johnnythefirst

Turkey is a secular state, and a lot of the young/educated people in the big cities near the west coast are very free in the way they think. I would say more so than in some European countries. Istanbul for example is one of the most exciting cities I've ever been to. Simply wild. Erdogan is religious though, and is taking away certain freedoms. The army was always there to defend the secular ideals of Ataturk (he founded the modern Turkish state) and has taken over power plenty of times in the past when it felt that the secular state was being threatened by religious elements. What is more worrying about Erdogan though, is that he is centralising all of the power in Turkey into his own hands. He's a Putin kind of guy. He wants to be the big man and the only power in the country until they take it from his cold dead hands. Essentially he got even stronger after what happened this week. He's as good as a dictator right now. He spent billions making this ugly, Aladdinlike Palace for himself, he's putting critical journalists in jail, he's suing foreign comics because they 'insulted him'. When he lost his complete majority after the last elections and had to make a coalition, he deliberately rotted things out until no solution could be found and there had to be new elections (he regained his majority after them). There are even rumors going around that he's giving out fridges and other appliances to poor illiterates on the countryside to make them go out and vote for him. The most infuriating thing to me was that, during the coupe and from the safety of his bunker, he ordered his followers to go out and fight against soldiers and tanks "to save democracy", while he has savagely beaten down any form of democratic protest against him during the last five years. Remember the major riots in Istanbul 3 years ago. All of the blood of civilian lives lost during this coupe are on his hands. He's an insecure coward, like so many of these dictators.

It's more of a secular/religious division. Most of the young Turks I met in Istanbul/Izmir/Kusadasi et cetera are non-religious and absolutely despise Erdogan and what he represents. Turkey had a strict division between state and religion since Ataturk and he's trying to reverse this. This said, I think the whole coupe was very 'convenient' for him, since it allowed him to get rid of about 6,000 opponents without any protest. He fired 2,000 judges right after the coupe. I wouldn't be very surprised if it turned out that he planned all of it.

First thing I heard about it and it's from a twitter account. I highly doubt it's true.

Spot on. Also, he was right in what he said. This manager can't take this team any higher, everyone saw that on the World Cup, and yet he still doesn't want to leave. With all respect to Wales, they're a good team, but if you broke your teeth on their system twice in a year, you should have a tactical plan at the ready when you face them in a quarter final. There were player/manager round table discussions after the loss to Italy because basically none of the players supported the tactics used. What does this guy do when he's not even behind yet? Go back to the same tactic we've seen failing for two years now. Big guy up front -> shoot balls at his head. What this team also missed btw, is a real leader in midfield. Basically the player Wilmots himself was. Someone who can take over the managerial role on the pitch and fire everyone up. We have two of these guys: Kompany and Vertonghen, but they play in defense and both were injured.

Wow, the likeness is uncanny.

Good transfer btw: fast, strong, technical goalscorer. Probably the most complete Belgian striker at the moment, although I still think Lukaku is superior when playing in a suitable system. I hope he's actually going to play, but with Conte personally greenlighting the transfer, I guess he will.

Bat(man)-Shoa(rma)-Yi(eeehaw). Not difficult. ;-)

Come on man, he finished his last season at Lille with 20 goals and made a small team french champion.When he was like 20-21.

Yes, would have benefited our NT greatly as well. Boo.

I think the main problem is still a lack of rest. Get some support for him next season. Spend that dough.

We call him l'Animal de Montréal.

Haha, imagine being an 90 point defender playing against this 180 pound monster at 13. He should have played two age groups higher.

I agree with you. Mertens is rated just below those three I think. He's just a popular guy and he's kind of a supersub every time he comes on. Also, Maradona is his biggest fan. That must mean something. Mertens is a good squad player, I'm just glad we finally got rid of Mirallas and Chadli. Both are far worse than Dries.

Couldn't he just do the same for Chelsea?

He got much better once he started playing the No 10 role.

Two minutes of play, first goal.

The fact I clearly stated so myself several times might have given you some hints. What are you going to do now? Burn me at the stake? Tar and feather me? I've always been respectful and I enjoy this forum. Can't deal with that? Ignore button is right there buddy.

Haha, I just read Chelsea might be interested in Benteke if Lukaku proved to be too expensive. Your board are truly geniuses.

Rodriguez wants to leave Madrid. Wouldn't he be a nice option?

Come on, what are you going to do with it anyway? You get 300 million from the tv contract alone or something. That's five Lukakus and some strippers on the side.

Goddamn Benteke turned into a complete donkey since signing for Liverpool. Please bench him for the entire tournament.

What happened to the title of this thread?

He's going to be first striker this tournament and it feels like he's up to the job. We shall see. Would be ideal to let him bully defenses for 60-70 minutes and then let a super fast goal machine like Batshuayi fuck them up when they're tired. I'm glad Benteke went down in the picking order. Just not clinical enough.

Didn't see the game because I was travelling, but I saw one brilliant pass from him putting someone through on goal. My ideal team for belgium would be Lukaku Hazard KDB Carrasco Naingolan Dembele Vertonghen Vermaelen Lombaerts Alderweireld (If only we had backs) Courtois

I'm not even a real Chelsea fan, I just got stuck on this forum and learned to appreciate it I thought Mourinho was a cunt waaaaay before he returned to Chelsea. The guy is an egomaniac and will destroy anything that doesn't completely suit his wishes. Good luck with him if you expect him to become the next Ferguson because it won't happen. He got sacked because he managed to take a team like Chelsea to the brink of relegation btw.