ANKARAGUCU MAINTAIN PRESSURE ON THE TOP TWO !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

How about starting on a happy note with a photo to remind us of what it is like to win the league.   Can Ankaragucu do it again this season ??!!

Back to the present though, and on a cold autumn evening in Ankara, it was another close fought tussle with Ankaragucu scoring the only goal of the match in the 1^st half to keep up the pressure on the top two in the league and move into 3^rd position.

ANKARAGUCU    1         Istanbulspor       0

The 3 kankas met-up at The Bira Park, Maniac Kanka Harun, Horseman Kanka Osman and yours truly, and as you can see, the Maniac Kanka was doing his best to play-down his famous name of  ‘our maniac’.  

However, after much teasing from the Horseman and me, he thankfully reverted to type, so his ‘almost new name’ (Pussy Cat Kanka) has been withdrawn !!

There was a surprisingly good crowd for a Monday night match with Gecikondu, Maraton and Kapali almost full, and surprise ... surprise, the away end was only filled with stewards and police !

Both teams started on the front foot and we were pleased with the quality of Ankaragucu’s football with the ball being sprayed about seeking openings.   However, it took until the 20^th minute for the first serious goal attempt when Umut’s overhead attempt went past the post.

6 minutes later and it was a close thing at the other end.   Korcan pushed an Istanbul free kick around the post for a corner.   Another good save resulted from the corner and we were able to breathe again !

Then, 10 minutes before the half time whistle the deciding goal arrived.   A free kick outside the box on the left wasn’t dealt with by the defence and centre back Alihan was on hand to slot the ball in.

Istanbul almost equalised before the break, but a ferocious shot was deflected for a corner.  

Going in 0-1 down was perhaps harsh on Istanbul, but the bottom line was that Ankaragucu took their chance and for long periods of the 1^st half were playing the better football.  Although I have to single out the No77 of Istanbul who proved a real thorn in the side for the Ankaragucu defence, but we can thank Man of the Match Erdem for blunting his danger.

During the half time break we had a visit from Posh Kanka Ahmet, who was sitting with some of his friends in another part of Sag Kapali.   Always good to see him !

Ankaragucu should have put the game to bed in the 2^nd half with the woodwork coming to Istanbul’s rescue on two occasions.

We were only one minute into the 2^nd half when, from a corner, Alihan headed against the post.   3 minutes later a screamer of a shot from Doka went fizzing past the post.    More sustained pressure from Ankaragucu in the 52^nd minute and it was Ilhan this time who’s header hit the post and bounced off the goalkeeper for a corner.

Kehinde came on with 20 minutes to go for Doka, Kenan replaced Umut and Yusuf replaced Pursila.

Into the last 10 minutes and Istanbul continued to search for the equaliser, but all credit to the Ankaragucu defence for thwarting the Istanbul sustained attacking.

Ankaragucu almost stole the 2^nd goal in time added on when they broke out of defence and from a cross, Kehinde almost scored with a goal bound header which was well saved.

So, not the most emphatic of wins, but a win nevertheless, which moves Ankaragucu into 3^rd position in the league.

Confidence is sky high with team and there is no doubting their efforts over the 90 plus minutes.   This attitude will be necessary in the weeks ahead as Ankaragucu press the top two to clinch top spot in the league.

Ankaragucu is away to Eskisehirspor next Sunday afternoon and there will probably be a ban on travelling supporters attending this match due to the problems there a few years ago when two Ankaragucu supporters were stabbed and almost killed.

So, the kankas will be watching this match in The Yeni Sedir

Bring it on !

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Gencler stuff up at home

Oh dear. Just when we thought things were going well

Genclerbirligi 0 - 1 Yeni Malatyaspor

I wasn't able to get to the stadium yesterday and thank the gods for that. I did manage to get to the Alerta for the second half though.

asdfghj

This was a match on paper that Gencler should have won. Nah... we were rubbish. Zeki buggered up a brilliant chance and then in the second half rushed in to fight a Malatya player. Why?

In the end they scored and the fans again were shouting for the Gencler management to resign.

As I said... asdfghj

Genclerbirligi throw away vital points in Manisa

Akhisar fans went home happy. Gencler fans slumped away in anger and frustration as our coach failed to make the right changes and the referee then punished us badly.

