Piastri is really talented and full of surprises. He won a sprint race in the previous season as well you know.    I think Norris and Piastri's talent levels are close to each other but it is hard to say who has more potential for me.

I'm pretty sure Norris has a more powerful car now so it is difficult to just consider Norris is better. I would like to see them at equal terms.  


Hamilton has always loved to driver under rainy weather conditions. He is still showing what he can do even with a much slower Mercedes car.    However today in qualifying there wasn't any rain and Mercedes had a really bad day.

The reason why Hamilton couldn't qualify for Q2 was his big mistake at the second last turn. Russell was also struggling. McLarens finished ahead of Ferraris which was impressive. However at racing pace I think Ferraris are likely to have a better race than them.

Benim de şu an neler olacağını merakla beklediğim maç Fenerbahçe v Beşiktaş derbisi. Çünkü sanmıyorum ki ne Galatasaray ne de Fenerbahçe bu hafta puan kaybetsinler. Beşiktaş Fernando Santos'un ayrılmasının hemen ardından bir reaksiyon vererek Ankaragücü karşısında 2-0 kazandı. Derbi maçına kadar bir de doğru teknik direktörü getirirlerse tahmin edilenden çok daha iyi bir futbol ortaya koyabilirler. Galatasaray'ın umutlandığı asıl maç da bu maç zaten yoksa Rams Park'taki derbi her şeyi belirleyecek büyük ihtimalle.

The remaining matches in the championship race are as below:



The updated points are:

1. Manchester City: 73 points
2. Arsenal: 71 points
3. Liverpool: 71 points

Even though Manchester City are going to have most of their matches left away I think they have the most comfortable fixture. This makes me think that it will be really difficult to prevent them from being the champions.    Still I hope that this race continues until the last moments. Seeing all 3 teams still in the race would be great and I would place a bet on one of them to make it more thrilling to follow. 

Ancelotti'nin Arda Güler'den özür dilediği yönündeki haberleri okumaktan gerçekten sıkıldım. Hem çocuktan özür dileyip hem hiç oynatmamak nasıl bir kafa yapısı anlam veremiyorum. Ancelotti saygı duyduğum teknik direktörlerden birisi tabi ki ama en azından küçük takımlara karşı olan maçlarda Arda Güler'e en azından ikinci yarıda şans verebilir. Bu gidişle bana göre de Arda Güler için en mantıklısı kiralık olarak düzenli oynayabileceği güzel bir takıma gitmesi olacak. 

Ancelotti was expecting for Manchester City to play much stronger at Etihad so he went for a smarter game plan. Most people didn't like the game plan he adopted for this match as it made the match more boring until the penalty shootouts. I found it also boring to tell the truth but he had to do this. Otherwise there was no way Real Madrid getting past them.  

Ancelotti read his opponent very nicely and went for a patient understanding of play. If they didn't show a good defending performance then it wouldn't make sense to maintain this game plan. However against Bayern Munich I don't expect to see the same Real Madrid. I think they will play more attacking in both legs to eliminate Bayern Munich.  

Bayern Munich are no Manchester City as we saw it against Arsenal in the previous stage. 

Liverpool maça iyi başlayıp golü erken bulsa da devamını getiremedi. İlk yarıdaki dominasyon ikinci yarıda da görülseydi o zaman bu maç dönebilirdi ama tam tersi oldu. Liverpool ikinci yarıyı berbat oynadı ve rakibine turu hediye etti. İlk maça kıyasla genel olarak daha kötü bir Liverpool izledik. Akıllar Premier Lig şampiyonluğunda tabi doğal olarak ama isteseler aslında bu maçı çevirebilirlerdi. Klopp böyle giderse veda ettiği sezonda elinde belki de sadece EFL Kupası şampiyonluğu kalacak. 

