Ozan Kabak

[A_S 1,809]

Before this win, he'd only been part of a single victory in his previous 28 league games, many of which were with a club on their 4th manager this season. 

 

When you add the merry go round of players around him for his first handful of games with the reds, as well as the kamikaze effort by Alisson, is it a wonder a 20yo hasn't looked quite as assured as some may have hoped? 

 

Ordinarily he'd be nowhere near the first team yet, but here we are. A clean-sheet in a win can only do wonders for his nerves. 

[elvis 234]

7 hours ago, Ne Moe Imya said:

Phillips is ahead of him in development but Phillips is much, much too slow to be a centre back at the top level.

 

He's a good player apart from that but it's a HUGE problem when you've got the likes of McBurnie looking like prime OG Ronaldo just going past you without breaking a sweat. There is no way a team at our level can go into games terrified that players can just breeze past one of our centre backs any time they're matched up one-on-one. It's no wonder that Klopp has instructed the fullbacks to stick right next to him and not go past the halfway line when you have someone with that big a deficit of pace in defense.

 

Kabak hasn't been good, but at least he looks athletically capable of playing at Premier League level, if he can sort out his concentration.

Plenty of effort from Phillips , but with pace like that I don't know how he ever came to be on our books . One of the world's biggest clubs should surely have better back up when needed.  For example , Burnley's centre halves are miles better than our second string. 

I think we can do better 

[sir roger 6,285]

23 minutes ago, elvis said:

Plenty of effort from Phillips , but with pace like that I don't know how he ever came to be on our books . One of the world's biggest clubs should surely have better back up when needed.  For example , Burnley's centre halves are miles better than our second string. 

I think we can do better 

Phillips would look at a similar level to Mee , Tarkowski etc. if he never had to go past the penalty spot.

[VERBAL DIARRHEA 8,123]

17 minutes ago, sir roger said:

Phillips would look at a similar level to Mee , Tarkowski etc. if he never had to go past the penalty spot.

Amazing how effective centre halves are with fullbacks not going forward and two defensive mids ahead of them.

[Joey8FrogsLegs 821]

2 hours ago, Barrington Womble said:

I think he's finding learning to play the high line tough. He looks slow, but I don't think he is, I think he just gets really square, so when he needs to run back in, he still has to turn 1st. 

 

As for them not being a good partnership, they're pretty much our 6th and 7th choice centre backs with our 3rd choice keeper behind. It's not going to be pretty. And it's their 1st game together. 

Agree with all of this. Which means I wouldn’t be surprised if they, the CB pairing that is hopefully Alisson is back, really struggle against Chelsea.

[aws 6,880]

Nat could do a good job for a Prem side who sit deep. The Mancs maybe.   

[YNWA-Viking 98]

Thought he did OK yesterday. Have to take into consideration he's young, new in the team and playing with another inexperienced CB. Will only get better. Guessing Kabak and Fabinho as CBs vs Chelsea.

[Scott_M 5,282]

I'm not liking how he's been done by passes behind him & having no idea where his man is - Barnes at Leicester, Richarlson's goal & a couple of times last night, luckily McBurnie is utter shite because somebody else better would have been working Adrian. 

 

I get that he's come into a difficult position etc etc etc but having an appreciation of the ball and his man at all times is a pretty fundamental attribute for a defender.

 

If he's up against Djibril Werner (or Timo Cisse - you pick) on Thursday, I'll be concerned.

 

 

[Barrington Womble 9,161]

1 hour ago, Joey8FrogsLegs said:

Agree with all of this. Which means I wouldn’t be surprised if they, the CB pairing that is hopefully Alisson is back, really struggle against Chelsea.

Yeah, I posted on the match thread on the MF if be worried with him against Werner on Thursday. We're going to need to control the ball a lot against them. 

[m0e 1,612]

He'll be gone this summer, get over it.

[Mathewbet1 1,276]

He's only 20 ffs

[Josef Svejk 4,796]

2 hours ago, Mathewbet1 said:

He's only 20 ffs

He'll cost the best part of £20m.

 

Worth that? When we're likely to be wheeling and dealing again?

 

[Bob Spunkmouse 2,387]

On 01/03/2021 at 10:58, elvis said:

Plenty of effort from Phillips , but with pace like that I don't know how he ever came to be on our books . One of the world's biggest clubs should surely have better back up when needed.  For example , Burnley's centre halves are miles better than our second string. 

I think we can do better 

That’s disingenuous. A lad who wasn’t ever supposed to be near our first team being compared against the first choice of a premier league team is nonsense.

 

our back ups this year we’re whichever of Joe or Matip, plus Fabinho if we needed him to be. 
 

think that’s a bad strategy with or without hindsight by all means, but Rhys Williams was on loan at Kiddie last year and Philips at Hamburg or wherever it was. Neither were actually supposed to be backups.

 

If van dijk hadn’t been smashed out of our season and we’d had to play Fabinho next to him all year, I’m pretty sure we’d have as good a back four as almost anyone in the league, but when you’re down to choice 5 and choice 6 out of 3, it’s no surprise they’re not as good as Burnley’s first choice for Christ’s sake.

 

he’s nowhere near good enough but he wasn’t supposed to be, so fair fucks to him for doing his best and getting to live his dream for a year playing for the reds every week.

