Genclerbirligi vs Ankaragucu match preview!

The 2nd Ankara derby of the season is upon us as Ankaragucu look to do the double over their city neighbors Genclerbirligi. Both sides go into the match on form and will be confident of a positive outcome.

Mustafa Resit Akcay is undefeated since taking over as Ankaragucu manager with 2 wins and a draw including the fantastic 2-1 win over Fenerbahce last Saturday in front of a sold out Eryaman Stadium. Ankaragucu could sell the stadium out again this weekend but will only get 10% allocation for the game as they are the away team. Genclrebirligi will probably take 5,000 to the game which leaves over half of the stadium empty. Ankaragucu fans are asking for more tickets but Gencler will likely be unwilling to accept the request as they wont want to lose the home advantage.

The new signings who have hit the ground running for Ankaragucu are getting better every week with some still looking to find match fitness as January is always a difficult time to join a new team. Saba Lobjanidze, Konrad Michalak and Gerson Rodrigues formed an excellent partnership in attack with lightening pace, dribbling and technique causing all sorts of problems for defences they have come up against. It will be interesting to see if Dever Orgill comes back into the side or if they go with the same team that beat Fenerbahce.

Alihan Kubalas has come in for a lot of criticism this season along with Sedat Agcay and Ricardo Faty who all started last weeks game. They did their chances of retaining their place no harm with excellent performances all around. Michal Pazdan is fit again and will likely come in for Alihan but he has done his chances no harm.

Genclerbirligi also came away with an excellent result last weekend with a 1-0 win at Alanyaspor. I watched most of the game and was impressed with Fabricio Baiano and have always been a fan of Daniel Candeias from his time at Rangers. Gencler have a good team but i am confident Ankaragucu can take something from the game especially with the amount of pace they have in the team and counter attack now.

The last time the two sides met Ankaragucu won 2-1 thanks to goals from Ilhan Parlak and a Candeias own goal. Ankaragucu are a much stronger team this time but will have to put in the same effort as they did against Fenerbahce and not get complacent.

There is a great atmosphere within Ankaragucu at the moment and that is down to the leadership of Fatih Mert and Tamer Acar who have already shown transparency and the fans trust them. That has transferred into the dressing room where you can see for the first time in a long time, a happy squad.

In other news off field this week, Ankaragucu youngster Yusuf Eren Goktas has been called up to the Turkish National youth team. The 16 year old who plays under Cengiz Paca for the youth team is one for the future.