Akhisar 3 - 3 Genclerbirligi

What a lovely autumn day for a walk down to the Yeni Sedir (my first time there) to join a dozen other Gencler fans for what promised to be quite a match. Last week Akhisar beat Trabzon 6-1 and Gencler beat Besiktas 2-1. So all was set and it was no surprise when Gencler played a very "sit back" role for the first 15 minutes.

We had hardly touched the ball when Ahmet Oguz sent a brilliant cross field ball up field to Serdar Ozkan who controlled it well and goal. Five minutes later and we were 2-0 up when Ugur Ciftci was in the right place at the right time.

Flying high and for some stupid reason Scekic tackled an Akhisar player from behind. Yellow card. Not long after there was a stupid mix up and after he failed to clear the ball ended up taking down an Akhisar player in the box. No card... but a penalty.

Things were still okay though as Vedat Muric scored with a unmarked header just before the half-time whistle.

Here comes the rantie bit (as in rant, not Rantie - who for some reason wasn't playing today).

It was very clear that we were going to face an Akhisar who came out and attacked in the second half and it was also very clear to the Gencler fans at the Yeni Sedir and was also noted by others on Whatsapp chat groups that Scekic had to be replaced. It was just too dangerous. He was on a yellow and had brought down a player in the box. Just one little bit of stupidity and he would be off.

Messut Bakkal wasn't listening.

Akhisar came out fired up and had a free kick in the 59th. The ball went into the box and someone fell over. Referee pointed to the spot and handed Scekic a second yellow. Replays show that it was a very harsh penalty. In fact there was no way in the world that it was a penalty. the penalty was converted.

So we had two things to scream at now. The referee and our own coach.

It was little surprise when Akhisar got another not long after and despite some heroic efforts we weren't able to score again.

We should have had that one.

Gencler are now in 16th place in the league but if we keep up the efforts of the last two weeks we should be able to get quite a bit higher. So, silver linings and all that stuff.

Adanaspor 0-0 Ankaragucu match report!

Ankaragucu return to the capital with a share of the points in an evenly contested match at Adanaspor. Korcan Celikay was the hero of the day with a string of excellent saves which demonstrates why he is so highly regarded by the Ankaragucu fans.

Team - Korcan, Erdem, Alihan, Gencer, Mehmet, Arif, Sedat, Doka, Putsila, Ilhan, Umut

Subs - Altay, Ferhat, Kehinde, Cheikhou, Lukasz, Abdulkadir, Yusuf, Kenan, Mahmut, Enes

Ankaragucu made 1 change with Putsila coming in for Kenan which meant a 2nd successive start for Doka. There were a strong travelling contingent of Ankaragucu fans but yet again the Adanaspor fans have deserted their team with only a small handful bothering to make the effort to attend the game. Clubs like Adanaspor don’t deserve to be in the Super Lig, too many glory hunters.

Ankaragucu started very brightly and had two glorious chances in the first five minutes. Alihan somehow headed over from 2 yards out after a great cross into the box. Moments later Doka curled his effort towards goal but Irfan made a good save to keep the score level.

Adanaspor grew into the game and had a chance just before half time but Korcan made a great save from Tevfik.

Adanaspor were the better side in the second half with Korcan making a couple of excellent saves from Magaye Gueye while Doka saw his effort go sailing over the bar at the other end.

The game ended 0-0 which was a fair result on reflection. İsmail Kartal has received some praise over the last couple of weeks but the Ankaragucu support are starting to lose patience with his loyalty towards Ilhan and lack of game time for Lanre Kehinde.

Ilhan can’t be faulted for effort but he hasn’t produced the level of performance that merits a place in the team every week. Kehinde came on as a sub 3 weeks ago against Gaziantep and scored 2 goals while also hitting the bar and has only seen 6 minutes of action since.

Next up is a home match with Istanbulspor a week on Monday. Gecekondu block D has been banned by the TFF for 1 game due to swearing. Another example in a long lists of utter madness from the TFF.

Ankaragucu vs Adanaspor match preview!

Ankaragucu travelled to Adana yesterday as they prepare for a tough encounter with Adanaspor tomorrow night. The team will be looking to make it 5 wins in a row after their latest 2-0 victory against Boluspor last weekend.

