Okan Buruk's assessment of the result: The 'we're already champions' mindset

In the 32nd week of the Trendyol Super Lig, Galatasaray was defeated 4-1 away by Samsunspor. Galatasaray manager Okan Buruk evaluated the match at the post-match press conference. Expressing his sadness over the defeat, Okan Buruk said, "Today, we made too many mistakes in many areas of the game. It could be due to my players' mindset of 'we're already champions' or 'we've already achieved this'. Of course, we faced a good team. There was a good team in front of us.

We started the match with a goal. Until we conceded, the game was very much in our hands. We weren't giving our opponent many chances to come forward.

We conceded a really simple goal from a transition, meaning we were actually attacking well but couldn't close down after losing the ball. So, we allowed our opponent to score there more through our own errors than their individual skill," he said.

"We will do our best to clinch the championship at our home ground"

Emphasizing that they did not become champions today, Okan Buruk said, "We started the second half well. We had two clear chances. One with Barış and the other with Osimhen. Then there was Sane's shot that hit the post. We were close to scoring, but this time our opponent capitalized on every chance they had very well.

After we were reduced to 10 men, we struggled a bit. I mean, besides the struggle, I think there were still too many mistakes. It's the worst part of the day for us. Of course, it's not individual, but as a team, we made too many mistakes today. We made them in every section; we made them up front, we made them in midfield, and our defenders made them too. It wasn't the match we wanted in that sense. The next match is our new goal. We will lift our heads here and do our best to clinch the championship in the next match we play at our home ground.

This is not over. We need to be much more prepared for the next match than we were this week. If we had scored one of the two chances we missed in the second half and turned the match in our favor, it would have been a different scenario for us, but everything went negatively. On one hand, every ball that came to our goal went in. Everything went against us in the second half. Sometimes this happens in football," he stated.

"Hopefully, we will hold the celebration next week"

Stating that the players were more eager last week, Buruk said, "Even though Fenerbahçe hasn't been champion for many years and Galatasaray was playing for its fourth championship, everyone was talking about how hungry and eager Galatasaray was in last week's match.

Those who did it last week could have done it this week. So, that hunger still exists, and of course, our players have that championship feeling.

The mindset that 'we've already finished this' inevitably crept in. Everything suddenly turned into a championship celebration. When you do that, it can affect the player in some way. I mean, you try to break that, you try to change that, but this actually sometimes gives a sense of comfort.

I mean, sometimes this can reflect on the games very differently. But hopefully, we will put on a much more eager and stronger performance to win the championship at our stadium next week, and hopefully, we will hold the celebration next week," he concluded.