Tuesday, February 09, 2016

Genclerbirligi climbing away from the relegation zone



Having had four or five coaches this year it seems that Gencler have finally hit upon somebody who knows what he is doing. Ibrahim Uzulmez now has a coaching career at Gencler of played three, won three...

Kasimpasa 0 - 1 Genclerbirligi

The TFF once again put a Gencler away match on a Monday night, thus making it impossible for us to make a weekend trip out of it. Seems as if the Kasimpasa fans couldn't be bothered either as less than a thousand people showed up. So when you combine the rubbish ticketing system and stupid timing of the match... well, you can't be surprised when no one shows up.

So Alex and Spine and me decided to use the opportunity to try out a new pub that opened around the corner from my place a week or so ago. The place is weirdly named "Fake" (with the "e" being printed back to front). It has lots of TVs for Lig TV, two quarter-sized pool tables, three darts boards, comfy chairs, two stand up urinals and one western commode in the mens' toilets (I forgot to check the ladies' room), very weird background music which seemed to be a record of something like "Blokes sing Abba", various local and foreign beers and an Efes draught 500mls will set you back 13 lira.

Kick-off and we get some decent play. Nothing amazing from either team but Gencler were pushing forward whenever they could. They seemed to have upped their tempo quite a bit since Uzulmez took over and they are clearly playing with a lot more passion.


Kasimpasa were pretty good too and I would say that the two sides were evenly matched. There were a couple of goal-scoring opportunities, Stancu got a weak shot in and Hopf did brilliantly at full stretch to palm a ball out but the most fun was when Campos buggered up a great chance when he couldn't decide whether to head the ball or control it. In the end he decided to try a side-on bicycle kick with the result being that he just ended up on the ground wondering what the hell was going on. 

Second half and we were playing the better football and we should have gone ahead but El Kabir for some reason didn't try to have a sliding shot... it just seemed weird.

With about 20 minutes to go Kasimpasa's Popov was given a second yellow card (both were deserved) and we just upped the anti a little bit more.

In the end it was some good control in the attacking midfield from Irfan (who had come on after another great 70 minutes from Hleb). Irfan sent it wide to Campos who sent it back along the ground into the box, the ball went through about two dozen Kasimpasa defenders and found Irfan all on his own... whack and GOOOOAAALLLLLL.

All up a very good win away from home. This is building nicely as we claw our way above the relegation zone and aim for the lofty position of ninth that is our birthright.

Next up is Bursaspor on Saturday. Should be a cracker!


Hakan Aslantas channels his namesake.  
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2 comments:

  1. Unknown1:33 pm

    In the words of Confucius, "Ei Ei Ei O, up the football league we go."

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  2. Eski Kanka Jim6:59 pm

    Great win against a team which was vying for a Europa Cup place.

    Gencler will play the most inconsistent team in the Super League on Saturday. Let's hope that they can keep the momentum going and get back 'home', ie, into 8th slot !!!

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