF and clubs seem to have into disagreement and small pressure given to both in this issue.

Trabzonspor close to make loan deal with Badou Ndiaye.

Rumours regarding of Trabzonspor making loaned deal with Stoke City player Badou N'diaye is getting more heated and active but Trabzonspor CEO Ahmet Agaoglu has declined for deal to be made.

Agaoglu does add that club is interested with player and did have negotiations but it didnt take into one-on-one matter and there is no agreement between both sides. In mean time, both Turkish and British media seem to be circulating factor that clubs did make deal for 1.5 years. If there is agreement between side, this would provide good advantage for side during title race as N'diaye did provide good performance with Galatasaray before hand and hence would be extra point for Trabzonspor as it would get player which is familiar with this league and can provide high level performance. Surely, if there is no deal yet Trabzonspor would be doing its hardest to transfer him this mid-season transfer window as Agaoglu stated he wants to see him at the club.

It does look like this story would get more developments and as always we would follow if Trabzonspor would make deal or not at the end or not.

Sivasspor has capacity for title but it depends on their mentality to control pressure.

Without doubt one of the most surprising side this season so far is being Sivasspor which quarentted with ending league as league leaders but it would be aiming to win this weekend also against Konyaspor.

 Some people might see loss of 2 points against Genclerbirligi as sign of team getting under pressure, but it needs to be remembered that it did have pretty tough Turkish Cup game in the mid-week which naturally did effect to team performance. In fact beating Fenerbahce on previous week and finding equaliser against Genclerbirligi at last minute shows how much is team focussed for its ultimate aim. It would be hard to get title as closer league comes to end tougher and more stressful games would be for them since their are unexperience but its important for team to look at this aim with passion but same time with reality checks. Sivasspor surely would be showing good performance during 2nd half of the season and does provide look that it would be in title race until end of the season. Its just important for them to stay focussed and dont get too much under presure for being at top.

Sivasspor despite of what some Turkish media states and puts them outside of title race does have capacity to get surprising title especially with how top clubs performing so far.

In other news:

- Besiktas ex-CEO Fikret Orman has send warning to club requesting 27,000 TL from club.

- Besiktas has stated that rumours that their aim to sell its players Tyler Boyd, Oguzhan Ozyakup, Orkan Cinar and Muhayyer Oktay doesnt represent truth.

- Galatasaray are interested to transfer Manchester City player Fernandinho.

- Besiktas are interested to transfer Stoke City player Badou Ndiaye.

- Galatasaray are interested to transfer Midjylland player Evander Silva, Millen Baars, Zulte Waregem player Omar Govea, Cruzeiro player Ederson Santos and Aarhus player Mustapha Bundu

- Besiktas has offered 3.5 million euro + Orkan Cinar and Tyler Boyd to Kayserispor in return for Bernard Mensah

- Fenerbahce player Victor Moses will attend to club's mid-season training camp.

- Besiktas are interested to transfer Wolfsburg player Yunus Malli.

- Liapy player Emir Umut has arrived to Istanbul for one-on-one transfer negotiation with Besiktas

- Barcelona player (currently loaned to Basaksehirspor) Arda Turan considers to terminate contract with his club.

- Galatasaray are interested to transfer Napoli player Dries Mertens.

- Galatasaray player Mariano considers to end contract with club and return to Brasil.

What happened in Turkish football today? 24/12/2019

Trabzonspor has got important win against Konyaspor.

Trabzonspor without doubt has got very important win during Super League 16th week game against Konyaspor even through it did provide defensive focussed game during 2nd half due of recent results.

Trabzonspor even through possibly not very effectively but did show some high quality attacking game against Konyaspor with taking full control of the game against struggling opponents. Once again Trabzonspor player Alexander Sorloth has got upper hand during game as he has found very crucial goal with good header. However, due of recent results when Trabzonspor did find goal 1st but later has conceded goals and hence lost points led them to provide much more defensive game which led for Konyaspor to provide strong effective attacking game with looking chances back-to-back.
Trabzonspor didnt have much control but not conceding goal could be seen success in this game, even through it needs to be remembered that Konyaspor does have some issues with converting chances so this game could not be seen as good reference point with all respect to Konya side.

