No losses in 10 games - Gencler power on to 13th place

I didn't see any of it. Didn't even get to listen to the match on Monday night... but I liked what I saw when I checked out the score.

Basaksehir 1 - 1 Genclerbirligi

A win for Basaksehir was what any sane person would put their money on. And if they had have won they would today be sitting atop the Super League.

But no... Hahahahaha.

Basaksehir have some fans, but not that many but what they do have is the backing of the local AKP administration and their business mates. Without that sort of backing it would be impossible for Basaksehir to sign someone like Arda Turan.

He must have been injured though as he didn't play...

Anyway... onwards and upwards.   

ANKARAGUCU RE-WRITE THE RULE BOOK !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Ankaragucu decided to change the Laws of the Game yesterday and play for only 45 minutes instead of the customary 90 plus minutes !    Fortunately, they were playing opponents who gave Altay a quiet afternoon !

ANKARAGUCU   4          Gaziantepspor    0

It was painful to watch Ankaragucu huff and puff their way to the half time whistle with numerous attempts on goal but none likely to find the target.   The air in the dressing room at half time was probably blue with Ismail Bey not a happy bunny.   However, whatever he said seemed to have had the desired effect with a more organised and determined Ankaragucu in the 2^nd half.

The 3 kankas and a visitor to the kanka group met in the Stadium and there was a fantastic atmosphere with Gecikondu in fine voice.   Kaleci Kanka Tansu, Miguel of Portugal and his friend from The Netherlands, Henri.

There was a love-in all during the match with the 50 Antep supporters and Gecikondu singing the praises of both teams and each other !

The first real action of the match came in the 16^th minute with a fine rendering of the Bursaspor song !

Three minutes later Ankaragucu should have taken the lead when Kenan burst through the Antep defence, but instead of shooting when he had the chance, he passed to Kehinde but the pass was intercepted and cleared.

In a rare Antep attack, an attacker missed a sitter from a corner, and with the goal at his mercy he managed to screw his shot wide.

This was to be the story of the 1^st half !

Then from the 25^th minute to the half time whistle it was all Ankaragucu – first, Erdem sent over an inviting cross but Kehinde headed over.   More efforts from Kenan, Erdem, Kehinde and Yusuf were all wasted from reasonable scoring positions.  

Just before half time the most dangerous looking player on the field, Tonia, went off injured and was replaced by Enes.    (Here’s hoping it’s not serious).

The players reappeared for the 2^nd half with Umut on for Arif and what a difference that made.

Three minutets in and Putsila hobbled off to be replaced by Mbamba and just prior to that, Kehinde wasted another chance with a poor header which went out of play.

Then a few minutes later, relief all round as Ankaragucu finally found the back of the net.   A great piece of anticipation from Umut who collected a dummied ball on the left and off he went with defenders chasing in his wake.   The cut-back and Enes was there to tap-in.

Umut almost scored 10 minutes later when he collected a pass from Enes, but his shot was over the bar.

There were two more efforts from Erdem and Enes with constant Ankaragucu pressure, but we had to wait until the last 15 minutes for the 2^nd goal to put a realistic picture of the match in perspective.

A great run into the box by Mehmet and just as he was about to shoot, he was brought down for a penalty.   Kehinde stepped up and was fortunate when the ball squeezed in with the goalkeeper guessing the direction correctly.

We were all in fine voice now and Umut put the icing on the cake 10 minutes later with a textbook header from a cross on the left.

Only a few minutes to go and Kehinde laid the ball back for Kenan to angle his shot in for the 4^th goal.

So, a comfortable win in the end, but Ankaragucu must resort to playing a footie match for 90 plus minutes when they play teams of a higher level than Antep.   That starts next Sunday when they travel to Bolu.   Ismail Bey please note !!!

So, off to the Red Lion Club it was where we met-up with Maniac Kanka Harun and then we witnessed the Funny Shaped Ball match with SCOTLAND against the Auld Enemy, Ingallind.   No need to tell you that The Calcutta Cup is back where it belongs, ie, at Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh yesssssssssssss !!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Ankaragucu vs Gaziantepspor match preview!

There are no easy games these days in football with upsets on the cards every weekend. Anything but a convincing victory over Gaziantepspor however will almost certainly end İsmail Kartal’s reign as Ankaragucu manager. One win in 7 matches has saw Ankaragucu drop down into 3rd in the league and the pressure is starting to mount on Kartal.

