Greetings Kankas and Kankies.
Grrrrrrr..... I was going to open with a strong adjective, but Phillie Kanka has already been there, and I'm sure Maniac Kanka will not be long in following !
I used to like a big dish of steaming hot lentil soup on a cold winter's night, but ..... no more ! Lentils are defo off the menu, as is Mr Lentil, who gifted TWO effin goals to Sivas yesterday.
Calling Santos ..... for God's sake, please mame a miraculous recovery and come back soon ........ we need you !
ANKARAGUCU 2 Sivasspor 3
I went to our new meeting place, The Beer Bus Bar, where I met up with Costacurta Kanka Caner and his two buddies Mustafa and Bugra (loyal Gecikondu boys). Then came Flying Dutchman Kanka Carlo. Off to the Stadium where we were joined by Connect Kanka Steve, Phillie Kanka Jamie, Yankee Kanka and Huso Kanka.
Only one surprise in the starting line-up with Captain Hurriyet missing (injured ?) - El-Yasa took the armband.
Senecky
El-Yasa, Ediz, Baki Lentil and Broggi
Konate, Weeks and Adem
Aydin
Vassell and Meye
2nd half substitutes used - Metin, Mehmet and Volkan
Lots of razamataz pre-kick off with hundreds (well .... at lot) of flag wavers on the peri-track and the tribunes in full voice as usual.
If we thought that relegation threatened Sivas was going to be whipping-dogs we were sadly mistaken ! They came out of their traps like greyhounds and were dominating the opening exchanges.
However, what was to come took the smiles off our faces and even the tribunes turned down the volume.
Just 12 minutes into the match and a Sivas corner comes over. Played to the back post where full back Sedat was lurking unmarked. Thank you very much he says to the Ankaragucu 'defence' and then coolly chooses his spot to blast the ball in with Senecky helpless.
As if that wasn't bad enough, two minutes later in another Sivas attack, Mr Lentil attempted a simple back pass to Senecky which was an aberration. Thank you very much says Ibrahim and in it goes with Senecky again left exposed and helpless to rectify Mr Lentil's mistake.
At this stage of the match Sivas was in total control and threatening to add another. Mutterings of discontent in the tribunes became violent with fights breaking out in Left Kapali and Maraton. Cue .... steel helmeted Police reinforcements called in to quell the fighting, especially in Kapali where the ambulance was required for an unfortunate few.
During all this nonsense, Mr Lentil was being booed every time he touched the ball !
The half time whistle came as a relief. Time to re-group and change tactics I was hoping.
Sure enough. Metin and Mehmet replaced Konte and the ineffective Meye for the start of the 2nd half and that tactic seemed to be working. Ankaragucu looked a different team and started to play footie at last and attack Sivas full-on. However, we had to wait until halfway through the 2nd half for the breakthrough.
It was a goalmouth melee from a corner which wasn't cleared by the (up to that point) effective Sivas defence, and Metin was on hand to blast the loose ball in. Was this the turning point I wondered ? Hmmmmmm ..... I wasn't convinced because Sivas was still looking dangerous when they broke out of defence.
Then came the equaliser with one minute left. Another scrappy finish with Metin getting the final touch. A fair reward after all the 2nd half Ankaragucu pressure. OK, I thought, one point is not a bad return after being 0-2 down, and to be unbiased, a fair result after a brave fight back.
Then, straight from the re-start, with everyone still celebrating Metin's equaliser, the ball was played into the Ankaragucu penalty box. Senecky ran out to clear, but either Mr Lentil is deaf (as well as dumb !) or Senecky didn't shout, so Mr Lentil decided to have a backheader which looped over Senecky and into the empty goal ! Very clever trick ...... I don't think !!!
Stunned silence !
Still, there was time for Ankaragucu to equalise in time added-on but a great effort was missed by Mehmet when the cross-bar prevented what would have been another equaliser and .... justice.
Off we trudged out of the Stadium with long faces, shaking heads and foreboding of what's in store in the 2nd half of the season !! Ankaragucu has been sucked into the relegation zone again and now have the winter break to prepare to put things right in this their Centenery Year.
