The 2013/14 season came to an end for Ankaragucu today as they lost 3-2 in Alanyaspor in the playoff semi finals. Having lost 1-0 in the first leg at home, Ankaragucu had it all to do in Alanya if they wanted to proceed to the final. Unfortunately as so often the case Ankaragucu couldn't win another important match and will now face another season in Turkeys 3rd tier.
Team - Bayram Olgun, Metin Aydin, Serhat Aykuz, Volkan Geyik, Onur Atasayer, Selim Teber, Serhat Gulpinar, Muhammed Gonulacar, Kaan Kanak, Mehmet Erdem, Umut Nayir
Subs - Cihan Bal, Batuhan Gulcan, Aydin Toscali, Harun Aydin, Orhan Evci, Mehmet Tasci, Omer Yalcin
When the season started Ankaragucu were amongst the favourites for promotion. The transfer ban had been lifted and the club signed players such as Selim Teber, Serhat Gulpinar, Mehmet Cakir and Levent Kale. Everything started so well with Levent and Umut striking up a formidable attack. Youngsters Gokhan Akkan, Onur Atasayer and Emre Tasdemir were impressing in amongst the clubs more experience players.
In the January transfer window the management team strengthened the squad with signings such as Erhan Guven, Serhat Aykuz, Muhammed Gonulacar, Volkan Yilmaz, Omer Yalcin, and Mehmet Erdem. Unfortunately none of those players have made any impact with the exception of Mehmet Erden who has shown flashes of what he can do.
Instead of winning promotion back to the PTT lig as champions, Ankaragucu instead had to settle for a playoff place after finishing 3rd behind Altinordu and Alanyaspor. Despite beating Alanyaspor a few weeks back, the team lost home and away in the play off matches. Metin Aydin and Kaan Kanak gave Ankaragucu a 2-1 half time lead in Alanya which would have been enough to take them into the final. Alanyaspor fought back in the second half and yet again the Ankaragucu defence let the team down.
The future doesn't look bright for the club with more lost revenue due to having to spend another season in the Turkish 3rd tier. A clear out will be needed in the summer of all the old players who are past their sell by date.
The first signing the club should make is the return of Mustafa Kaplan as coach. You can only wonder where we would have been had he been in charge this season.
Not just disappointment Nadeem, but bitter disappointment.
ReplyDeleteAnkaragucu is a Super League Club in the same way as Rangers, Hearts and Hibs are in Scotland, but look where those 3 are !!!
It's often said that one man missing doesn't affect a team, and I'd go along with that. However, if we say that 3 men missing doesn't affect a team then we have to do a reappraisal of the statement.
With Ankaragucu's Emre and Levent out of action in the crucial run-in, and Captain Mehmet out for the last match, it was always going to be an uphill struggle. Ankaragucu don't have the resources at the moment to have a squad to cover for those 3 key players.
Of course, on paper we should have been Champions, but at least with those 3 playing in both Alanya matches there is no doubt that we would be playing Hatay on Saturday.
It's going to be a long hot summer of discontent, and who knows what the team line-up will be in August !!!
Jim I really suspicious about the missing 3 players whether they give enough power to team to qualify.
ReplyDeletePlease remember the matches we have lost with their existence.
I do believe that the team's capacity, speed and motivation ( due to the old generation players ) is not enough to compete with other 2 team.
All the critical matches have been lost !!!
İf the management aims to create a new team for next season, this team should not include ANY old player and should have a credit of at least a year to be a TEAM.Volkan
The old players need to go, they are the ones who let us down apart from Levent Kale, Selim Teber and Mehmet Cakir in some matches. We need young players with pace
ReplyDeleteI take your point about giving youth a chance gentlemen. However, as Nadeem says, we need a few wise owls to keep them on the straight and narrow.
ReplyDeleteLevent and Umut were an excellent partnership up front this season and I hope it can continue if they are not transferred. Selim scored some great goals from free kicks and his ball skills and distribution are first class. Mehmet Cakir was a good captain and the players respect him.
Youth will also be the way forward for Hibs I believe. 4 players from the Youth team have already broken into the 1st team this season and now it is time for more to join them !
As I said before, it is going to be an interesting summer to see how it all pans out.