Football Season Guide

Gaziantep should be absolutely thankful to their first-half performance and direct rivals because they could manage to survive in the league despite collecting only ten points in the last sixteen fixtures of the season. Coach Mutlu Topcu could not prevent his team's fall. Before the season’s end came, he had to leave the team. Ahead of the current season’s kick-off, they do not seem ready. The board could not find a coach in time and finally came to an agreement with former Fenerbahce coach Ismail Kartal on the final days of July. No doubt that it is too late considering searching players in the transfer market and preparing for the new season. Most of the transfers arrived late. So the whole team will need time to know eachother. During the summer, they have lost several players including important keeper Karcemarskas, Abuda, Marcal, Chibuike, Arokoyo and so on. Their squad quality was already under the league’s average. In order to fill their roles, the board have added some new faces but their qualities were already starting to be questioned. First of all, Karcemarskas has saved several points with his performance in many fixtures. Following his departure, Gokhan was signed in but he is not at the same level with the Lithuanian keeper. So the board are still looking for another keeper. In the defence line, they absolutely look short. The coach said that Senol Can, Elyasa Sume, Baris Yardimci, Welinton and van Hintum are ok but they are not enough for the whole season. So the fans are expected to see some defensive arrivals until the summer transfer marker is closed. Last season, they were one of the lowest scoring teams. It seems like they may continue to face the same problem because young Mota, loanee Angan and Zambian Kangwa do not have the quality on the paper. Putilo, Larsson and Ilhan are expected to offer some extra performances. Abuda was doing a good job in front of the defence line. Erdem Sen and Hurriyet Gucer were supporting him as well. Following their departures, there is only Sergey Kislyak who signed in. Even if they have Muhammed and Abdulkadir, they seem weak there. According to the performances of their attackers and the defence line, Gaziantep could spend a comfortable season or be relegated.