Ozan Kabak

[Fredo]

It helps if the whole team defends well (press from the front and keeps the ball). Arsenal barely lay a glove on us last night. At our best, this is what is should be.

[Shaggy]

What do we all think about keeping Kabak (which looks an utter no-brainer at the price) and adding another big price CB (Konate, whoever)?

It's got to be done hasn't it?

Loan Rhys out, and go with VVD, Gomez, Kabak, Phillips and, and I hate saying this, move Matip on if we can find a taker. If not, more than happy to keep him and have 5 good CBs - Lord knows we've been stung with only 3 so **** it, let's go with 5!

[Peter_Griffin]

I think we need to go with 5 next year. I’m worried about Gomez and his recovery. Very little has been said about him/ injury compared to Virgil. Hope I’m wrong as he’s the best young CB in the world for me when fit.

[Mark79]

What do we all think about keeping Kabak (which looks an utter no-brainer at the price) and adding another big price CB (Konate, whoever)?

It's got to be done hasn't it?

Loan Rhys out, and go with VVD, Gomez, Kabak, Phillips and, and I hate saying this, move Matip on if we can find a taker. If not, more than happy to keep him and have 5 good CBs - Lord knows we've been stung with only 3 so **** it, let's go with 5!

It should definitely be Kabak + Konate (or other)

21 years old, can play either side and he’s only going to get better. £18m is a steal.

[Mark79]

I think we need to go with 5 next year. I’m worried about Gomez and his recovery. Very little has been said about him/ injury compared to Virgil. Hope I’m wrong as he’s the best young CB in the world for me when fit.

It’s a long road back for Gomez. I’m not sure we should be counting on him as one of the 4 main CB options for a good chunk of next season either.

[Doc_Piptorious]

It should definitely be Kabak + Konate (or other)

21 years old, can play either side and he’s only going to get better. £18m is a steal.

Kabak to be the Gomez-lite stand in and Konate or similar to be the VVD-lite stand in.

[Buzzo]

Yep - 5 top quality centre backs and we don’t need Virgil to play every single game. Both Kabak and Phillips have been great, they absolutely cruised through the game last night.

It will be a shame to lose Matip, but he clearly needs to play in a less physical league. He is top class, so I’d imagine would get a good game in France or Spain.

[Mark79]

Kabak to be the Gomez-lite stand in and Konate or similar to be the VVD-lite stand in.

I’d see it as Konate 1st choice RCB, Virgil 1st choice LCB.
Kabak as quality cover/rotation for either.

[Doc_Piptorious]

I’d see it as Konate 1st choice RCB, Virgil 1st choice LCB.
Kabak as quality cover/rotation for either.

Not so sure. Konate is more physical and much better in the air than Kabak. He seems more suited to standing in to cover VVD.

Would be a nice problem for Klopp to have though if he had a number of good and available CBs to chose from if he wanted to give VVD or Gomez a rest.

[memzey]

Defo keep Kabak. He’s stupidly far in his progress considering his age and would be good enough to compete with Gomez for the other CB slot today, let alone once he has a season under his belt. I think with his aggressive ballsy approach he could really flourish next to VVD.

[Mark79]

Not so sure. Konate is more physical and much better in the air than Kabak. He seems more suited to standing in to cover VVD.

Would be a nice problem for Klopp to have though if he had a number of good and available CBs to chose from if he wanted to give VVD or Gomez a rest.

Konate plays right side and Virgil plays left though.

He’s long rumoured to have been the club’s top choice to be Virgil’s long term partner.

We don’t know what version of Gomez we’re eventually going to get back yet either. It’s likely a career changing injury.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Defo keep Kabak. He’s stupidly far in his progress considering his age and would be good enough to compete with Gomez for the other CB slot today, let alone once he has a season under his belt. I think with his aggressive ballsy approach he could really flourish next to VVD.

Totally agree that Kabak is really far along in his development. He plays like a player a few years older with that few years more worth of games.

If he was an attacker and that far along in his development at his age then his name would be getting raved about as being the next big thing.

Only thing I disagree with is him being currently at a level where he could compete with a fully fit Gomez. Gomez has a lot more to his game than Kabak does at present however I think Kabak will be a better allround CB when he reaches the age Gomez is now than Gomez at the same age.

Gomez, for me, is often very much underrated as a CB.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Konate plays right side and Virgil plays left though.

He’s long rumoured to have been the club’s top choice to be Virgil’s long term partner.

We don’t know what version of Gomez we’re eventually going to get back yet either. It’s likely a career changing injury.

Konate has played on both the left and right side of CB for RB though and he has also played as the central CB in a back three so he is adaptable enough cover both sides for us imho.

Good point on Gomez. Think his return from injury is more up in the air than that of VVD as if VVD loses a yard of pace I think he would still be able to adapt his game and remain a world class defender, maybe one similar to Hyypia.

Whereas Gomez relies more, again imo, on his physical qualities than VVD does. Having said that I did like what Gomez was showing in the games right after we lost VVD. He seemed to be taking on more responsibility on the pitch and was playing more VVD style cross field balls. Plus he was talking whoever partnered him in those games through games more than I have seen him do in the past.

[Mark79]

Konate has played on both the left and right side of CB for RB though and he has also played as the central CB in a back three so he is adaptable enough cover both sides for us imho.

Good point on Gomez. Think his return from injury is more up in the air than that of VVD as if VVD loses a yard of pace I think he would still be able to adapt his game and remain a world class defender, maybe one similar to Hyypia.

Whereas Gomez relies more, again imo, on his physical qualities than VVD does. Having said that I did like what Gomez was showing in the games right after we lost VVD. He seemed to be taking on more responsibility on the pitch and was playing more VVD style cross field balls. Plus he was talking whoever partnered him in those games through games more than I have seen him do in the past.

Fair enough, Konate is predominantly right sided though and we’re not spending £40m on a back up. Great that he can also cover both sides though and any 2 of him, Virgil and Kabak would be a quality pairing.

I’m a big fan of Gomez too but I think we need to plan for not having the Gomez we know, for a large portion of next season at least. It’s not just whether he can get back to anything like his previous level, but it’s also if he can ever play the back to back games week in, week out required of a 1st choice.

[Scratch]

I'm all for signing Kabak and Konate, but worry that we will be losing our "homegrown" quota if we overload on overseas players. Is it 8 of the 25 players we name in our squad (21 or over, can name as many youngsters as we like) have to be classed as homegrown?

TAA
Phillips
Henderson
Milner
Ox
Kelleher
Gomez

It's late and I've probably missed a few names off, but it's a short list and needs to be improved.