一篇对于2016欧洲杯土耳其的深度好文

First of all, Turkish players are not fasting on matchdays as it is quite risky for their health but you cannot know if they do it or not. Some players may do it secretly but I don't think any of them would do it here. I did not heard / read any Turkish player to do fasting during Euro 2008. There are lots of talks above, I respect everyone's opinion. I agree with some of them, I strongly disagree with some of them.

Goalkeepers: Turkish coach did not call up Turkey's best goalkeeper Volkan Demirel. He left the Kazakhstan game before it starts after he heard swearings to him from Galatasaray fans last year and he has not called up since that time. Volkan Babacan was playing in the 2nd league just a few years ago but he has been performing on top level since that time in Manisaspor. He has been great since he became a regular, made crucial saves against Holland in away and many more in other games. It is not easy to trust in a goalkeeper, it requires a few years, this is why we still hardly trust in Volkan Babacan but he made so many great saves in recent friendlies once again. Still, I am not sure about trusting him like I trust in Volkan Demirel but as Litost said about Spanish NT, it is not only about who is the better player. Sometimes friendly, harmony in the team is more important than the names. Volkan Demirel is a tough character. Arda Turan wants everyone to accept his leadership in the national team, it is easier to do it when Volkan Demirel is not involved.

Defenders: We have two European class full-backs. Gokhan Gonul and Caner Erkin. Most of you probably have not watched them before because you only watch top leagues. However, not playing in top leagues don't make these players average. I know so many great South American, Mexican players who easily could play in the Premier League, La Liga but still play in their native leagues. It may have different reasons. Being homesick, making more money etc. I want to point out that playing in local league does not make players worse than they are. Gokhan Gonul could easily play for Atletico Madrid but he is an injury prone player and he earns really good money in Turkey. He did not have a good season in Fenerbahce but when he is fit and when he wants to show himself, he is great. Caner Erkin is not great on defence but he is one of the best left backs in Europe when he joins attack. He just signed for Inter Milan. In fact, that's what I was trying to say. He has been great for Fenerbahce for years but most of you did not know his name because he was playing in Turkish league. From now on, he will play for Inter Milan so you will know him. Does it make him a big player suddenly? No. He has been a decent player for years. However, as I said, he is not good on defence and he is a bit aggressive, more than he should be. Turkey have great full-backs but center of defence is poor. Turkey's best center-backs are Serdar Aziz and Omer Toprak, in my opinion. Serdar Aziz misses the tournament due to injury while Omer Toprak is not called up due to his argue with Gokhan Tore. Fatih Terim played with Mehmet Topal (defensive midfielder) and Hakan Balta on center of defence in friendlies. Mehmet Topal is able to play on defence but you cannot say he is a top defender. Hakan Balta is an experienced center-back, always gives an aveage (at least) performance but you cannot say he is a top defender. Back-ups are even more unreliable. Semih Kaya, Ahmet Calik. Fatih Terim also did not call up Ersan Gulum, I don't know why. If Serdar and Omer are not involved, Ersan should be a regular but he is not even in squad. Typical Fatih Terim stuff. Likes to do the unexpected.

