Unbelievable!

Brazil are officially eliminated by penalty shootouts. It was like a dream coming true for Croatia. They defended Brazilian players like hell throughout the match. The goal came in extra time would have ended their hopes all of a sudden. But Petkovic's goal just brought them back to life. Orsic made the assist only three minutes after entering the match. And penalties were like a nightmare for Brazil. First Livakovic saved Rodrygo's penalty and later Marquinhos' shot came back from the post.

Congrats to Croatia on this big success!

For now, there is an improvement in Lazio's performance this season. They have become one of the biggest contenders of top 4. Immobile is also continuing to show a really good performance. Maybe he is getting old on one hand - 32 years old. However this doesn't affect his performance badly yet. He is one of the numbered strikers in this way. His contribution is still important for the team to be successful. Maybe he hasn't scored like at least the half of the total goals Lazio have scored in the league so far. But his stats are good enough comparing to the number of matches he has played.

Lazio's job is still very difficult of course. There are many other teams fighting for a spot in the Champions League. Lazio should just make a difference by being more successful in big matches. So far they haven't been like that in those matches.

Brezilya - Hırvatistan maçı uzatmalara gitmiş durumda. Hırvatistan tam da istediği performansı sergilemeyi başardı. Defansif bir oyun tarzı benimseyerek rakibini yıpratmaktı amaçları ve bunu çok iyi bir şekilde gerçekleştirdiler. Maçın büyük bir bölümünde hem defans oyuncuları geçit vermedi hem de kaleci Livakovic çok iyi kurtarışlara imza attı. Neymar 1-2 önemli fırsat yakalasa da karşı karşıya değerlendiremedi.

Eğer penaltılara giderse sonucu tahmin etmek pek de kolay olmaz. Çünkü Hırvatistan çok tecrübeli oyunculara sahip ve belki de bir sürpriz yaparak Brezilya'yı turnuvanın dışına itebilirler.

Arteta has been speculated to have a transfer budget worth 50 million pounds in January transfer window.

As Arsenal don't need to make a big signing in January Arteta would be comfortable about his transfer moves now. I presume he would just look for some decent players who can be good alternatives to some of the starting eleven players. The thing Arsenal need at this point is not new top players. They just need consistency. Arteta should do his best to keep the mental of the players as high as possible. Arsenal owe their current success to the quality of their team performance so far. Even in times Jesus wasn't productive they still continued to win their matches one by one.

Croatia defense have been able to keep Brazil away from scoring a goal so far. The first half was just a deadlock waiting to be broken by Brazil. In the second half, Brazil have started to be more effective. They were nearly wininng a penalty but Croatia were really lucky that there was an offside before that. They got an absolute goal chance with Neymar a few minutes ago but Neymar couldn't finish it up with a goal. Livakovic has been really successful with his saves so far. Gvardiol's effort in defense is just great.

I still think Brazil will find a way to win this match but it looks like there is a probability for watching extra time considering the current performances.

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1706627/Transfer-news-Adrien-Rabiot-Premier-League-Man-Utd-deal-collapse

Adrien Rabiot has stated that he would like to play for a team in the English Premier League. As you know Manchester United were already after them in the previous transfer window. But the transfer didn't happen. I think they did the best because they can sign him without a transfer fee in January. His contract is going to expire on June 2023. Rabiot transfer would be really good for Manchester United midfield. He is still young now - 27. They were targeting to sign another good midfielder so this is a good chance.

However I remember another thing like Rabiot was happy about not going to Manchester United after seeing their performance in this season. Maybe it was a rumour I don't know. Because it doesn't seem like he eliminates this option according to the news source.

Fernando Santos must have definitely wanted to test him. Because Ronaldo's performance level wasn't satisfying enough so he wanted some change in this position. He must be very satisfied with this change now and he might even continue to play in the starting eleven even if they qualify for the finale. Ronaldo shouldn't be unhappy with this decision because he must also be aware of his inadequate performance for the team. Portugal can't take big risks by being stubborn about starting with Ronaldo from now on if they aim the title.

It is Ronaldo's last World Cup run maybe but he is still a part of this team even if he starts from the subs. He is still a very valued leader among the players undoubtedly.