İsmail Kartal gerçekten yetersiz bir teknik direktör bu çok bariz. Taktiksel zeka olarak çok vasat seviyede. Fred'i oyundan almak nedir yani her şeyden önce. Konferans Ligi'nde yarı final oynama şansın varken böyle saçma tercihlerde bulunmayı nasıl başarabilirsin ki? Fenerbahçe yarı finali görseydi belki Aston Villa engeline takılırdı ama yine de bundan daha büyük bir başarı elde etmiş olurdu. Ülke puanı için her başarının önemi var. Ayrıca Olympiacos'un Aston Villa karşısında hiç şansı yok orası kesin.

My dreams shattered after seeing Liverpool get eliminated last night...    I was hoping to see a Leverkusen v Liverpool finale a lot like many others. Salah's early goal gave me hope but we didn't see any goals later. Liverpool were even worse in the 2nd half which was unbelievable. I wouldn't expect them to give up this easy.

After Klopp changed 4 of his important players in the 2nd half I started to lose my hopes quickly about them. Klopp also looked like he accepted their destiny. Now my expectation is to see Leverkusen as the champions no matter what. The biggest surprise of the Europa League would be their elimination from now on.

Indeed! Sprint qualifying session was really interesting thanks to rain. Seeing really surprising results can make the sprint race more exciting at the same time. However it is too early I'm afraid and probably I won't be able to watch it.  

The current weather predictions for this race weekend:



It looks like there isn't much chance to rain tomorrow and on Sunday. It could have really made the race much more interesting if it was to rain. The weather tells us that Verstappen will take pole position and win the race for now but we will see.  

Yes, you are right it wouldn't be the right thing to see these achievements at the same level. Xabi Alonso's is just at another level.    But it is clear that Arteta would always be remembered as a special coach for Arsenal if he puts an end to this 20-year title longing. Doing this with a really young squad would also be really great work.

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What about Everton's chance to stay in the Premier League? 



They are once again in a really dangerous area in the standings... They are only 2 points up the relegation zone. Do you believe that this would be the year they drop to the Championship? I'm even surprised with Sean Dyche's still managing Everton for this long. I assume they wouldn't like to sack him for now while there are only a few weeks left.

There are matches to be played against Nottingham and Luton both. If Everton win both then they are saved! I hope they can do this.

İki takımdan da bazı oyuncuların neden çıktığını anlayamadım. Manchester City'den Haaland, De Bruyne ve Real Madrid'den Kroos, Vinicius Jr gibi oyuncuların penaltılar için oyunda kalmaya devam etmesini beklerdim. Alvarez hadi neyse yine de penaltıyı gole çevirdi ama De Bruyne'nin yerine giren Kovacic penaltıyı harcadı. Silva'nın penaltısı ise tam rezaletti yani penaltı atmayı bilmeyen Fifa oyuncusu gibi kullandı. 

Modric'in penaltı kaçırmasını beklemezdim ama yine de kazandılar. Real Madrid'in deplasmanda kazanması gerçekten ekstraydı. O erken gelen gol gerçekten de büyük etki etti.

There is no guarantee for success of course, I agree. The success he achieved in the 2020/2021 season with that squad was really impressive though. But in next season Beşiktaş started really badly in the Super League and Champions League both. But maybe a similar scenario might happen again and Beşiktaş might be in the title race in his 1st year.

However Beşiktaş should prepare their transfer policy really carefully this summer. The current squad quality isn't good enough. Muci and Al-Musrati are really good transfers but this isn't enough. It is really difficult to keep up with those really strong Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe squads. 

Erken seçim yapılırsa Erdoğan kesin olarak yeniden aday olabiliyor muydu ki? Ben sanki erken de olsa zamanında da olsa artık mecliste çoğunluk aday göstermediği sürece olamıyor sanıyordum. Mecliste çoğunluğa da sahip olmadıkları için aday olamaması lazım. Anayasa değişikliği konusu da ayrı tabi evet öyle bir şey olursa kendisini yeniden aday gösterebilir. Bu saatten sonra bana sanki aday olamayacak gibi geliyor. Seçim de umarım erken olur da bir şeyler değişmeye başlamışken insanlar devamını getirir.