A 1-1 draw midweek at Samsunspor was another disappointing and unacceptable result as the team failed to create many chances despite taking the lead early in the first half. Ilhan Parlak in particular has come in for a lot of criticism as again he failed to contribute anything worth note playing in that wide left position.

To be fair to Ilhan, he is only playing where the manager is asking him to play. Any winger, needs to have pace, skill and an end product. Ilhan unfortunately doesn’t have any of those attributes. He does however work hard, adds experience to the squad and is a decent finisher when chances are provided for him. His best position is through the middle alongside Umut in a 4-4-2 formation. What makes the decision even more baffling, is that Tonia Tisdell who is one of the best wingers in the League is sitting on the bench and can’t get a place in the starting line up.

Gaziantepspor sit bottom of the table with only 1 win in 23 while conceding 61 goals, scoring only 9. They are playing with a team of teenagers and sadly look like the next Turkish team who will face bankruptcy. They have been the victims of fraud and criminal activity which looks like will be the end of a proud 48 year old club with a strong fanbase and has been a regular in the Turkish Super Lig.

Despite this issues both on and off the field at Gaziantepspor, they must be taken seriously and Ankaragucu owe the fans a big performance as they are in danger of missing out on an automatic promotion spot if they continue this kind of form. Gazisehir are the form team in Lig 1 and are now only 2 points behind Ankaragucu and will be the main threat to that 2nd spot. Umraniyespor who are currently sitting 2nd will also be giving their all as they aim for a place in the Super Lig.

It will be interesting to see if İsmail Kartal will make changes to the team, or will he yet again just go with the same team, formation and decisions that haven’t worked over the last 2 months?

Umraniyespor take on Giresunspor who sacked their manager Yilmaz Vural today, Rizespor take on Elazigspor, Gazisehir are at home against Denizlispor and Istanbulspor travel to Adana Demirspor. The Kankas will as usual be at the stadium and Chris has sent the newsletter to everyone’s emails with full details.

Samsunspor 1-1 Ankaragucu match report!

It’s now 1 win in 7 matches for Ankaragucu after another disappointing display in today’s 1-1 draw at struggling Samsunspor. Unsurprisingly İsmail Kartal went with the same formation, same players and same changes proving that he is incapable of turning things around and instead is just hoping somehow his team rediscover the form from the first half of the season.

Team - Korcan, Erdem, Alihan, Gencer, Mehmet, Mbamba, Sedat, Putsila, Kenan, Ilhan, Umut Nayir
Subs - Altay, Mahmut, Yusuf, Lukasz, Arif, Oguzhan, Tisdell, Kehinde, Enes

So despite scoring at the weekend Enes was dropped to the bench, while arguably one of the best wingers in the league Tonia Tisdell sat next to him, while Ilhan Parlak again found his way into the starting line up. And guess what? He contributed absolutely nothing yet again apart from giving the ball away.

It’s incredible to think any experienced manager thinks that just playing the same team and formation every week is going to somehow see an improvement in fortunes.

Ankaragucu did take the lead through Umut Nayir after a nice exchange with Putsila who put the big striker through on goal, and Umut calmly slotted the ball past Furkan to make it 1-0.

Samsunspor fought their way back into the match and just when they looked to be heading to half time a goal down they were awarded a penalty. Goksu played the ball against the hand of Erdem and the referee pointed to the spot, a very harsh decision with Erdem having no chance to get his hand out the way from such short distance. Up stepped Goksu who successfully converted the spot kick to make it 1-1.

Neither side threatened much in the second half, Jonathan Ayite had a great chance for Samsun but Korcan pulled off a top class save, while Putsila saw a long range effort go over the bar at the other end.

At full time the travelling Ankaragucu fans let their frustrations be known as around 1,000 of them made the midweek trip. While many Ankaragucu took to social media calling for the resignation of İsmail Kartal, as fans are fed up with his insistence of sticking with Ilhan every week and his inability to change things.

Caykur Rizespor won 3-0 against Balikesirspor to go 5 points clear at the top while Umraniyespor play at Denizlispor tomorrow. The team to watch out for though is Gazisehir who can go 2 points behind Ankaragucu tomorrow and are the form team in the league. Ankaragucu are at home against Gaziantepspor on Saturday who currently sit bottom of the table.

Gencler crush Goztepe

Genclerbirligi 3 - 0 Goztepe

I didn't get to see Monday night's match in which Jailton scored two and Elvis another but I did read a few comments from the fans.