Midfield: Turkey don't have a very good goalkeeper, don't have good center-backs, don't have a great striker but Turkey have so many quality midfielders. This is the position where Turkey always provide new talents. Selcuk and Ozan Tufan are likely to play in front on defence. Selcuk is in great form in Galatasaray but it is because Galataray sucks, in my opinion. He is a top quality midfielder and he was the man who fired Turkey into Euro 2016 group stage with a last minute free-kick goal against Iceland. He is a box-to-box player but he is likely not to take risks on attack here. Ozan Tufan is a more defensive midfielder than Selcuk but he also sometimes joins attacks. He has been a great player in Bursaspor. When he was signed for Fenerbahce, everyone expected him to join Atletico Madrid in a few years (due to agent Ahmet Bulut's good connections with Atletico). He has been so poor for Fenerbahce. Coach Vitor Pereira's strange decisions (using him as attacking midfielder) also had a part behind this failure. Ozan Tufan had to wait on the bench in Fenerbahce but Fatih Terim always started with him. As I said above, this is what he likes to do, doing the unexpected. And Ozan Tufan became an other player in the national team. Maybe only because he feels more confident in the national team but he does much better here than he does for Fenerbahce. Still, I dont't trust him. Hakan Calhanoglu is likely to start as the player behind the striker. There is a great hype about him. He is one of the best deadball takers in Europe. He runs a lot, send great shos from long-range areas but I don't like his play. He does not contribute into team-play in open-game. He usually shows himself when he takes a deadball. Still, Turkey need him because he can change a game by using a deadball at anytime. Arda Turan will play on left-wing. I have never liked Arda in the national team. He was trying to be a team-player in Atletico Madrid. Works hard, don't spend much time with ball on the feet, helps defence a lot etc. He is the same with Barcelona but he is trying to be Maradona when he plays for the national team. He always wants to do the things by his own, especially when the things don't go in the way we want. I think Arda is the weakest line of the team and I don't know how this will be sorted out as he is the captain. He is like the adopted son of coach Fatih Terim. If he prefers to play like what he is doing in club football, he can be useful on the wings. It is not certain who will be the other winger. Volkan Sen is the best winger of Turkey in my opinion, better than Arda Turan but he is incredibly awful on final decisions (shot & pass). And he is incredibly poor when he is one on one with the goalkeeper. He is great until that time! Emre Mor just signed for Dortmund. He was great in friendlies, I also watched him in the U21 team. He was like Turkish Messi. I did not see a Turkish player like him for a very long time. Latest news say he may be a starter but I think he could be a good sub, not a starter. He likes to dribble, sending shots. Turkey need to act like a unit here, should not prefer individual things. And I don't know what to expect from Emre Mor in this tournament. He is still too young and we could not watch him a lot. He can be both hero or zero.

Strikers: Turkey are likely to play with 4-2-3-1 formation but it is also rumoured to be a 4-6-0 with no strikers in front. Burak Yilmaz is likely to be the starter as he is also one of Fatih Terim's adopted sons. He was not in a good form in Galatasaray, sold to China in January, missed so many games due to injury. He was not poor in friendlies, scored the winning goal in the last friendly but it is still Burak Yilmaz. Even when he scored 30+ goals in the league, people did not trust his talent. It does not matter how many goals he score, Turkish people don't trust him. It is mostly because his finishing is not good. He is just trying to send a strong shot fastly to surprise the goalkeeper but he is great on running behind the defence. He is caught offside many times because he is trying to hunt them. I read Cenk Tosun as a bad finisher from dear Miccho above, sad comment my friend. Cenk Tosun is the best finisher of Turkey. If you would ask any of us to say the best part of this guy, it is his finishing. Tanju Colak have always been considered as the best striker of Turkish football history and Cenk Tosun's finishing is likened to him. And he is not just a finisher, he works a lot, connects with other players around him. He is not a slow player, too. However, Burak could be a better option if Turkey prefer to hunt the opponent with through balls behind the defence. Cenk Tosun could be more useful when you dominate the game. In additionally, Cenk Tosun almost always came off from the bench in Besiktas as Mario Gomez was their regular striker. And Cenk made a great impact whenever he comes in so Fatih Terim may decide to him as a super-sub as he was in Besiktas.

I don't have much hopes from this Euro. It was a tournament where we were expected to miss just 1 year ago. I think Turkey had stronger squads in World Cup 2002 and Euro 2008 but when Turkey are involved, you don't know where they will reach. Turkey have joined only two major tournaments in the last 14 years as I mentioned above. Guess what happened? They reached semi-final in both! I expect Croatia to defeat us tomorrow as I think they are simply better than us and Turkey are known with starting slow & getting better in following games. I expect Turkey to collect 4 points (losing vs CRO, draw vs SPA, win vs CZE) and promote as best third-placed teams. I think Croatia are the best team of this group, Spain are the second-best. Still, even though Croatian friends don't think like this, I think Lovren is a big missing. He was in a great form in recent months in Liverpool. You still have to play with Corluka on defence, not a reliable player on this level anymore. On the right side, Srna is getting old but this old fox is always playing great against Turkish clubs & Turkish national team so I will not be surprised if he scores or assists tomorrow. Lets see what happens. Good luck all.