Echoes of the Oldcity

Well, it's not really the old city, it's just how the name of Eskisehir rolls in when you literally translate it into English.

After a very lengthy! winterbreak, -which was about 11 days or so, we had the first game of the second half of the season and conquered the stands as well as the pundits with the effort that we have shown on the field. From head to toe, everyone was doing their job especially helping each other closing those gaps when pressing the opponent.

Even though Almeida was a little off again, I do like his composure and his will to get into the action in which there were numerous chances for him to score again. Having very used to Q7's assists Almeida was still looking for a supplier like him all night long, at least until he was pulled out on 75th minute. Pektemek, then, did fulfilled his job description and scored to pull the plug of Eskisehirspor on the 90th minute. Even though it should have been pulled much earlier, the lack of finishing quality in the team prevented that.

Usually fans talk about the strikers first and the goals that were scored or missed. This post has started like that too but we must talk about our defense line as well. Having only the 7th clean sheet of the season, our men in the back four have never been seen so solid and strong since the days of, Recep, Ulvi, Gökhan and Kadir. Even in the 100th year, when Ronaldo and Zago was the defensive backbone, the defense wasn't this much efficient and played a crucial role even in positively changing the score. Defenders in a team primarily defends and then scores. If they do score occasionally, this means that they do their defensive duties well and having completed their duties, they do extra work by scoring goals. Sivok scores, Egemen scores, Hilbert scores or take shots that the rebounds cause threats and Ismail always have the attacking mind, -maybe a little to much-, and all of this shows how solid defensive back line build up that we have.

Don't get me wrong though, a real good defense always starts from upfront. Since the introduction of Veli, Ernst and Necip the stamina of the midfield gradually went up from zilch to %70-80 in all of the football terms. The numbers of stealing the ball, positive tackling, harrassing the opponent upfront so that they can't use the ball correctly went up dramatically. Also the introduction of Fernandes after Guti's departure created and added value in which the lack of creativity finessed in his feet.

Nothing's still perfect though, not even close if you ask me. First of all, the biggest problem in the squad is the alternating the similar quality of footballers in case of the injuries and/or during suspensions. We were happy that Simao made a comeback last night, however most of us probably collapsed when we saw Hilbert on the ground and heard the MR results today that he will be expected to miss about 8 games. Another shocking news came in when Aurelio will go under a surgical operation, which means he will be out rest of the season. Q7 will be out for another 4-5 games in this month as well. The squad have proved that they can do without Q7 or Simao or Aurelio but Hilbert's injury will be very critical for the outcome of the season. I am still hopefull and will be praying for his quick rehab in order for him to come back as early as 2 weeks time. Until then we will have to hope and pray for Ekrem and/or Tanju to fulfill his position.

Maybe the first few games ahead of us like Ankaragücü and Gaziantep Belediye will be easy enough for them to cope with the task but the later fixtures will push the limits for sure. Moreover, I really do not want to hear about any other injury news till the end of the season.

In the end, it was a happy ending in terms of the 3 points and confidence build-up of the squad, but everyone should know that the tough term has not started yet. Also, lack of concentration cost Mersin idman Yurdu a lot last week against Ankaragücü fielded with tons of reserve players due to their financial condition. Let us hope that we will never face a similar situation like that on Sunday. I was waiting since 1993 for the news of Ankaragücü's relegation. Hopefully this will be that year, and we will be one of the teams that nailed couple of nails on their coffin. I would be extremely happy if the score would be 8-0 as well...