[elvis 234]

7 hours ago, Bob Spunkmouse said:

That’s disingenuous. A lad who wasn’t ever supposed to be near our first team being compared against the first choice of a premier league team is nonsense.

 

our back ups this year we’re whichever of Joe or Matip, plus Fabinho if we needed him to be. 
 

think that’s a bad strategy with or without hindsight by all means, but Rhys Williams was on loan at Kiddie last year and Philips at Hamburg or wherever it was. Neither were actually supposed to be backups.

 

If van dijk hadn’t been smashed out of our season and we’d had to play Fabinho next to him all year, I’m pretty sure we’d have as good a back four as almost anyone in the league, but when you’re down to choice 5 and choice 6 out of 3, it’s no surprise they’re not as good as Burnley’s first choice for Christ’s sake.

 

he’s nowhere near good enough but he wasn’t supposed to be, so fair fucks to him for doing his best and getting to live his dream for a year playing for the reds every week.

Like I said no disrespect to the lad , hope he goes on to earn a good living. Fabinho should be choice 5 or 6 , and in between we should have much better actual centre halves putting pressure on the very breakable Gomes and Matip .

I don't see your problem

[an tha 6,298]

None of this is any of the players fault.

 

It is all down to poor decision making, not considering properly how short having just 3 senior centre halves when 1 is made of paper and another has a pretty ropey fitness record left us - and then the laughable reaction to what became a full on crisis when all 3 were fucked.

[Barrington Womble 9,161]

On 01/03/2021 at 10:58, elvis said:

Plenty of effort from Phillips , but with pace like that I don't know how he ever came to be on our books . One of the world's biggest clubs should surely have better back up when needed.  For example , Burnley's centre halves are miles better than our second string. 

I think we can do better 

Rightly or wrongly I don't think these days all the players you have in the squad, you have because you have any intention of playing them. They get signed because they might be good assets down the line. So you look at Phillips and he clearly doesn't have the pace for a team at our level which has probably always been apparent, but there's nothing to say when we signed him up they weren't thinking he could be the type of lad we could flog to a Burnley for 15m. We didn't intend him to even be here this season, which is why he wasn't in the CL squad for the 1st half of the season. It's a pure accident he's playing for us. That accident is in someway down to the management of the squad, but it's an accident none the less. We didn't plan for him to play 1 game this season. 

[Alan Sex 4,443]

Played for Turkey today in their win over the Dutch. 
 

anyone watch it? How did he do?

 

[Skidfingers McGonical 2,952]

Nat Phillips is boss. 

[sir roger 6,285]

Nat's Turkish  ?

[Josef Svejk 4,796]

18 minutes ago, Alan Sex said:

Played for Turkey today in their win over the Dutch. 
 

anyone watch it? How did he do?

 

Well, they conceded two and the Dutch missed a penalty. I assume Kabak conceded that, as he was booked just before it was taken (according to Livescore Match Tracker)... 

[Shooter in the Motor 7,868]

8 minutes ago, Josef Svejk said:

Well, they conceded two and the Dutch missed a penalty. I assume Kabak conceded that, as he was booked just before it was taken (according to Livescore Match Tracker)... 

90'+4'

Post update

Penalty saved! Memphis Depay (Netherlands) fails to capitalise on this great opportunity, right footed shot saved in the bottom left corner.

90'+4'

Booking

Ozan Kabak (Turkey) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

90'+4'

Post update

Penalty Netherlands. Matthijs de Ligt draws a foul in the penalty area.

90'+4'

Post update

Penalty conceded by Ozan Kabak (Turkey) after a foul in the penalty area.

[VERBAL DIARRHEA 8,123]

Kabak was fine to me the pen was soft.

[TheHowieLama 11,045]

Who made the foul to give Turkey their pelanty?

[VERBAL DIARRHEA 8,123]

15 minutes ago, TheHowieLama said:

Who made the foul to give Turkey their pelanty?

VVD

[Shooter in the Motor 7,868]

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/liverpool-ozan-kabak-fans-turkey-20250105

 

Liverpool fans in awe of Ozan Kabak after World Cup qualifier performance for Turkey

The Liverpool defender was in action for Turkey in their World Cup qualifier against the Netherlands, who had Gini Wijnaldum in their side

 

Ozan Kabak appears to be impressing Liverpool fans more and more with each passing game.

 

The centre-back is on loan with the Reds from Schalke, but the Anfield club do have the option of making that deal permanent at the end of the season.

 

During his time on Merseyside so far it’s been a mixed bag in terms of results, with four wins and three defeats so far.

 

He has recently formed a strong partnership with Nat Phillips, helping keep back to back clean sheets in their last two matches.

 

The 20-year-old looks to have grown in confidence with each game he plays, but it remains to be seen whether Liverpool will play the £18m fee to make him a permanent addition in the summer.

 

Kabak is on international duty at the moment with Turkey, and featured for his country in their World Cup qualifier against the Netherlands, who had Gini Wijnaldum as captain.

 

Turkey won the game 4-2, and Liverpool fans couldn’t help but be impressed with Kabak, despite him giving away a penalty which was subsequently saved

 

“Kabak completed more dribbles and created more chances than Wijnaldum.”