It seems that although we dominated, thanks to a deserved red card to Adama Traore for a viscous tackle on Sessignon, we weren't all that brilliant.

Goztepe though were rubbish.

Oh well... now in 10th spot... just a couple more to go.

Balikesirspor 1-3 Ankaragucu match report!

Ankaragucu and Ismail Kartal answered their critics today with a brilliant 3-1 win at Balikesirspor which takes them 2nd and only 2 points behind leaders Umraniyespor. Before the game kicked off, Rizespor lost 3-0 at home against Altinordu while Umraniyespor lost 2-1 at Istanbulspor. That gave Ankaragucu all the motivation they needed and they delivered with a spirited performance.

Team - Korcan, Erdem, Alihan, Gencer, Ferhat, Mbamba, Sedat, Putsila, Kenan, Ilhan, Umut Nayir
Subs - Altay, Yusuf, Mahmut, Mehmet, Tonia, Kehinde, Enes, Abdulkadir, Ahmet Can

İsmail Kartal started with the formation and system that he has worked with and trusted all season. Had he not delivered today then their would have been a lot of questions asked, but he stood strong and what a start to the game for Ankaragucu as they attacked straight from kick off.

It took only 4 minutes for Ankaragucu to take the lead. A brilliant corner into the box from Erdem was met by the head of Umut Nayir as he placed his powerful header past Atilla to make it 1-0. The travelling Ankaragucu fans were delighted and celebrate the teams first goal since the winter break.

Mahatma had a great chance shortly after for Balikesirspor but his weak effort was easily saved by Korcan in the Ankaragucu goal.

Ankaragucu went 2-0 up after 16 minutes when Kenan put a good cross into box for Gencer who saw his shot save by Atilla, but Putsila was on hand to put the rebound into the back of the net and the Ankaragucu fans were delighted with the start.

Korcan Celikay has proved to be the key man for Ankaragucu this season and produced a world class save and save of the season to keep the score at 2-0. Abdulkadir found Burak in the box and from about 7 yards out he blasted the ball at goal but somehow Korcan got a hand to it and pushed the ball onto the bar.

Balikesirspor were thrown a lifeline after Alihan fouled his man in the box with a stupid tackle. Up stepped captain Nizamettin to pull a goal back and make it 1-2.

Umut Nayir should have made it 3-1 but for a good save from Atilla, Umut could have went down in the box but he decided to stay on his feet and should have scored.

Half Time - Balikesirspor 1-2 Ankaragucu

Five minutes into the 2nd half and Alihan Kubalas made up for his earlier error with his 5th goal of the season. Another assist for Erdem who crossed into the box for Alihan whose header beat Atilla and made it 3-1.

Special mention must go to Tonia Tisdell who came on in the first half for the injured Ilhan Parlak. He had an excellent game and looks to be closer to match fitness.

Anton Putsila went close late on from a 30 yard effort that was saved by Atilla. Ankaragucu held on to the 3-1 lead despite some late pressure from Balikesirspor. Next up is a massive home match with Rizespor next weekend. Their should be a big crowd at the 19 Mayis Stadium as the two sides go head to head.

At least Genclerbirligi deserved a point this time

Last week Genclerbirligi were very lucky to get a draw. This week it was Trabzon that was very lucky to get away with a point.

Genclerbirligi 0 - 0 Trabzonspor

Just a small group of Gencler fans down at the Alerta, most were at the stadium.

WTF? Huge howls of laughter erupted at the Alerta when the cameras first showed Gencler coach Umit Ozat's choice of clothing for the match.

First half and Trabzon had more of the ball but almost no penetration. If anyone was going to score it was going to be us. But... things didn't work out.

Second half and Gencler really put on a show. We had a number of great shots, a few stupid ones and the crossbar denied us once... Argghh

And then it was all going to end.

Ugur Ciftci had been pulling the shirts and arms of opposition players all day and the referee was rightly pinging him for it. This time it was in the box in the 82nd minute. The ref pointed to the spot. See the below tweet and video taken by a fan in Maraton.

Hopf 👏👏👏 Hopf 👏👏👏 Hopf#Genclerbirligi #Trabzonspor pic.twitter.com/022NUDBUUE

— Cihat Gemici (@Cihat_Gemici) February 10, 2018

And that was that. We could have won it, deserved to win it... arrrrggggghhhhhh

Balikesirspor vs Ankaragucu match preview!

