Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
A brace, and Güven Yalçın takes the afternoon — 8.72
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Güven Yalçın provided it, and the 8.72 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.44, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 16 signed and 14 gone
That is the business done at Basaksehir until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Basaksehir heard it as anything else.
Christopher Opéri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Batuhan Çelik is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Basaksehir and Fenerbahce, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Basaksehir asked and Hatayspor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The phone has started ringing about Muhammed Şengezer again, and this time the name on the line is FC Copenhagen. Basaksehir are listening politely and promising nothing.
The offer from Baniyas for Tugra Turhan was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Basaksehir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Olivier Kemen falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Basaksehir know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Umraniyespor can pretend not to have heard.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Batuhan Çelik is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Ludogorets is saying, and nobody at Umraniyespor is enjoying the guessing.
Cebio Soukou was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Umraniyespor asked and PAOK said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Umraniyespor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Veiga is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Umraniyespor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dereck Kutesa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bruno Veiga trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Nurettin Çakır has written the date down.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Umraniyespor can pretend not to have heard.
Eric Bile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Umraniyespor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Veiga is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Batuhan Çelik trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Dereck Kutesa has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Umraniyespor. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Position 19 and 10 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The terraces29 Mar 2027
The mood at Umraniyespor has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Successful dribbles: 28. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Umraniyespor can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Umraniyespor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Umraniyespor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Veiga is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Umraniyespor pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
17 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Position 18 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Umraniyespor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Tomislav Glumac was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Álex Blanco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.