We are getting really close to the end of the season now. Klopp is about to leave so he is trying to win one last Premier League title with Liverpool. However after that loss vs Crystal Palace they will need to pray for Manchester City and Arsenal both to get stuck against an obstacle. Will this happen? Maybe with Arsenal but I also doubt Manchester City. 

While all these things are happening Arteta wants to be the coach to put an end to Arsenal's longing for a Premier League title for 20 years. He would be really special if he achieves it just as Xabi Alonso's success at Leverkusen.    Can he do it? He has no luxury of losing points from now on.

Yes, it is time for some action again!    Sprint race and qualifying are on the same day which makes me feel different. There are only 3 hours between the sessions however it will be nice to see performance changes in 2 sessions by short time gaps - except Verstappen though as he would probably be dominant in both sessions. 

Mercedes drivers couldn't make a good start at all you know. I'm wondering if we will see some improvements finally by the 5th race in the season. On the other hand Sainz is 3-0 ahead against Leclerc so far. Do you expect that this would be the race for Leclerc to finally finish ahead of him? 

Bu sabah böyle bir haber ile karşılaştım.



İsrail İran'ın nükleer tesislerini bombalayabilirmiş. Böyle bir şey gerçekleşirse sonrasında neler olabileceğini düşünmek istemiyor insan. Nükleer savaş herhalde en son görmeyi isteyeceğimiz savaş türüdür. Fallout diye bir oyun serisi var hatta dizisi de yayınlandı. Orada nükleer savaş sonrası nasıl bir dünya olabileceği ile ilgili çok iyi örnekler gösteriyor. Son günlerde sürekli bir dünya savaşı göndermesi var geçen de Trump öyle bir açıklama yapmış. Böyle bir şey olursa da bizim bu savaşa asla girmememiz lazım.

There is a really short time left for the new season of ESL Pro League to begin. 



Winning this league will be really important. Because the winner gets an opportunity to join IEM Cologne in August. The last winner of ESL Pro League was MOUZ by the way. I see them still strong as they have reached the grand final in IEM Chengdu but just lost to FaZe and lost the opportunity to join directly to IEM Cologne. They will try their luck with ESL Pro League this time.

I'm hopeful about especially Eternal Fire. I really liked their rise in last PGL Major and I hope they can keep up the good work and get even better. 

I believe that we can finish Group A successfully.

Yes, I don't have much confidence in referees in the Premier League unfortunately.    Actually, it wasn't like this in the past or referee errors started to be discussed even more this season, I don't know.

While technology is being used more commonly in football that's why people are criticizing referees more when they make errors of course. In the end you have a great technology in your hands but you still insist on your own decision despite the objections. Sometimes even VAR referees are making huge errors. Diaz's goal was a great example for that and the PGMOL apologized for their error later on.

Roma'ya şans vermede hata etmemişim gibi duruyor şimdilik.    Pek de takdir edilesi bir oyun sergilediklerini söyleyemesem de bir şekilde 1-0 kazanmayı bildiler. İçerde De Rossi'nin takımı daha iyi hazırlayıp daha iyi bir futbol sergileyeceklerini düşünüyorum. Mourinho döneminde de Roma Avrupa turnuvalarını iyi geçiriyordu ve De Rossi döneminde de bu değişmeyebilir gibi. Şöyle bir durum da var eğer turu geçerlerse Leverkusen gelecek yani Roma'nın finali görmesi bu sefer çok daha zor.

Leverkusen are continuing to perform miracles in this dream season with Xabi Alonso. 



It says 41 matches but it must have become 42 as of the West Ham victory. This is just magnificent! It is a big joy to watch every single match Leverkusen play now. They just don't know the meaning of losing. Xabi Alonso is aiming the maximum level ball control and pressuring their opponent as much as possible. This system has worked very smoothly until this point as they will probably announce their first ever Bundesliga trophy today. 

As for the Europa League trophy, why not?    They look like nobody can stop them.