Greetings Kankas
and Kankies.
Relegation was
always likely, even after last season’s reprieve, but now even more so with
Ankaragucu seemingly cut adrift at the bottom of the league alongside Denizli and
6 points away from the escape zone. Granted,
6 points may not seem much at first glance, but with Ankaragucu’s recent
performances, there can be little hope for a miracle escape.
Ankaragucu’s 2nd
Coach of the season, Mustafa Dalci, has now gone after this recent match, and there is little hope at this stage of the
season of bringing in a competent Coach to wave a magic wand !
ANKARAGUCU 1 Sivasspor 4
Team – Korcan,
Atakan, Pazdan, Erdi, Pinto, Voca, Saba, Ibrahim, Emre, Alper and Badji
Substitutes –
Kitsiou, Orkan, Borven and Geraldo
The writing was
on the wall as early as the 9th minute when Ankaragucu gave away a
needless penalty. A Sivas attacker was
heading into the penalty box on the left with Erdi by his side on the goal side. Then Pazdan came in from the other side and
looked like he stood on his foot, but in my opinion the attacker looked to be
running out of space and the ball may well have gone out of play. However, the referee blew for a penalty against
Pazdan and Max stepped up to send in a bullet to the centre with Korcan diving
to his left.
Then another
crisis in the 20th minute when the referee blew for another penalty
against Ibrahim who had tackled a defender just inside the box. Ibraham looked to have won the tackle but
in the process the ball ricocheted up and hit his arm before the ball was
cleared. The referee obviously had a
message in his earpiece and therefore called for VAR. After consulting it himself his disallowed
the penalty. It was obviously ball to
hand, but the new rule on this subject is confusing, even for referees, but
thankfully common sense prevailed in this case.
At this stage of
the match Ankaragucu was still in it and 5 minutes later they should have
equalised when Badji received a pass in the 6 yard box but sent his weak shot
straight at the goalkeeper. Then one
minute later and it was Emre’s turn to have his shot saved by the
goalkeeper. Badji had another good
chance on the half hour mark when he received a long range pass and then
blasted his shot wide of the left post when he should have done better.
Further chances
fell to Ankaragucu before the half time whistle but Emre was caught dithering
when Pinto sent him a perfect pass, and then Saba had a volleyed shot just
outside the box which flew over the bar.
The 2nd
half was only 2 minutes old when Sivas scored No2 and it was a great piece of
skill by Kayode with help from the Ankaragucu defence. He received a pass from inside his own half
and went scurrying down the left wing.
He cut inside into the box and eluded Erdi’s feeble tackle and wrong
footed another tackle, and then sent the shot inside the left post with Korcan
grounded for some reason. He was
probably expecting the shot to be sent to the right post ??!!
Geraldo was the
only Ankaragucu player who looked as though they had a football brain, and once
he is up to full fitness I’m sure he will be an asset to the team. He set-up the Ankaragucu goal in the 65th
minute with good work down the
right. He reached the goal line and
played a perfect cut-back for Orkan to shoot.
The goalkeeper and defender tried to clear the shot but only helped the
ball in.
If we were
expecting the equaliser we were sadly disappointed 3 minutes later when Sivas
restored their 2 goal advantage. There
was a fast Sivas break on the left and when the cross came in there was only
Pinto there to defend against 2 attackers.
It was too easy for Sivas and the ball was stroked in with Korcan
helpless.
3 minutes from
the final whistle and Sivas made it 4 with what I thought was a blatant
offside. The linesman agreed with me,
but he was over-ruled by the referee.
However, by that stage in the match Ankaragucu was a well beaten side.
However, it could
have been so different if they had taken their chances and had the players to
actually convert all their chances.
It is a sad
reflection that Ankaragucu had 64% possession in the match and yet managed to
lose by such a large margin !!
I have to say that
most of the possession was in midfield with their annoying habit of passing
from one touch line to the other, and then back making a triangle of passes and
going nowhere !!
It really is
pitiful, pathetic and inexcusable, and so boring to watch. Even at 4-1 down in the 90 plus 2 stage of
the match, they were still doing it.
Hopefully the new Coach will instil a more direct and forceful attacking
policy. Let’s hope it’s not too
late !!
Next up is an
away match against much improved Kayseri next Saturday afternoon.
All the best
from Eski Kanka Jim
At least Mustafa Dalci has done the right thing and handed in his resignation.
ReplyDeleteAnkaragucu have 4 candidates and will make a decision in the next day as to who replaces him.