Yeni bir covid-19 dalgasının daha yakın gelecekte gelme ihtimalinden korkmaya başladım. Çünkü son zamanlarda Çin'de yeniden covid-19 vakalarının patlama yaptığı yönünde haberler okumaya başladım. Daha geçenlerde sırf bu nedenle Formula 1'de yapılacak olan Çin yarışı da iptal edildi. Durum bu kadar ciddiyse umarım ülke dışından oraya gidip dönenler yanlarında yeni bir varyant vs. getirmezler.

Tabi ki hala covid-19'dan kurtulmuş durumda değiliz. Fakat eskisine göre etkisi biraz daha zayıflamış gibi görünürken bir anda yeniden başlamasına izin vermemek lazım. Kış mevsimi de genelde en çok vakaların görüldüğü zaman oluyor.

Gakpo would be a solution for many things in the attacking line. He can just increase the activity there very much. Antony's arrival has helped about that actually but they are still dealing with finishing issues as we have talked about it. Gakpo is a player who is capable of increasing the score productivity by a big percentage. Although he is a left winger he has been fascinating with his scoring statistics also. He has had 13 goals and 17 assists in 24 matches already. This is enough to get the attention of bigger teams surely.

On the other hand Real Madrid are also among the rumoured teams to sign him. If they make a serious move for him than Manchester United should just forget about transferring him.  

Ferrari just have a consistency problem indeed. Their beginning to this season was amazing. Their car was very promising as it was even faster than Red Bull's. We all know how Leclerc started to the season in the end. Red Bull started to deal with durability problems earlier than Ferrari but fixed it in a shorter time than them anyway. If Ferrari were able to do the same they would still be in a championship race. We could have watched a great competition between Leclerc and Verstappen for the championship also.

Maybe even Ferrari pit crew would have been more concentrated on their job. Because I think the reason of those some big mistakes in pit lane was some decrease in their mental condition. Ferrari just needed better mechanics for success. I hope they can change to be better after this resign by Binotto.

ChatGPT son zamanlarda çok konuşulan bir yapay zeka haline gelmişti. Ama yapabildiklerini göz önünde bulundurunca bunun ne kadar normal olduğunu anladım. Henüz Google kapsamında bir bilgi çekme gücüne sahip mi onu bilemiyorum açıkçası. Ama şu anki seviyesi bile gerçekten ağzı açık bırakır nitelikte.

Google'da örneğin bazı şeyleri anahtar kelimelerle aratmak istersen alakasız sonuçlar ile de karşılaşabiliyorsunuz. ChatGPT ise şu ana kadar görülen örneklerde çok başarılı bir performans sergilemiş durumda. Kapsamı gittikçe genişlemeye ve Google'ın seviyesine yaklaşmaya başlarsa kim bilir belki de bir oyuncu değişikliği görebiliriz. Çünkü ChatGPT'ye sadece bir cümle ile yaptırabildiğimiz o kadar çok çeşit şey var ki.

I would like to point out a detail about a possible Endrick transfer to Real Madrid.

Real Madrid aren't going to be able to sign him until he turns 18. Because there is such rule in his country. Frankly speaking, I find this rule pretty meaningless. Because Endrick can improve his game much faster if he joins a team like Real Madrid which have excellent youth setup for young talents to improve themselves. Real Madrid will have to wait for two more years to be able to complete this deal. As long as they reach a verbal agreement with the player it would still be enough for them for now I assume.

First of all I should give some information about Jesus' injury. I have seen on some news sources like Jesus' return will be in early March. If this is true than it is really sad news for Arsenal.

However Arsenal have already proven how strong they can play in Jesus' absence also. Jesus couldn't score any goal after the last match he did on October 1. But Arsenal still didn't get affected by that in a negative way. They still continued to get very positive results by scoring many goals in total. They lost only once which was in a Europa League match. They won nearly all of their Premier League matches in this period of time. This is a proof for how strong they can play as a team even in this kind of situations.

Therefore I'm still seeing Arsenal as the biggest favourite here also.

Technically Verstappen is going to be favoured by bookmakers again also. Because for now we can just be more confident about Red Bull's car as we have seen it very strong for a long time. However there is a feeling inside me like next season could be a little different than this one. Because we should take Mercedes' big improvement into account also. They started the season really poorly. They weren't only behind Red Bull. They were so weak against Ferrari also. Mercedes gave up on every championship very early in the season.