Ankaragucu will look to win their first match after the winter break in a tough encounter at Balikesirspor tomorrow afternoon. Altinordu caused an upset today as they won 3-0 at Rizespor which now gives Ankaragucu an opportunity to move up to 2nd if they can return to the Capital with all 3 points.

Much will depend on whether İsmail Kartal decides to go with the same formations and players that have underperformed since mid December as the club have only won 1 of their last 6 games. Since the winter break Ankaragucu have played 3 games in which they have lost 1 and drawn 2. The most worrying stat is that the team haven’t score a single goal.

Umut Nayir and Ilhan Parlak are two of İsmail Kartal’s key men and his insistence in playing both of them in his 4-2-3-1 Formation isn’t working. Ilhan finds himself out wide on the left where he doesn’t have the pace or skill to cause teams problems. The only way both these players can really fit into the team is if we got to a 4-4-2 and have them playing closer together. Umut is far too isolated up on his own as we don’t have the legs or pace from midfield that can support him.

Tonia Tisdell and Kenan Özer should be the two wide players if İsmail wants to persist with his formation, sadly I have a feeling if Tonia is to start, İsmail will stick with Ilhan and drop Kenan.

Balikesirspor are the leagues 2nd top scorers and have the top 2 individual scorers in the league too. Mahatma Otoo and Abdulkadir Ozgen have both scorerd 10 goals each. Mahatma was picked up on a free transfer from Umraniyespor at the end of last season having only scored 1 goal but has thrived in the Balikesirspor side this term.

The last time the two sides met Balikesirspor won 2-1 in Ankara after falling behind to an Umut Nayir goal. Two late strikes from Mahatma and Sahin Sahinturk gave Balikesirspor all 3 points. Ankaragucu will be looking to put things right and know that they must take all 3 points otherwise they run the danger of loosing more points on leaders Umraniyespor.

The Kankas will be watching the game somewhere local in Ankara, for all the meeting details please contact Jim. Come on Ankaragucu!!! Give us all 3 points!

Ankaragucu 0-0 Elazigspor match report!

Ankaragucu have failed to score a single goal in any of their opening 3 games of the second half of the season after another disappointing performance and 0-0 draw with Elazigspor this afternoon. The team didn’t look like scoring and again had to thank Korcan who had another excellent game in goal to give Ankaragucu a share of the points.

Team - Korcan, Erdem, Gencer, Yusuf, Ferhat, Arif, Sedat, Putsila, Ilhan, Kenan, Umut
Subs - Altay, Mehmet, Mahmut, Can Arik, Abdulkadir, Enes, Tonia, Kehinde, Mbamba

Ankaragucu have been struggling in attack since scoring 3 goals against Manisaspor back in early December. Umut Nayir has failed to find the net since mid November, and after the last two performances we were looking for İsmail Kartal to change things up and bring some intensity and pace into the side.

Instead, we had the same rubbish that he has been serving us since the back end of last year. Same formation, same slow build up play, persisting with Ilhan Parlak out wide on th left when he has no pace, can’t cross, dribble or beat his man while Tonia is sitting on the bench. Ilhan is more effective through the middle and it would make more sense to play a 4-4-2 formation if he wants to go with both Umut and Ilhan.

The Ankaragucu team is full of old players and it’s starting to tell as the team look tired and jaded. Only Sedat, Kenan and Erdem look like they are at acceptable fitness levels.

Managers are judged on results, and results are reflected on the decisions you make. When the game plan hadn’t looked like working for 70 minutes, his genius decision was to take off our most effective wide player this season in Kenan for Tonia, while Ilhan remained on the pitch. It was the same formation, just a change in personel.

Elazigspor started the match brightly, while Ankaragucu again looked sluggish and couldn’t keep the ball. The Ankaragucu fans again turned up in their numbers and cheered the team on from the first minute until the last.

Three minutes in and a mistake from Erdem almost led to a chance for Elazigspor but Ankaragücü managed to clear. Four minutes later Kadir saw his shot from distance saved by Korcan.

Ankaragucu had to wait until the 10th minute for their first chance as Gencer saw his header from a Kenan cross go inches wide.

Tom was the star of the show the last time the sides met and went past two players before shooting wide on the 22nd minute. Ten minutes later Erdem shot from the edge of the box straight into the hands of Soner.

Shortly after that Ankaragucu had their best chance of the game as Umut got onto the end of a Sedat cross but Soner made a good save to keep the score level. Five minutes later Kenan crossed the ball for Sedat but his shot was well wide of the post.

