After the Kocaelispor – Manisa FK match

In the Trendyol 1st League, after Kocaelispor lost 2-1 to Manisa FK, with 3 red cards and 2 penalties in the match, the coaches evaluated the game.

Kocaelispor hosted Manisa FK at home after the national team break and lost the match 2-1. Kocaelispor was left with 10 players after Appindangoye received a red card in the 2nd minute, while Manisa FK equalized the numbers when Cissokho was sent off in the 18th minute, and Kocaelispor finished the match with 9 players after Oğulcan was sent off in the stoppage time. Following the match, the coaches evaluated the game.

Ertuğrul Sağlam: “Our balance was disrupted”
Kocaelispor’s head coach Ertuğrul Sağlam stated, “After the unfortunate match we played last week, which was unfortunate for us and for Turkish football, we were waiting for this day as Kocaelispor throughout the week. There was a nice atmosphere to give a good message, to remind people of the strength of Kocaelispor, and to show that no one can keep us from this path. Unfortunately, we started the match with another red card as soon as it began. After that, we actually managed the game well. While the game was balanced, we equalized when the opponent received a red card. The next part went as we wanted. With a penalty, a goal, and the positions we created, we completed the first half as we wished. The beginning of the second half also went controlled. After a move where we could have found the second goal resulted in a goal for our opponent, our balance was disrupted. We wanted to substitute tired players with fresher ones. The rest was not good for us, I admit. After that, there was a penalty, we struggled, we tried, but we couldn’t play well in the period after the goal. We suffered an unwanted defeat. It’s the beginning of the league, and we need to take more responsibility on the road to becoming a team. We will see this as an unfortunate defeat, a stumble on the road, and I hope to lift our heads up and win the Çorum match next week, and meet with our fans here with the same enthusiasm. There’s not much to comment on. We upset our fans. These things happen in football. There’s nothing to be done. Bowing our heads brings us no benefit. We will identify our shortcomings and work very hard.”

“Everyone sees what I see. We gave the match to the opponent.”
Responding to questions from the press, experienced coach Ertuğrul Sağlam addressed whether the reason for the players’ drop in performance after falling behind was due to unrest in the team or economic issues, stating, “I feel the same emotions too. Of course, it disturbed me. Very simple, unnecessary ball losses, moves away from team play, losing our team integrity were negative for us. We must quickly turn back from these mistakes. There’s no explanation for the last part of this match. Sometimes you play a very bad match, you go through a very tough period; this was such a match for us. There were mistakes that did not match their qualities or names. I’m not going to complain about someone because of this situation. But everyone sees what I see. A player who was performing very well made very amateurish mistakes after that point. If Pedro, the best player of the match until that time, had passed the ball to Oğulcan, it would have been the second goal. An unnecessary loss of possession led to the penalty. It’s not right to say that this happened for this reason. We went through a bad half hour. We gave the match we had in hand to the opponent. We will identify the mistakes and shortcomings; we made mistakes that good and quality players should not make, and we will discuss that they should not be made.”

“We shouldn’t receive red cards this easily.”
Regarding the 4 red cards seen in 2 matches, and the performances of Beridze and Caner Osmanpaşa, Sağlam said, “Regarding this week’s red cards; I did not see Harun’s and Oğulcan’s positions. I don’t want to say whether the red cards were right or wrong without watching them properly. Of course, it’s necessary to be careful. Being short-handed disrupts our balance and game organization. It creates negativity for the following weeks. We shouldn’t receive red cards this easily. Caner joined the team later. He has been with us for a month, and he worked very well. At some point, we need to start somewhere. We need to get these players playing, we need to make them match-ready. We planned to play him in this match. It’s not easy for a player who hasn’t played a match for a long time to perform as we want for 90 minutes. I can’t say he played a very bad match either. After the meeting held by our president and board of directors, it was decided that Beridze would stay in the team. He is our player. We can’t ignore that. We made a decision and played Beridze this week. We brought him into the game with the intention of solving the opposing defense. He wants to do too much, to prove himself to the fans. The pressure to do more can lead to mistakes. We will discuss this as well. The substitutions and what followed did not go as we wanted today.”

“This team will gift victories that will make us forget this match.”
Looking at the 4 matches, including the Amed match, Sağlam said, “It would be unfair to say that there is an authority problem in the team for such a short period in the 5 matches played. I disagree. Mendes is experienced; he is a character that we can use as an example for everyone. The impact of the missed one-on-one chance and the penalty is a factor in what he did. It’s unacceptable for a player of that experience to receive such a yellow card. It’s also not possible to say there is an authority problem. Mendes would be the last player to do such a thing. We shouldn’t criticize them more than they deserve, as it can demotivate them. We received a bad defeat, but it’s still the beginning of the league. This team can go beat Çorum and gift victories to its fans in the next home matches that will make them forget this match.”

Çağdaş Çavuş: “The applause from the fans honored us.”
Manisa Football Club’s head coach Çağdaş Çavuş, in his evaluation of the match, said, “At the beginning of the season, we tried to create a beautiful story alongside the challenges faced by our club. The player group believed in me to write this story. We are starting to see the results. I hope this will continue. Before the match, Kocaelispor is a big community with championship goals. We worked well on where they have disadvantages in the game and where they have advantages. There is a very young group of players inside. Due to the atmosphere, we couldn’t start with the desired dominance. Afterward, they quickly got into the game. They started beautifully with reducing the opponent and playing in the third zone. The goal we conceded just before the first half, we discussed how we would play in the second half. In such matches, players need to fight without being affected by the atmosphere; we did this very well in the second half. Our actions that we couldn’t do in the first half strengthened significantly. Along with this, our mobility increased. We executed the actions to finish the game in the third zone well and achieved results. I congratulate my player group very much. It’s not easy to start in difficult conditions and show this reaction. We will continue this. Winning against a strong opponent in an away match is very valuable. But for this to be valuable, the next matches are very important. We will continue to prepare with the same concentration. I hope we will write a beautiful story on behalf of myself and my player group. We thank the fans at the end of the match. Their applause honored us. Great communities, great fans, and great clubs are formed this way. I thank them all.”

Regarding the issues with the municipality, halftime talks, Oktay growing up in İzmit, and the impact of red cards on the flow of the game, Çavuş stated, “There are many excavations around our facility. What we have experienced is very clear. The images are real. I live there with my family. When I walk around there, the only excavated area is around the facility. I am trying to keep my player group away from this situation. Our main job is inside the green field. We are trying to concentrate on this. We want to act correctly without living through that incident too much. We are managing it very well with our management.

“In the second half, they wiped Kocaelispor off the field.”
Stating that he was pleased with his players’ performance in the second half, Çavuş said, “We processed very well before the match, but we couldn’t start the match that way. At halftime, I told them that there was no need to be affected by the audience and that they should play comfortably on the field what we worked on during the week, and they should not be afraid. I wanted them to play the game with courage. They played a fantastic game in the second half. They wiped Kocaelispor off the field in the second half. This delighted me on the sidelines. We had worked very well on the actions to be taken behind the defense before the match. As a result, there was a red card and a reduction. Then we had one too. The game came to balance. Even if it was 11 against 11, we would have played the same game. It’s important to adapt to an environment with many variables. We adapted very well. This situation turned in our favor. We achieved a valuable victory.”