Sunday, September 20, 2009

ANKARAGUCU - YET ANOTHER CRISIS !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Not content with dealing with the recent crisis in the Boardroom, Ankaragucu has created another one on the pitch. Despite all their possession and efforts to play football last night, the players failed to deliver and the 'natives are becoming restless' !

ANKARAGUCU 1 Genclerbirligi 2

The lone Ankaragucu kanka (ie .... Moi) met up with a host of Gencler kankas in The Chopin last night. Oz Kanka Chris and his merry men (and lady) were in fine fettle, and why not considering Gencler's impressive record in derby matches over the past few years.

Roger from Eskisehir was welcomed into the fold, regular kankas Spine Kanka Steve and French Kankie Hande and also some latecomers Oguz and his son and Ilker.

We then dispersed our different ways to the Stadium where I was greeted by Yankee Kanka.

As usual the Stadium was almost full of Ankaragucu supporters in full voice. The less said about the number of Gencler supporters in the away end the better !!

The match got underway with the usual end to end stuff with the players feeling each other out and Ankaragucu surprised me with their standard of footie and their passing which was a big improvement on recent performances. The team is beginning to take on a familiar pattern -

Serkan
Cihan, El-Yasa, Ediz and Broggi
Mehmet Cakir, Ceyhun, Hurriyet and Barbaros
Vassell and Iglesias

Semavi, Ufuk and Emre came on as 2nd half substitutes.

I'm not sure what the position is with our two South Africans, especially the impressive Sosibo, or Henderson. They haven't featured recently, but after last night's result, perhaps they will soon !

With the match just settling down after 10 minutes play, disaster struck for Ankaragucu with a well taken Gencler corner. There appeared to be a ricochet off a defender or the post and the loose ball was dispatched easily by Pektemek. Here we go again I thought .... another mountain to climb !

However, all credit to Ankaragucu, they took control of the match from this point right up to half time with some sustained pressure on the Gencler goal. Vassell was winning nothing in the air and was well marked out of the match by the impressive Gencler back four, especially Radeljic.

Cihan playing at right full back was causing all sorts of problems with his attacking runs and it was from one of those that the equaliser came on the half hour mark. From a great run down the right wing, the ball was swung over and met by Barbaros to score a well deserved equaliser.

Up the volume in expectation of a 2nd goal before half time ! I lost count of how many chances were missed by Iglesias and Ceyhun, and the teams went in at half time all square.

I had a text message from Oz Kanka at half time which just about summed up the first half ......... quote .. you deserve to be ahead .... unquote. My response was .... yes, true, but .... Meaning that the round leather thingie must be put between the sticks and into the net !!!

The 2nd half was more even with Gencler coming more into the match and Ankaragucu beginning to huff and puff. So, it was no surprise when the winner came 10 minutes from the end and a great goal it was too.

Hursit who had replaced Harbuzi half way through the 2nd half was the creator and he was causing the Ankaragucu defence all sorts of problems with his dangerous runs down the left. It was from one of those runs when he turned Semavi inside out and put in an inviting cut-back for Kahe to pick his place in the corner with Serkan well beaten.

With Ceyhun and Cihan off, Ankaragucu lost their shape and struggled in the last 10 minutes to contain the now rampant Gencler.

A classic story of missed chances but nice football doesn't win matches and the record books will show that Gencler took 3 points and Ankaragucu took .... nothing !

As I mentioned at the beginning, the natives are becoming restless and at the end of the match their wrath was directed towards the coach Hikmet Karaman and Serkan.

Serkan may have played his last match for Ankaragucu because I saw him spitting on the ground towards the tribunes in Maraton. This is unacceptable behaviour from a professional football player, irrespective of the fans anger, and I am surprised and disappointed that he took this action.

So, another crisis is looming. Played 6 and won none. What next ? A case of wait and see but I'm wondering if it is time to try and lure Ersun Yanal away from the TV Company who he is with and bring him back into the fold. Am I dreaming again ??

All the best from a despairing Eski Kanka Jim

8 comments:

  1. Towards the end of the match us Gencler supporters shouted out 100th anniversary greetings to the Ankaragucu crowds... earning healthy applause in response.

    Also at the end of the match Kahe gave us all a dance as we shouted his praise. As one poster on Alkaralar put it:

    Bilet: 1tl
    Metro: 2tl
    Bira: 3tl
    Kahe'nin dansini gormek: paha bicilemez

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous1:50 pm

    Very dissapointing and worrying to have lost again. The management team need looked at. Although we have a lot of new faces and it may take time for them to work. Look at Eskisehirspor though, another win for them. There no better than us though .

    nadeem

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes Nadeem, as you said, extremely worrying.

    I'm sure Antep will be licking their lips in anticipation of a visit next weekend from a Club in crisis.

    If we lose again we really will be in the 'soapy bubble' !!

    So, what tactics to use ? As I always say .... saldir saldir Ankara ..... meaning ... attack !!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous9:10 pm

    There looks to be no organisation Jim and no consistent formation. Over ten players were signed and half of them have went missing, We keep gifting team goals. Also if we want to attack we need to start scoring more than one goal a game.

    I still think we can turn it around, but it needs to be now


    nadeem

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous1:29 am

    Thanks for the clip Jim,able to appreciate things a bit better.No one has mentioned that the winner for Gencler was a really tidy finish and that was the difference.Gucu dont seem to be taking their chances yet this season.At some point though someone will whack one in from 30 yards out of the blue and that will hopefully bring a change in fortunes.VERY hard to tell from the pictures but how did Vassell play?He seemed a bit,lost really.The only bit of optimisim I can manage is to say that with Ankaraspor's demise they may end up doing you a favour come the season's end by way of leaving only two other teams to be relegated.How ironic would that be?!Still, its only early days yet.
    Dublin Neil.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Agree with you Neil that the Gencler winning goal was a beauty. I did mention it my report about the excellent build-up and the clinical finish by Kahe.

    I also mentioned that Vassell was marked out of the game just like he was last week in Antalya. It is quite obvious that coaches have earmarked him for special attention, therefore he never seems to have 'time on the ball' to create anything, especially in 'the danger area'.

    I also mentioned that he very rarely wins anything in the air due to his lack of height. Iglesias is supposed to be knocking them down, but he also failed in that department against Gencler.

    So, it is quite obvious that tactics need to be modified and an effort made to take 'the ground route' to goal ??!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous10:57 pm

    Yeah Vassell wouldnt exactly be known for his aerial ability.Cant ever recall him scoring a goal with his head in England.He hardly played at all last season at Man City so may take him a while to get going 100 per cent.Was very good at Aston Villa but his career dipped at City and when they became the richest club in the world he was deemed surplus to requirements.Has to receive decent service though and if chances are created he'll take them.Its a big IF though at the minute.
    Dublin Neil.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nothing to say really except that I love the placard Oz Kanka captured in his comment. Very clever indeed.

    ReplyDelete