Half Time - Ankaragucu 0-0 Elazigspor

Into the 2nd half and Lamine Diarra should have opened the scoring for Elazigspor on the 61st minute but Korcan made a terrific save with his legs and Ankaragucu managed to clear.

Elazigspor had another great chance through Tatos but that man Korcan saved his team again with a fantastic save.

Ankaragucu had a bit more possession in the 2nd half but they failed to create any chances until late on where Ilhan headed over. Their was still time for one more chance for Halil Pesken but Korcan made a great save and Ankaragucu can thank their keeper for winning them a point in another shambolic performance.

Next up is an away trip to Balikesirspor next Sunday and you can bet İsmail will go with the same formation and maybe bring Tonia in for Kenan. Hopefully he can surprise us and prove me wrong.

Genclerbirligi scrape through with a lucky draw

I could easily be writing this as a report on a disastrous 6-2 loss but instead we grabbed a point. Amazing really

Fenerbahce 2 - 2 Genclerbirligi

First half and Gencler were rubbish. Fenerbahce weren't playing particularly brilliant football (Besiktas midweek were much better opponents) but Gencler were woeful. Stupid passes, inability to hit an open man when a great chance for goal opened up and fouls, lots of them. There was some really stupid play happening with Kamal Issah in particular being needlessly reckless. He had a yellow, was lucky not to get a second and then was pulled off and replaced only 29 minutes in.

Our best player for the whole match was the side post. Fener hit it at least twice in the first half and once in the second. Boy, oh boy... that first half was just a continuous shaking of heads and muffled swearing at the Alerta Bar.

The shaking of heads continued in the 45th minute when Jailton sent in a cross that went straight to the lone Fener defender who simply headed it .... into the goal!

First half finished Fener 0 - 1 Gencler.

MS I Fenerbahçe 2-2 Gençlerbirliği I Goller; pic.twitter.com/pWQPT0LYY9

— GOLAZOOO! (@GOLAZOOOVids) February 3, 2018

Second half and Fener looked again like they would put 15 past us. They drew level just a minute in with a wonderful individual goal and then they took the lead not long later with a weird sort of back heel goal.

We thought it was all going to collapse but Gencler finally started to play some good football. Fener were clearly the better team but at leat we were putting up a bit of a fight.

We got back in it when Milinkovich tapped in after a good attack.

The last 20 minutes were nailbiting but somehow we held on...Phew!

Ankaragucu vs Elazigspor match preview!

Ankaragucu are still looking for their first win after the winter break as they have dropped down to 3rd in the table as the fight for automatic promotion intensifies. Umraniyespor and Rizespor are the top 2 while Giresunspor in 4th are only 4 points behind Ankaragucu.

The task in hand for Ankaragucu became even more difficult when the club failed to lift the current transfer window due to unpaid wages to former players. İsmail Kartal will be hoping that the team who served him so well in the first half of the season can find that same form which took them to the top of the table. Coincidentally Ankaragucu also started the first half of the season poorly before going on a magnificent run which saw them defeat all of their title rivals.

Last weekends defeat at home against Altinordu was extremely disappointing and the team will be itching to put things right in a difficult game against Elazigspor at home on Sunday. Their were some awful individual performances from Yusuf, Alihan and Mehmet at the back, while both Ilhan and Umut were wasteful up top. Alihan will miss the weekends match and is expected to be replaced with Gencer who will return from suspension. Lukasz Szukala should come in to the centre of defence and replace Yusuf Abdioglu who has struggled badly in most of his appearances for Ankaragucu.

İsmail Kartal needs to address the lack of goals and creativity in the team and can’t keep relying on Ilhan playing anywhere in the team. If he isn’t playing through the middle he shouldn’t be playing at all. Tonia looked liked he lacked match fitness last week which is understandable when he hasn’t played in 5 months and the sooner his fitness levels return the better.

Elazigspor are competing for a playoff place and come off a good 1-0 win over Eskisehirspor last weekend thanks to a Lamine Diarra goal. They won 2-0 the last time the two sides met earlier this season when Kehinde was sent off for a headbut. Ankaragucu will be looking to put things right but know they will need to be at their best in what will be a difficult game.

The Brazilian Tom is their Key man and will be the one to watch, while Andre Tatos and Lamine Diarra are also a threat going forward.

Jim is still in Scotland so their won’t be any meeting this weekend. We will have all the live updates of the game on our twitter page and the game will be shown live on BeIN Sports.