In the 7th week of the Spor Toto Super League, Galatasaray defeated Arabam.com Konyaspor 2-1 on the field and rose to the top of the leaderboard in the match. After the match, Galatasaray Technical Director Okan Buruk made a statement at the press conference. Okan Buruk stated that they could not fully reflect a game that suits them against Konyaspor and said, “I was happier one game ago. We played a much better game. Looking back, we said that it was a game organization from last year, when Konyaspor was the leader and a good team that did not concede a goal. We started with a good goal. We conceded a good goal. Our performance was low for most of the first half. We allowed the opponent. When we look at the data, although we were very superior in ball handling and goal expectation, we could not put forward the game that suited us exactly. We leave as the leader. This was one of our goals. “After the international break, we will get to know each other better with our newly joined players. Even though it wasn’t exactly our own performance, we finished by winning,” he said.
“Mertens’ request continues”
“We actually used it at the front. At the beginning of the match, we did not want to stop Amir in front of the opposing midfielders as well. Our goal was a pressure game. We wanted to put pressure on the front. He ensured that the game we wanted did not come out. Both defense and offense will continue. His desire when he started continues. “After resting this week, I think he will catch up with his old games. We played 3 games in a row. Overall, I’m happy with Mertens’s management of the game. He will catch more clear positions on offense as well.”
“IT IS A DIFFICULT FITTING FOR US, WE WILL OVERCOME”
When asked about how the national break to be given to the league will affect the 3-game winning streak, Buruk said, “Although you slowed down after winning 3 matches, we saw that we needed a renewal in this week’s game. It will be a useful break for those who are not ready. There will be a friendly match next week. We will have a chance to load with the players we have. We will make good use of the national break. It won’t be a bad break for us. Then we have 2 aways. about 6 aways in the first 10 weeks. A tough fixture for us. We would get over it. We want to put it on top of this game.”
“Dubois will be an alternative at left back”
Regarding Leo Dubois’ playing at left back, Okan Buruk said, “We talked before the match. He played one game at the beginning of the season, if he had an option at left-back. We considered him as a left-back in the game. In the following weeks, it will be an alternative for us in that region. Sacha Boey was the best on the team. We’ll tell you exactly. That’s why the left-back will be an alternative for Dubois,” he said.
“Yusuf needs to see exactly 90 minutes”
Okan Buruk said that they will play a friendly match between the national team to see the new players better and said, “We can see the positional change in some players. I think he should see Yusuf, who is missing a match like Icardi and Mata, for a full 90 minutes from today’s appearance. Midtsjö is out of injury, it will be important to see 90 minutes of the game. We’re thinking of a friendly match. This will also be beneficial for us. We can make such experiments in terms of player position,” he said.
“Yunus is valuable for transporting balls to zone 3”
Regarding Yunus Akgün’s individual performance, the experienced technical man said, “Were we very, very good as an individual performance or not. Our performance was poor. Our consistency in the last 2 weeks has been better around passing traffic and the opponent’s penalty area. For today, we have not been able to fully reveal our own quality. We can make player choices. Changing Turkish, foreigner ties our hands. You cannot make the change you want. Yunus is very valuable for us in terms of carrying balls to the 3rd region. We see our right flank working. There is fatigue. It’s a game after another. They are very motivated, enthusiastic, and excessive desire can cause a decrease in performance in the home field. So overall I am satisfied with their request, but they are qualified to do better. It will be even better in the coming weeks,” he said.
“We didn’t get what we wanted in terms of defense”
Noting that Konyaspor’s shots from a distance pose a danger, Buruk said, “We put 3 players playing the pass game. Defensively, Sergio’s and Gomis’ lack of defense caused us to break. Throughout the match, the opponent’s long shots posed the greatest danger. In order to press ahead, the whole team has to come out. We did not have this dynamism in general. The quality feet of the opponent broke us. “We didn’t get what we wanted in terms of defense in general for this game,” he said.
“The team phenomenon is 70 percent complete”
Buruk stated that the team phenomenon of Galatasaray was completed at a rate of 70 percent and said, “Last year, a new team was established, but it could not show the desired performance. There was a situation where the general fan was unhappy. It’s too early for this year, we got over that. As of today, we are the leader. We have created a team that has played the winning away games for 3 matches, but whose winning fans are happy. This is very important, very valuable. Maybe we will finish the leader this week, I don’t know, but it is not an easy thing for a newly formed team to win these matches and find this score in this fixture. We will continue this. I see the happiness of Galatasaray fans on the street. Galatasaray is on the right track. We have a good staff. The formation of the team phenomenon is 70 percent complete and there is another 30 percent. Hopefully, the days when we will be leaders are waiting for us,” he said.