What to do about the defence is what will no doubt be troubling the new coach ! Broggi continues to impress, but, I would say that even the performances of El-Yasa and Ediz were not up to scratch yesterday. The less said about Mr Lentil the better - I'm sure there will be lots of comments flooding in on this 'gentleman's' performance !!!
In the meatime, there is a trip to Denizli to negotiate on Wednesday when Denizli BBS play host in the first group match of the Turkish Cup.
Hopefully I will have some good news to report on Thursday.
All the best from an almost despairing Eski Kanka Jim
The Round Ball in Ankara! Dedicated to football lovers in Ankara (Except for those who follow Osmanlispor)
baci is such a bad defender, There must be someone else who can take his place. Im worried with the crowd trouble that when i come over the game against fener is going to be played behind closed doors.
ReplyDeleteRoger Lemerre is a good appointment and hopefully he will bring in some good players i january.
nadeem
It appears after last week's buggery that we have now entered the twilight zone. Maybe it's a good thing the break is coming when it is!
ReplyDeleteThough if asked I'd vote for Gençler as the best Ankara team, I remember myself attending several Ankaragücü matches last season. Among them was the same fixture back in March. Sivas won by two to nil, without playing any good, positive gameplay whatsoever. I used to hate Sivas back then, due to their former manager, who was by far the most arrogant football personality at the time, and support AnkGücü's struggle against relegation, which was somehow clean and fair by all standards. In a couple of months, the things turned around. Sivas's new manager is a guy I respect and wish to see succeed, and much of the antipathy has concentrated on AnkaraGücüSpor's part. The board, that patchwork of a team, and finally, the majority of fans who saluted Gökçeks' enormous will to power as beneficial to their own causes, all contribute to a negative image that makes me wish to see the club relegated. No offense intended particularly, but I suppose Ankaraspor will be pushed down next year too, this time from "Bank Asya 1. Lig" to "TFF 2. Lig", for the big brother is coming full throttle to that division.
ReplyDeletethe boy you met who is called bugra is my cousin , tall relative to boys his age,isn't he :D
ReplyDeletenarrated me excitedly he met you guys and told his name etc.as you mentioned he is a local gecekondu attender as well :D
hürriyet couldnt participate in the team for the fact that fell into the punishment of 4th yellow card.obviously we suffered his absence in the midfield area as a playmaker.you should have observed adem screwed the whole game up in his position , was not even able to hand out some effective balls through sivas defence set.
to be honest , i always supported the ''power merge'' between us and ankaraspor at first , when the deals began to got negotiated, but straight away i am clearcut sure about this reality that junior gokcek has no ability to run a team if he targets to make us a top-struggling one.fully lacking of a vision.he left the team for goddamn 5 weeks without a pro and gifted coach yet resorted to some idiot technical operatives so that their unlogical lineups and player choices costed us to lost 11 points!!the mere responsible of this scandal is junior gokcek and his retarded decision in respect of not to assign a smart coach immediately after hikmet karaman was sacked...
he can go to hell with ankaraspor's moron players such as meye , konate , adem and surely son of a bitch bald who granted a 3 points present to sivas yesterday - we all know this bastard's name...
celine, i feal your pain brother.I live in scotland and i wait all week to watch Ankaragucu games online. Most of them is just the result coming through. I accepted defeat against fener, but yesterday was disgracefull. I mean Konate in midfield ? ffs. The coaching deciscions and players brought in are costing us big time.
ReplyDeleteLemerre has his work cut out and we need to bring in Quality istead of quantity this time.
nadeem
This match can not be commented.Sivas did not do anything but they were luck as the manager beared Mr Lentil throug over the match.
ReplyDeleteAnd he did absolutely what we have expected from him.
Thanks Mr.Lentil for your confirmation.
And Also Mr. Manager...you too..
Volkan
I am bringing snowballs to the next match. A la Philly style.
ReplyDeleteIt should be interesting to see the 'snowballs' which Philly intends to bring, especially if the white stuff doesn't descend on Ankara !!
ReplyDeleteI'll be laughing big-style. However, if they are 'Eskisehir type Snowballs' then I'm running for cover !!!