Adanaspor will be tough opposition as they close in on a playoff place after their 1-1 draw at Altinordu. Magaye Gueye the ex Everton forward will be their key man and has started the season with 5 goals in 5 games. His style is very much similar to Kehinde in that he is powerfull and is a handful for defenders who will be wary of his pace.

Ismail Kartal will have a headache while deciding if he will go with Anton Putsila who has recovered from a cold, or keep faith with Doka who started his first match last weekend and impressed. He is set to go with Umut Nayir and Ilhan Parlak again up front with Kehinde having to make do with a place on the bench.

The usual suspects such as Umut, Kenan, Putsila, Kehinde have all taken the plaudits in recent weeks but I think their are 4 players in the team who have done a lot of good work that doesn’t get the praise they deserve. Erdem and Mehmet have played a key part in all of Ankaragucu victories with their consistently excellent balls into the box for Umut and co. While Sedat and Arif do all the dirty work which allows the rest of the team to attack.

It’s important that Ankaragucu stay focused at the back and defend well as this has been the area of concern at the start of the season. The team managed to keep Rydell Poepon quiet last week against Boluspor but there was a 15 minute period where they allowed the visitors to many clear chances.

Eris Ceyhun was the last player from Ankaragucu to be named in the Turkish national team in 2009, and before that it was Zafer Ozgultekin back in 2002. Umut Nayir could be set for a sensational call up to the national team after it was reported Mircea Lucescu has asked for scouting reports on the striker and could offer him his first call up in upcoming friendlies. Umut has continued to shine with consistent performances for both Goztepe last season and Ankaragucu this season.

The Kanka Group will be meeting tomorrow at Yeni Sedir to watch the game, anyone who wants to join them will be made feel welcome, unless your an Osmanlispor fan of course,

ANKARAGUCU MOVE INTO THE PLAY-OFF ZONE !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

On a cool but sunny morning, the kankas met-up at The Kara Simit Cafe for coffee and tea – Maniac Kanka Harun, Horseman Kanka Osman and yours truly.   We were later joined by Battle Damaged Kanka Damon and Nurer Kanka at the Stadium.

A  good turnout today with Gecikondu full (as usual), and Maraton and Sag Kapali were almost full.   There were about 150 in the away end, but when they tried to sing, they were shouted-down and drowned-out, so they gave-up which, after all, was the sensible thing to do !   There is no love lost by both sets of supporters since Ankaragucu defeated Bolu in the Turkish Cup Final in May 1981 and that still rankles with Bolu supporters, but ......this writer says ............ ha ha ha ho ho ho !!!

Sedat led the team out to a rousing welcome, but we were all disappointed that there was no place in the starting line-up for Kehinde.   It may not be appropriate for me to comment on Ismail Bey’s tactics, but .............. I will nevertheless !!

When we are playing at home, I think it’s essential that we play with a 4-4-2 formation and put pressure on the visiting team from the off.   Umut ploughed a lone furrow up front yesterday for the whole match, and fortunately it worked out in the end.   However, against stronger teams than Bolu we may not be so fortunate, especially if one or two goals are conceded early in the match !

Team – Korcan, Alihan, Gencer, Mehmet S, Erdem, Arif, Seda , Ilhan, Doka, Kenan  and Umut

ANKARAGUCU   2        Boluspor     0

Anyway, back to the match and it was Bolu who got off to a flyer putting Ankaragucu under pressure for the first 15 minutes.   Three good chances were scorned by Bolu, but bad finishing prevented them opening the scoring.

Ankaragucu’s first goal attempt on the quarter hour mark was a header from a cross sent over too high and the header went over the bar.

The Bursa song on 16 minutes almost heralded the opening goal by Bolu, when Korcan punched a goal bound shot out, but only to a Bolu player who’s shot went narrowly past.   Two minutes later Ankaragucu almost took the lead when Umut’s shot hit the bar, but the shot from the rebound was spectacularly saved.

Ankaragucu started to take control of the match at this point and were spraying the ball around to good effect.   Such a move almost brought the opening goal on the half hour mark but the cross was headed over.

8 minutes later some good work from Doka (who put in a good shift) when he won possession and crossed, only for the flicked header to go just past the post.

Then, as we were contemplating going in all square at half time, the breakthrough came.

A high ball was sent forward, but the bounce of the ball was misread by the Bolu defence which fell favourably for Umut.   Off he scampered down the left with the defenders in his wake.   His shot inside the left post left the goalkeeper helpless – he was probably anticipating a shot towards the right post !

