Serkan Özbalta: “We wanted to win the Sakaryaspor match before the break in the league.”

Çorum FK’s head coach Serkan Özbalta stated after the Sakaryaspor match, “We wanted to win the Sakaryaspor match before the league was interrupted due to international matches.”

In the 4th week of Trendyol 1. Lig, Çorum FK drew 1-1 against Sakaryaspor at home. In the press conference held after the match, head coach Serkan Özbalta made statements, indicating that some teams only need one match and that when they win, they continue on their path with their heads held high. He said, “Last year was similar; after gaining momentum, we had a season where we almost turned back from the finals with a more confident game and a player group that knew what they were doing. This year, due to Çorum Football Club’s success from last year, everyone, including us and our fans, knows that they will act more carefully and meticulously in every match they play. We make our efforts and statements in that direction. Like every coach, we wanted to win the match at home before the league break. In the first half, in the 10th minute, there was a red card shown to a Sakaryaspor player. Before that, I didn’t want Sakaryaspor to come to Çorum in this way. Because I told my players before the last training, ‘This is a very dangerous situation because when people have nothing to lose, they can do anything.’ If the match had resulted in a defeat for the Sakaryaspor players, there would have been no level to blame them. In this sense, I told my players; I really don’t want them to come here like this. If they came like it was a normal match, it wouldn’t be a problem, but there is a very dangerous situation. We have to turn this situation in our favor by acting incredibly carefully on the field. Otherwise, we could get ourselves into trouble.”

“We scored an unfortunate goal while increasing the tempo”

Reminding that a Sakaryaspor player received a red card in the 10th minute of the match, Özbalta said, “Interestingly, sometimes such situations can happen. Things can change in an interesting way. When the red card comes, perhaps a different victory is in everyone’s mind, and it may be perceived that Çorum will relax. But we have to be careful; as a coaching staff, we have to act accordingly, and knowing this, we wanted to increase the tempo of the game. Because we didn’t want to let the opponent participate in the game. Because when the opponent is left with 10 players, sometimes your own players can get complacent. Since the opposing team is also left with 10 players, the urge to run like two people sends signals from the nervous system to the brain. We didn’t want to fall into such a situation; we increased the tempo. While increasing the tempo, we conceded an unfortunate goal. After that, all our efforts were directed towards turning the game around. Sometimes there are a lot of goal opportunities, but you can’t get results. If Ahmethan’s shot had been a goal, maybe we would have left the field victorious. It didn’t happen, but the encouraging thing is that this team is really a good team.”