Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Erzurumspor will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.90 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
Marked 7.51 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Furkan Özhan was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Tolga Ozil kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Sávio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kayserispor have kept their man, and Erzurumspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Kassoum Ouattara has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Mert Önal 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 113 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Erzurumspor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Erzurumspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Erzurumspor are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The goal that put Sariyer ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Erzurumspor equalised, 1 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Squad3 May 2027
Ali Ülgen 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.
The dugout3 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Tolga Ozil left the room before anybody could ask which.
1 for Yakup Kırtay, marked 7.72, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ittihad have kept their man, and Erzurumspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Yakup Kırtay has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Giovanni Crociata. 2‑0 against Pendikspor, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Marked 7.86 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Erzurumspor had the best player on the pitch.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Erzurumspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sefa Akgün 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.
Cengizhan Bayrak and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Tolga Ozil kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Erzurumspor can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Kerem Under has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Erzurumspor. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
The dugoutErkan Anapa knocks on the manager’s door