So, this goal gave a more accurate reflection of the first half, which apart from the opening 15 minutes, was controlled by Ankaragucu.   On the few occasions when Bolu tried to attack, the Ankaragucu defence held firm and Korcan was not really tested.

With Ankaragucu attacking the Gecikondu end in the 2^nd half, we all predicted 2 more goals.   However, Ankaragucu seemed to lose their impetus and although they had a few efforts on goal, they didn’t really put the Bolu goalkeeper under any serious pressure.   The same could be said for Bolu, with Korcan not called upon to save any serious goal bound shots.

Umut was still scurrying around and looking to put the match beyond Bolu, and his persistence finally paid off 3 minutes before the end.   Couldn’t see who it was who received a great pass and measured his ferocious shot well, but the ball rebounded off the post.   However, the predatory striker that Umut is, was lurking and fired in the rebound to send us all wild in the knowledge that it was the nail in the coffin for Bolu !    Umut received a yellow card for holding the match up as he celebrated at the Gecikondu end.    I did notice however that as the referee brandished the yellow card (as he had to) he also had a word in Umut’s ear and had a smile on his face !!!

So, it was off to The Yeni Sedir to celebrate 4 wins in a row and a leapfrog into the play-off zone.    However, for one of the kankas it was Ayran .......... shame shame shame .......... but we can forgive him just this once ....... can’t we ???!!!

Well done Ankaragucu.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Gencler pull off one hell of an upset

To give you an idea of how big an upset was the Friday night defeat of Besiktas you have to realise that this has been Gencler's worst start to the league --- ever, that it sacked its coach a few weeks ago, a bunch of directors resigned last week in protest at how the club is being run and to top it off, our squad has a combined value of 22.9 million pounds (5,500 trillion billion TL) compared to 102 million pounds for Besiktas. stats from www.transfermarkt.co.uk

Genclerbirligi 2 - 1 Besiktas

A bunch of us met at the Alerta Pub pre kick but it was only myself and Little Oz Kanka who headed off to the stadium where we found BI John and Bernard who had brought along some Malaysian guests.

Lucky guests they were because they saw an immensely entertaining match.

Little Oz, Oz and BI John

Besiktas thought this must be an easy three points as they left two of their best players, Babel and Quaresma, on the bench.

Kick-off and bang... Gencler were the ones who went on the attack, playing much faster football and looking much more dangerous. Besiktas seemed to be handling it okay and then disaster struck them. A shot from Ahmet Oguz hit Ahmet Ilhan who had a shot which their keeper kept out with one hand and Vedat Muric sliding in put it in the back of the net.

We went wild but it was still very early days. Still, time to start time wasting.

What I expected was for us to sit back a bit and have to survive wave after wave of Besiktas attacks. My prediction for the score at this point: 1-3 to Besiktas.

How wrong I was.

Gencler did sit back a bit, but I can't really remember any good attacks from Besiktas. We seemed to be containing them easily and when we got the ball we were looking very dangerous in counter attacks.

1-0 at half time was more than deserved.

Besiktas brought on Babel and Quaresma and my fear now was that a very different Besiktas would come out.

No time for that as Babel was given a straight red two minutes after coming on. I think it was for a foot to the face of one of our players. It was on the other side of the park from us so I don't really know if it was fair or not. Let's just say that Besiktas didn't seem to complain much.

Besiktas down to 10 men and they went on the attack again but again we held them out well. There was one very much heart-in-mouth moment when Hopf made a rare mistake running out to get a ball which had just gone outside the box, he failed to clear it and a lobbed shot was sent in where Ousmane N'Diaye headed it out. phew.

We scored again... on a counter and things were looking great. We were controlling the match and Besiktas didn't have much time left. Then the referee called a penalty for Besiktas, which was converted and whilst we were wary it seemed like we had it. And we had it!

Celebrations. What a match. One of the best victories I've seen for a long time from Genclerbirligi.

Elleri Görelim ??
ŞŞŞŞŞŞŞ!
1 2 3! Şimşekler!
Lalalalalalalalalayyy GENÇLERBİRLİĞİ! pic.twitter.com/KX5OOwTLH9

— ODTÜLÜ GENÇLER (@ODTULUGENCLERR) October 13, 2017

Genclerbirligi stun Besiktas

Genclerbirligi 2 - 1 Besiktas

What a match... What a victory! Full report tomorrow after I've calmed down a bit

Ankaragucu vs Boluspor match preview!