However they started to develop their car very much in the recent times. It made a big impact on the drivers. They started to close up the gap with Ferrari and Red Bull both. They even started to be better than Ferrari later on. Even Verstappen was worried about keeping up with Mercedes drivers in some of the final races. Therefore if Mercedes start the new season with a strong car then the balances can change a lot.

Portugal had better go on without Ronaldo in the starting eleven.    It doesn't seem like they need him anymore.

In the end Switzerland weren't a small team against Portugal but Portugal just demolished them by a score like 6-1. Goncalo Ramos didn't find much chance in the previous matches actually. Because of that it was a really interesting choice by Fernando Santos. However Ramos proved how much correct choice it was by showing an incredible performance with a hat-trick and an assist also. Ramos is a player who has grown from Benfica's youth team and he is already a very important player for his team. He is a very productive striker there already.

I think he will be in the starting eleven again instead of Ronaldo against Morocco also. Morocco had better be prepared well because they won't have a similar experience to the Spain match obviously.  

According to some speculations Manchester United were also having some interest in Bellingham but they decided not to go for him after seeing that many other big teams also entered the race to sign him.

This is a wise thinking for them because they wouldn't really stand any chance against teams like Real Madrid and Liverpool especially. I know that Liverpool are technically below them in the league standings currently. But they have still been a much more successful team than Manchester United in the recent years. They have a much more capable squad at the same time. Apart from that Real Madrid are actually ahead of both of them now. Because Real Madrid is always a dream for this kind of talented youngsters. They were very successful in the previous season also and they are the same for now.

Real Madrid are building another squad full of future stars. Bellingham is already impressive of course and he can have a really unforgettable career there.

I'm actually worried about Manchester United more than Liverpool in the rest of the season. The reason for it is that I find Manchester United's attacking performance quite weak especially on the recent weeks of the league. They can't score goals comfortably. Their attackers are wasting so many goal opportunities which has cost them two or three points from time to time. Manchester United should find a solution to this problem. Maybe signing a striker would be helpful. They have parted ways with Ronaldo already.

Rashford and Martial seemed worrying in the recent times. If they don't show some positive performances after this break then they will really need the help of another striker. Garnacho is also there to help of course but we never know how consistent he can be. I can't fully trust him just because he saved them in a match. He is still a very young striker.

Portugal are very comfortable against Switzerland now. The first half has finished and they are 2-0 ahead already. First Ramos' fascinating shot to the top left corner and later Pepe's great header helped them capture a solid advantage earlier in the match. Fernandes still continues to impress people and big teams. He made the assist by a nice cross to Pepe. Ronaldo is waiting in the subs for now and it looks like there won't be any need for him to play. But I still expect to watch him in the second half.

It would be lovely to see him continuing to score until the end of the road for them in the World Cup. This is his last World Cup experience in the end. Morocco's surprising victory is already a big shock so it would be just doubled if Switzerland do the same to Portugal this time.  

The difference between Barcelona and Real Madrid in the La Liga has been obvious. Barcelona have been just better than Real Madrid against smaller teams. We can easily understand from their point losses so far. Barcelona got their only draw against Vallecano at the beginning of the season. Even in that match their performance was very good but they were just unlucky. And their only loss was in the El Clasico as you know. Its reason was that Barcelona were having big difficulties in big matches at the same time.

However Real Madrid have lost more points against smaller opponents so far. Especially their point losses on the recent match weeks caused them to lose the lead to Barcelona. With the help of Benzema's return, they can start playing a little more consistent I presume. We should be watching a very competitive title run between these teams until the end.

Gakpo seems to have impressed some big teams by his World Cup performance already. It looks like this can help him find a bigger team for himself to be signed soon. PSV have also been seeming to have no problem with selling him in even January. Manchester United is the most rumoured team for now. However it is said that PSV might demand £50m from them. Manchester United got really close to signing him last summer as you know and the amount was much less than this. I wonder if the new amount will be a problem for them now.

If they don't manage to sign him they might turn their direction to Rafael Leao. However they would have to pay much more money for Leao. I don't think Milan would demand less than 100 million euros for him. Maybe it isn't related to how much Manchester United want to spend. It might be related to the price they estimate for a player.