Samsunspor welcome Konyaspor to the New Samsun 19 Mayıs Stadium on 7 November 2026 in a Süper Lig fixture that matters quite a lot when you are staring at the wrong end of the table. Samsunspor are 17th after ten matches and Konyaspor sit two places above them in 15th, so for the hosts this is a rescue mission and for the visitors a chance to put some distance between themselves and the chaos below.
Nenad Bjelica took charge of Samsunspor on 14 October 2026 after replacing Thorsten Fink and İlhan Palut has been at Konyaspor since 6 February 2026 following the departure of Recep Uçar. The two have not faced each other in any meaningful recent run, so there is little head to head data to draw on.
Samsunspor have lost eight straight, taken four points from ten matches and shipped sixteen goals more than they have scored. The 2-5 thrashing by İstanbul Başakşehir on 1 November was the latest entry in what has become a grim catalogue, following a 3-0 loss to Trabzonspor and a 4-1 reverse against Kasımpaşa. This is not a team going through a rough patch, it is a team that has completely lost the plot defensively.
Konyaspor, by contrast, have eight points from their opening ten fixtures and arrive on the back of back to back 0-0 draws against Kasımpaşa and Başakşehir. One win and two draws in their last five is not exactly electrifying but it tells you they are hard to beat even when they cannot score.
Samsunspor will be without Fatih Kaya (rib injury) and Celil Yüksel (hip or thigh problem) and both Emre Kılınç and Yunus Emre Çift are carrying fitness concerns that leave them doubtful. Konyaspor face the absence of Adil Demirbağ, out long term with a cruciate ligament injury, while Deniz Türüç is suspended after accumulating yellow cards and Bahadır Han Güngördü remains a doubt. Bjelica has very little margin for error with his squad already thinned, Palut at least has his two main attacking options still available.
Samsunspor are expected to line up in a 3-5-2, with Mohamed Bayo leading the line and Tanguy Coulibaly and Logi Tomasson offering midfield support. Joe Mendes operates wide, likely getting in behind on the right, while Elliot Watt tries to hold things together in the centre. The structural problem is eight consecutive defeats have exposed a back line that buckles when opponents drag the wing backs out of position or catch them on the transition and Bjelica needs to protect those spaces without abandoning the width that is Samsunspor's best route forward.
Konyaspor set up in a 4-2-3-1 and are built around defensive organisation and counters rather than taking the game to teams. Jackson Muleka leads the line with Jean-Luc Dompé operating in behind or wide, Chidozie Awaziem is a problem for disorganised defences to track at corners and Marko Jevtović anchors the midfield. The loss of Türüç hurts: he is usually the one who unlocks compact defences, so Konyaspor will lean more heavily on Muleka's individual quality and Dompé's dribbling than Palut would prefer.
The main individual battle pits Bayo against Awaziem and the Konyaspor centre backs, while in the other direction Muleka's pace will probe the spaces in behind Samsunspor's wing backs if they push high, which a side eight points from safety almost certainly will. Set pieces may end up mattering more than open play given both sides are missing key creative players: Awaziem is dangerous from corners and Tomasson's runs from deep could make a difference if the ball is kept alive, so a dead ball goal would not be a surprise in a match unlikely to produce many clear chances through build up play.
These two have a mixed history, with their last meeting in April 2026 finishing 2-2 and games between them typically producing around 2.6 to 2.9 goals on average. That average feels oddly high given recent form on both sides. Neither side has dominated the series, with wins more or less evenly split, so the head to head does not give you much to go on.
Samsunspor have the attacking players to threaten but eight straight losses do not lie, they are not functioning well enough right now to break down Konyaspor's defensive structure and a 0-0 draw is the likeliest result. Palut's side have kept two clean sheets in their last five and conceded just once in their last three matches, which suggests Samsunspor's desperation will not unsettle them. The absence of Türüç and the long term loss of Demirbağ create some holes in the Konyaspor setup but Samsunspor's own absences, especially Kaya and Yüksel, make it hard to see them creating enough to win this. Konyaspor's last five show they are at their best when opponents overcommit trying to break them down and that is exactly what Samsunspor will do.
Ryan Baldi
Football Writer
Ryan Baldi is a professional football writer with years of experience and has been featured by respected outlets such as the BBC, The Guardian, Sky Sports, DAZN, FourFourTwo, ESPN, Yahoo Sport and Football365. He has also written several books including Arsène Who?.