The power of the Ankaragucu fan base struck again this week after the club secured Sponsorship from Global Tyre manufacturing company Petlas. After their sponsorship of Goztepe many fans took to social media asking why the Turkish giants hadn’t invested in Ankaragucu. Low and behold 3 days later the club have secured sponsorship which is more good news for the club.

Ankaragucu manager İsmail Kartal gave an interesting interview today with Spornova and it really gave the fans an insight to all the hard work going on behind the scenes. I have been one of his biggest critics, mostly due to the feedback from Fenerbahce and Gaziantepspor fans, and also the poor start he had with his Ankaragucu career. I think it’s time to cut him some slack and get behind him, after today’s interview I have a new found respect for Ismail and think the fans should get behind him.

İsmail spoke about all the data that is collected to monitor the teams movement in every game, the data will calculate distance covered by each player, sprints and other useful information. He has studied the methods of Barcelona, Man United and Borussia Dortmund and is trying to implement some of that at Ankaragucu. He wants the team to dominate possession and be the top team when it comes to the amount of distance covered in each game. Altinordu are the youngest team in the League and are the benchmark who currently cover most ground.

Boluspor are this weekends visitors to Ankara and will be another tough game as they have asaspirations for challenging for a playoff place. Despite a 2-1 home defeat against Altinordu in their last match, Boluspor have had some impressive results of late with a 3-1 win over Adana Demirspor and 2-0 at Erzerumspor. Gokhan Alhas who had a successful loan spell at Ankaragucu 2 years ago and was a fan favourite will get a warm reception from the home crowd.

Rydell Poepon will be the key player for Boluspor with the Dutchman scoring 20 goals last season and has started well again this season with 3 goals in 7 games. Boluspor record signing Mahmut Taskiran has yet to start a game this season after the club shelled out over 1 million on the 27 year old Goalkeeper from Fenerbahce.

Ankaragucu are on a run of 3 wins in a row and will be looking to continue their good form on Sunday afternoon. Lanre Kehinde is set for a start after his 2 goals at Gaziantepspor took him from zero to hero. If Kehinde can keep his temperament in tact he will be a key player for the club as he is almost unplayable when he gets going.

The main area of concern is the defence and İsmail Kartal will be working on improving that’s in training. Nduka Ozokwu has been rulled out for the rest of the first half of the season with injury and the club have applied for permission from the TFA to register a replacement in the squad.

Sundays match kicks off at 1pm Turkish time and if anyone wants to join the Kankas in the stadium please get in touch with Jim.

Kanka Jim stars in New Ankaragucu documentary!

Our very own Jim Chalmers starred in the much anticipated documentary on Ankaragucu by TRT this weekend. The documentary was about the 107 year old history of Ankaragucu reliving some of the clubs most cherished moments such as winning the Turkish Cup and promotion to the Super Lig and the UEFA Cup victory against Atletico Madrid.

Jim was part of the documentary and his speech in Turkish has been the main talking point on social media with the club even retweeting the exact part on their twitter page.

Well done Jim, as much as we have banter, I’ve said many times before, if it weren’t for Jim and this blog I wouldn’t have become an Ankaragucu fan in the first place. It was his article on this very blog that saw me become a supporter just over 8 years ago.

You can see the whole documentary right here Ankaragucu TRT Documentary

Things looking bad at Gencler

Right then...

Alanyaspor 4 - 1 Genclerbirligi

A decent win last week. A loss the week before that most blamed on the referee... Hopes were high for today. They were destroyed just a few minutes in. 

Both teams started at a frantic pace but the Alanyaspor defence held firm. Our lot... asdfghjk

One-nil, then 2-0, and both were from some real basic failures to mark. The third goal was the same. The last was... well, there was definitely some brilliance from the scorer.

Alanya even had a player sent off on the 75th minute but could we convert? Nope.

I ended up watching the match down at the Beer Bus in Kizilay. A last minute choice and a couple of the Alkaralar crowd were there as well. The consensus: we have totally failed to replace Ahmet Oguz at the back.

Bloody hell... I shudder to think what Besiktas will do to us in our next league match. (Friday October 13).