Ankaragucu vs Manisaspor match preview!

Ankaragucu are back at home on Sunday afternoon as they host Manisaspor at the 19 Mayis Stadium in Ankara although there will be a partial ban in the Gecekondu section due to swearing in previous matches. Another great idea from TFF, let’s ban fans from stadiums for swearing, let’s fine clubs who are already struggling financially??? They really are clueless.

Before we look at this weekends match, a big well done to the Ankaragucu management as they have set the Manisaspor fans tickets at 1 Turkish Lira. This is in response to Manisaspor charging Ankaragucu fans 50 Turkish Lira when they met in Manisa 2 years ago. A lot of clubs would have given them a taste of their own medicine, but the Ankaragucu management have shown a touch of class and sent out a message that football fans should be treated with respect.

Ankaragucu and Manisaspor are having contrasting seasons, with Ankaragucu high flying at the top of the table, while Manisa are 2nd from bottom and face an uphill battle to stay in the league. Ankaragucu drew 2-2 at Gazisehir last week and will be looking to get back to winning ways on Sunday.  Manisaspor lost 2-1 at home against Altinordu at the weekend and followed that up with a respectable 1-1 draw against Besiktas midweek. It’s worth noting that Besiktas won the first leg 9-0.

Gencer Cansev and Sedat Agcay both missed out last weekend and it’s no coincidence that Ankaragucu dropped their first points in 9 games. Sedat in particular was a big miss in the middle of the Park especially when his replacement Abdulkadir Kayali went off injured.

One of the areas of concern for Ankaragucu is the left back position. Both Mehmet Sak and Ferhat Kiraz have struggled defensively and it must be an area the club address in the January transfer window. With only 2 games remaining before the winter break, Ankaragucu will be able to call on Tonia Tisdell, Mbamba Kibong and Nduka Ozokwu who were all out with injury and unregistered for the first half of the season. Tonia in particular will be a key player.

Those injuries to Tonia and Nduka have allowe Kenan Özer to cement his place in the starting line up and he hasn’t disappointed with some excellent performances and again will be a key player at the weekend.

It’s expected that Umut Nayir will return to the starting line up now that he is fit in place for Lanre Kehinde who has failed to impress in his last 2 outings. Anton Putsila is the stand out player in the Ankaragucu team in terms of ability, he just needs to find that consistency as he tends to have spells in games where he isn’t involved.

Manisaspor although struggling at the foot of the table still have a couple of players in Slavko Perovic and Axel Meye who are capable of hurting teams if not given the respect they deserve. I’m sure İsmail Kartal as particular as he is will have earmarked Perovic as the key man.

In other news, New Ankara Mayor has stated that the new Ankara stadium will be ready for the start of next season. If it is, then it will be the quickest built Stadium in history imo.