Football Season Review

№13: Osmanlispor FK

Simply, it could be said that Osmanli made a great start to the season as they managed to enter the Europa League’s group stage following three qualifiying rounds. When the season’s first period ended, they were also a strong candidate for the top five but then everything started to go worse in 2017. They started to suffer bad results in the league, especially at home. Then they were kicked out of the Turkish Cup and the Europa League. Most of the authorities believe that kicking off the season earlier than the other teams was the biggest reason of the capital city side’s downfall because their fitness was not good enough for the whole campaign as they were not used to it. Besides that, it was as if the players ended the season in their minds once the European adventure came to an end. In the early days of April, coach Mustafa Akcay had to resign after his team collected only five points in ten fixtures. His replacement coach Hamza Hamzaoglu failed to make a good impact on the team as they ended the season with a five-game losing run. In order to cope with the busy schedule, coach Akcay rotated a lot during the whole season but this made them fail to catch stability and to get good results. Their squad structure was a bit too short. That is why some defenders, including the keeper, had to play more than fourty fixtures in a season. That is not absolutely a situation that they are used to face. Despite his age, Pierre Webo did a great job and produced ten goals & six assists. For the next season, they parted company with coach Hamzaoglu. So the board need to decide about the new coach first. According to his policies, the squad structure will be decided. Especially, some new players should be added to the defence and the offence line. Webo’s contract expired. So a way to persuade him should be found at once.


Player of the Season: Pierre Webo