Kocaelispor will host Erzurumspor FK in the Turkish Cup group match on Tuesday, December 23, at 20.00 at Turka Vehicle Muayene Kocaeli Stadium. Kocaelispor continued its preparations for this match with training at Körfez Brunga Facilities. The training, which started with straight running and warm-up exercises, ended with tactical exercises. Before the training, coach Selçuk İnan and one of the players, Darko Çurlinov, answered the questions of the press members.
Stating that it would be to their advantage to play the first group matches of the Turkish Cup at home, Selçuk İnan said, “We will play the first match at home. That’s why we see it as an advantage. Hopefully, we want to start the cup with a win. We had yesterday off. Today, we will hopefully start the preparations for this match. As I said, we hope to win this match and end the first half like this.”
‘WE WILL TRY TO GO ON THE FIELD WITH THE STRONGEST PERSONS’
Answering the question about the squad that will play in the Erzurumspor FK match, İnan said that he will rest the tired players and said, “We have players who are very tired. We will rest them in order not to risk them. We have players who need to play. There are players who we need to give a chance to. But ultimately, when you look at it in general, all the players in the team played almost the same amount of time. That is why I do not distinguish between the main player and the substitute player. We will try to play with the strongest players, with the strongest team, with them. Because we care about this match. We really have a goal in the cup.” he said.
‘IT IS DOUBLE DIFFICULT TO TRANSFER DURING HALF-TIME’
Stating that making 2 or 3 transfers would be a success, İnan said, “Making a transfer was very difficult at the beginning of the season, but it is twice as difficult at the half-time. Because we have players. We have 15 foreign players, we do not know what will happen. We have a penalty regarding the Turkish player. Even if we wanted, we cannot make 5 transfers. That’s why I tried to tell you clearly. But if we can make 2 or 3 transfers, which I think would be success, that is enough for us. Because, as I said, we trust our players, we showed this. As you said, at the beginning of the season.” “It was a disadvantage that the players arrived late and were not ready yet. We knew that there would be a risk of injury while preparing our players, we all saw this. But now we are more cautious during the halftime, at least we have more players with us, hopefully we will have a second half with fewer injuries.”
‘CAN, THE SECOND HALF IS LIKE A NEW TRANSFER’
Pointing out that there are penalties in the local player pool, İnan stated that there will be differences and said:
“As I said, we actually have a penalty in the local player pool. There will be departures. Tarkan will most likely not be with us again. As I said, the Turkish player instead of them may actually be our most important transfer policy during the half-time. Ahmet’s situation is not clear yet. Can had a small problem. In fact, he always had to fight with that problem. But he is a player that I value very much, I love him very much, he is a player I like very much. He is aware of it, he will help us too. We will help him too. Because Can is a really important player. I think the second half is ours.” “I see him as an important transfer, like a new transfer.”
HE ANSWERED THE QUESTION HAVE YOU BETTED?
Answering the questions of members of the press about the impact of betting investigations against the sports community on transfers and whether he has bet on transfers or not, Selçuk İnan said, “I have never done it. I have never played. There has never been such a thing in my life. Our federation president has already made all the statements. If there is a crime, it is already seen in the judicial authorities. I have shared this with you before. But regarding the transfer, the players have betting events in the country and we have not yet encountered the statement that we do not want to come to Türkiye. I wanted to tell you this. In the next period, when we are making such a transfer negotiation, we have not encountered such a statement.” “If we encounter anything, I will share it with you. But for now, there is no player we have met with who says they do not want to come to Türkiye or do not want to play there,” he said.
CHURLINOV: I FOUND MYSELF IN THE LAST 2-3 MATCHES
Stating that it was important and enjoyable for the fans to make friends with each other and watch the match in the match against Antalyaspor, Darko Çurlinov said, “I can say this about the season in general. I think we needed time to get to know each other in the first 7-8 months. After we got to know each other and got used to each other, I can say that our football improved and our game improved. I think this will get better in the 2nd half. Personally, I needed some time to adapt when I arrived. Because this was a different league for me. I am in England and Germany. “That’s why I had to go through a bit of an adaptation process there. But I can say that I found myself in the last 2-3 matches and my performance has improved.”