Sunday, August 16, 2009

ANKARAGUCU PLAY THE 'GET OUT OF JAIL CARD' AT THE END !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Ankaragucu waited until the last 10 minutes of the match last night before they 'woke up' and played their 'Get out of Jail Card'. My guess is that Hikmet Karaman will be giving them extra training this week as a punishment !

ANKARAGUCU 1 Manisaspor 1

It was business as usual in the Chopin Bar last night when we met up. Lots of optimism and predictions of a 3-0 win for Ankaragucu. Typical start of the season hype which we all enjoy falling into !!

Battle Damaged Kanka Damon, Kaleci Kanka Tansu and I welcomed Clueless Kankie Vicki back into the fold after a long absence from Ankara. Also, her friend Peru Kanka David was there for his first Ankaragucu match.

Off to the Stadium then where we met up with Maniac Kanka Harun, his brother Taksi Driver Kanka and his sweet daughter Angel Kankie Hazal.

The moment I was waiting for came and we held our breath as Serkan came out to warm-up with the team. Relief ....... Gecikondu and Maraton called him over for a round of applause and all was forgiven. Thank God for that !

Ankaragucu lined up without the suspended Santos as follows -
Serkan, Cihan, El-Yasa, Padilha and Kaan.
Semavi, Barbaros, Sosibo and Ceyhun.
Iglesias and Vassell.

Substitutes Henderson, Ufuk and Metin were all used in the 2nd half.

The teams went in at half time all square at 0-0. It was an end-to-end first period with Ceyhun and Vassell going close a few times and Manisa belying their reputation as whipping dogs.

Some of last season's weaknesses surfaced again with Ankaragucu's passing woeful at times. Also, the defence hit the panic button too many times with wild clearances and the sooner Santos returns to control the defence the better !

So, going in at half time 0-0 was a relief and I was wondering when Ankaragucu was going to wake-up and put the impressive Manisa defence under pressure.

More of the same in the 2nd half and I was thinking how many times we conceded goals last season from breakaways when it happened. Pushing forward to break the deadlock is all very well, but there must be cover to prevent breakaways - basic footie tactics me thinks ?!

Manisa stiker Simpson received what I thought was a harsh red card for a foul on El-Yasa on 70 minutes. OK, it was a foul, but I believe the referee was swayed by the reaction of the crowd and Ankaragucu players in bringing out RED.

So, open the floodgates and here come the goals ? Wrong !

All credit to Manisa for not changing their game plan. They kept coming at Ankaragucu and their breakaways were looking more dangerous as Ankaragucu kept up their pressure, and it was from one of those breakaways that Manisa opened the scoring with a simple tap-in from Isaac (remember him ???!!!) with 10 minutes to go.

Cue ..... wake up call ! Ankaragucu was looking a different team now and totally dominated the final 10 minutes. How many of us said .... why couldn't they play like that for 90 minutes ??!! That's a question for Hikmet Bey to answer !

With the clock on 90 minutes, and constant Ankaragucu pressure, the equaliser came. A goalmouth melee, the ball wasn't cleared for once, and it fell nicely for Vassell. Whack ! The net bulged and everyone started singing and dancing again. Actually, it was more like relief !! I believe, on the balance of play for the entire match, we just about deserved an equaliser and thanks to Vassell for getting us out of jail !

Men of the match ..... Vassell, not just for his goal, but he didn't stop running and tracking back when disposessed. Also, the South African Sosibo showed some nice touches until he tired near the end. Semavi was all huff and puff and lots of his passes went astray. He also needs to put his foot on the ball sometimes. Last week's hero, Ceyhun, had a quiet game by his standards. As for the defence, grrrrrrrr..... come back soon Santos !

Away to 'brother team' Bursa next weekend. Not another draw please - a win is required !! Venezuela Kanka Rom mentioned he might be at that match. If so, we can expect an eye witness report from him.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

13 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:49 pm

    morning Jim, Dissapoiting not to get the three points but great to see Vassell scoring his first goal.

    Isaacs goal was one hell of a tap in lol, great lob.

    Is Santos a good player then ?


    nadeem

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeah, well taken goal by Isaac. He used to play for Gencler but Oz Kanka Chris didn't like him and was always frustrated by his lack of goals among other things. We Ankaragucu kankas used to tease him by calling him Promising Isaac (his surname is Promise !!).

