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.
Yes, well said Nadeem.
ReplyDeleteI know I've been guilty of 'going over the top' with my comment ...... this is a must win match, but in all honesty that's what it is today. It is unthinkable for Ankaragucu to drop points in this match.
I'm looking for Ankaragucu to lay siege to the Antep goal and end the day with a resounding victoreeeee. Nothing else will do.
Looking at the other matches, there could be the possibily of an upset at the Gazi match if fast improving Denizli can maintain their recent form. Also, Giresun may cause Umraniye some problems. However, Rize should beat Elazig.
All Ankaragucu can do at the moment is to keep winning and hope for upsets elsewhere.
Watch this space for my report tomorrow.
C'mon Ankaragucu ...... let's do it !!!!