Still, this has been good outcome for Trabzonspor and pushed them to 3rd spot with 4 points behind leaders Sivasspor and would look with optimism to Kayserispor game.

Besiktas has requested for VAR talks during Fenerbahce game to be made public.

Following Besiktas CEO Ahmet Nur Cebi press conference with requesting for Central Referee Committe and TFF to be more open regarding its referees with an aim to provide justiful performance, club has requested for TFF to announce VAR talks and referee reports from Fenerbahce game.

Football community in country even through admits that Fenerbahce did provide better performance then Besiktas during Super League 16th week game, everyone seems to be admitting that referee Cuneyt Cakir did make some crucial mistakes including not counting 2 penalties. With this all talks, Besiktas made statement for all VAR conversations between referee Cuneyt Cakir and VAR referee Mete Kalkavan to be made public. It also asks for referee reports following game to be made public with ultimatum type statement that it should be announced prior to 26th December 17:00, even through there is no mention what it would do if no annoucement would be made. Now, as it is known according to protocol committee and TFF have no right to announce VAR talks which does mean that its hand are closed and its no making any compromises unless it is ready to take circumstances would come. For now, TFF didnt make any statement apart of sending to PFDK Besiktas administrators due their statements.

It would be interesting what would be taking place in this issue for upcoming 2 days and actions both sides would be taking in this period.

Ersun Yanal seems to be dissapointed how Ali Koc provides support to him.

Meanwhile, from Fenerbahce front is more focussed into possible crises between club head coach Ersun Yanal and CEO of club Ali Koc with possibility that he is statement following Besiktas has been related to this issue.

It needs to be noted that this is going around rumours which are discussed in Turkish sports media and would need mean it is true but it is taking vast amount of sports media that it deserves some attention at this blog. It is believed especially following 15th week game against Sivasspor, where after game Ali Koc made some general analysation of bad performance of team, there was huge target towards team and some signs towards technical staff. It is mentioned that for instance that Ersun Yanal doesnt feel he is being defended and supported from administration which made his bit dissapointed from this factor. Fenerbahce CEO Ali Koc does state that he is giving support to Ersun Yanal and it does look to be case, but it needs to be shown possibly more clear to Yanal if it doesnt want to have some unwanted internal issues between sides.

Fenerbahce does seem to be having some issues psychological but this win against Besiktas which came also from good performance should calm some things inside club.

In other news:

- PFDK referalls:
- Goztepe has been referred for not following guidelines.
- Galatasaray head coach Fatih Terim, Besiktas CEO Ahmet Nur Cebi, workers Adnan Dalgakiran and Erdal Torunogulu has been referred for anti-sportmanship statements.
- Sivasspor has been referred for events at field.
- Fenerbahce has been referred for behavior of fans, not leaving stairs empty at stands and not following guidelines.
- Besiktas has been referred for behaviour of fans, events at field and not leaving stairs empty at stands.
- Fenerbahce: Our club supports Besiktas CEO Ahmet Nur Cebi call for justice at football.We are as club call for TFF to make VAR conversation from 1st week of this season.

- Lille player Yusuf Yazici will have an operation in Rome,Italy on 28th December

- Besiktas player Burak Yilmaz will not be able to play against Genclerbirligi during Super League 17th week game due of injury.

- Gaziantep head coach Marius Sumudica has been taken to hospital where he has diagnosed with pneumonia

- TurkishNationalTeam head coach Senol Gunes: We are happy with our achievement, but we would be opening new chapter at Euro 2020. We plam to show game which would make everyone proud for this squad.

- Trabzonspor has loaned Stoke City player Badou Ndiaye.

- Galatasaray are interested to transfer Atletico Mineiro player Juan Cazares

- Besiktas considers to sell its player Muhayyer Oktay during mid-season transfer window.

- YeniMalatyaspor administrator Burak Cakir: Our contract with Adis Jahovic continues. We didnt recieve any offer for him. He is happy in this club.

- Fenerbahce are interested to transfer Lokomotiv Moscow player Oummar Niase.

- Sivasspor are interested to transfer Basaksehirspor player Robinho.

- BernardMensah has made transfer deal with Besiktas.

- Galatasaray player Selcuk Inan and Besiktas player Burak Yilmaz expected to take place at Wesley Sneijder farewell game at Utrecht, Holland.