    Gencler transferred him to Trabzon last season and now he ends up in Manisa to do 'the dirty' to us .... grrrrrrr !

    Yes, Santos really is a class act. A superb centre back and organiser of the back line. His distribution from defence is controlled and his heading ability is fantastic in defence and sometimes in attack when he comes up for corners. Btw... I hope Galatasaray, Fener and Besiktas coaches are not reading this paragraph !!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous6:09 pm

    yeah i know Isaac from his younger days when Man United wanted him but he ended up at Gencler.

    Lol Santos sounds a gd player. Hopefully him and big Antwi will become a good partnership.

    nadeem

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous10:45 pm

    Ah I see the news on Vassell scoring now,was looking in the wrong blog.Hope you guys dont mind me intruding here,I'm interested in Turk football in general,not just the Big 3 and came across your site whilst surfing.Curious to see how Vassell gets on in Ankara.
    DublinNeil.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Eski's description of the goal was great based on the angle we had, but I just saw the video of the goal--beautiful. Ceyhun took the corner, El Yasa got his head on it and flicked it so that it wound up arriving in front of Vassell about waist high in the air. Vassell waited on it patiently and wacked it with his left foot up into the inner, right-hand corner. Ok, it was close range, but what marksmanship. Does anyone know if Vassell is left footed?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hey Dublin Neil, welcome to the Blog. We are always pleased to hear from anyone who hates the Istanbul 3 as much as we all do.

    Vassell is still in the 'settling-in' period and now that he has had his first full match under his belt should prove to be the striker we have been looking for since Umut left for Trabzon many moons ago.

    I'm not sure which is his favoured foot, but a player of his experience has surely been coached to use both to equal effect.

    Which team do you support Neil ? The famous Shamrock Rovers ???

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous10:22 pm

    Yeah kinda,seeing as I used to play for them!I was at Luton Town for 5 years til 1990 without really making the grade,returned to Ireland and had a few years with Shamrock Rovers before jacking it in and going off to live in Australia for a couple of years with my mates.Back home now but bought a holiday home in Turkey a few years back hence I got into the Turk football.I'm just back in fact, was over there for the last 3 weeks with the wife and kids.Vassell is a curious transfer,caused a stir in these parts.Most opinions are asking if Ankaragucu know what they are getting?!He didnt feature much for Man City last year and didnt score.Has to be given a chance though.Watching the Celtic Arsenal Champs League play off just now,good game.Whats the story with you regulars,are you all English,living or working in Ankara?Whats Ankara like?I've only been on the west coast.Shouldnt really be posting all this here sorry.Anyway why do we not like Ankaraspor on here?!I'm ignorant of the reason though I'm sure there is a good one.I'm always amazed why everyone (nearly everyone!) in Turkey follow the big 3 and not their local side.I asked a guy in a shop the other day if he had the Denizlispor jersey (they being the nearest club geographically) and he laughed at me!Sivasspor got a similar response.Didnt they do well last season?Gonna be a struggle for them this term.
    Cheers.
    Dublin Neil

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hey Dublin Neil ..... so many questions !!!

    Firstly, I suggest you have a look at 'The Best of' on the right hand side when you come into the Blog. This will give you an insight into what we are all about.

    Secondly, send me an email and I'll answer all your questions ! OK ?
    It's .... jachalmers94 AT hotmail.com

    Look forward to hearing from you. All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous12:13 am

    hello Neil, Welcome to the board. The Ankaragucu are the team to follow. The big 3 are boaring lol.

    Just watched the game myself, Ach well the mighty Gers look to be the only Scots left in Europe unless Hearts beat Zagreb lol

    Jim Good win for Hibs at the weekend

    nADEEM

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  10. Atlas4:44 am

    Maybe next week Sir Charles. I liked Vassel's goal man. It was incredible, what a goal!
    Next week, we'll get the 3 point.
    Atlas

    ReplyDelete
  11. Good to see Atlas getting involved in the comments section on our Blog. Keep it up Ankaragucu Atlas - we love you !

    Scottish teams not doing so well in YooRo Footie ? Now there is a surprise. Seems to me that Scotland should have their Number One team in there EVERY season, ie, The Mighty Hibernian FC. After all, Hibs have a God given right to be there !!!

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