I get the impression this lad was well down the wish list but was cheap. Anyway he might surprise us…Unless we have yet another injury I can’t see him starting that many games.
I am more interested in the other lad from Preston. I remember the signings we regularly made from lower league clubs like Keegan, Clemence etc. They worked out OK. I have always believed there are still lads out there who are capable of improving rapidly given the chance to be exposed to top rate coaches.
I’m finding it strange a few are seeming to think he won’t play much or something seemingly due to his age (and ignoring Klopp with Trent here and Hummels and Subotic at Dortmund in the process). But despite his age he’s got 69 senior appearances in Turkish and German leagues and has played CL football too. He’s not some academy hopeful. If there was more certainty over his attitude and how shit Schalke are doing he’d be a €30+ million signing and some of the top teams around would be vying for him. Fully expecting him to be our starting CB on the right side within a matter of weeks, maybe too much to throw in against Brighton and City but maybe cameos in one or both of them and a start not long after. We miss Fabinho for a chunk at start of April so think it’ll be Kabak and Henderson as starting CBs for those games.
Absolutely, he will have 2 weeks on the training ground and then he will be in for me.
I wouldn’t rule out the same for Davies either, we have bought a LCB and a RCB for that potential outcome.
If they both hit the ground running and look fairly comfortable in games then it frees up Hendo and Fab to move back into Midfield were they are far more effective.
It’s absolute win win.
If he comes in and lives up to his promise, then we can bag him for £18m.
If not, he goes back. And we get one of the lads we’ve done the groundwork on already.
To be fair I would say we were linked to this guy last summer it’s obvious we were interested in him.
Way I see it is this, VVD and Gomez will remain, Kabak comes in and if he is a success then he probably replaces Matip and Davies comes in and does well he remains as our fourth choice or fights for that position supplanting the gap we have now.
Dunno where that leaves Matip but it’s obvious Phillips will be moved on, for now however I also believe he should be considered. It’s nice to have 3 options instead of none. Still expect Fabinho and Hendo to play next weekend. Wouldn’t be surprised if Davies is used at some point on Wednesday.
Ye I am glad we got a player we were linked to before… that suggests the ground work has been put in and it’s not a panic buy.
Matip is very good but it’s no good to us being very good for 10 games a season and then injured the rest of the time.
Let’s see how Davies and Kabak do and I think that there is the possibility that the Better one of these 2 signings becomes Matip s replacement with the lesser of these 2 being the future 4th choice
It’s how I see it.
I can’t find many clips of Schalke in general but believe me when i said i’ve seen these issues with him in more than that 1 youtube clip against Bayern,i’ve probably watched him in 20 games overall.
Don’t get me wrong,i see a player in him but when i’ve watched him over the last season and a half (since he was mentioned in 2018 about being a target for us),i’m looking at what he brings to us back then and now and where he’d fit in with our normal CB starters,he just wouldn’t get a place on the bench when we had a fit VVD,Gomez and Matip.
In a perfect world,i’d have thought he’d have been left at Schalke for atleast another season or 2 before Klopp would have made any type of move for him,let him get more experience and iron out his mistakes before joining us.Now we’ve been kinda forced into signing him,i’m not 100% sold on him with what i’ve seen but i have faith in Klopp and the coaches to hopefully make him a better all round CB and reach his potential quickly.
It seems the Wagner factor played a role.
Wagner was one factor but not the main factor.
Kabak was already a standout talent in turkey and after his 6 months in Stuttgart (although they got relegated) many big clubs including Bayern and ManU (not a big club) wanted to sign him.
Fair enough I just feel it’s hard to judge a player in one of the worst teams in German football history. Yea he contributes to that but at 20 you can kind of understand.
Since the spitting incident his general behaviour looks better, I think it’s a wait to see, I’d take it over on relying on Hendo and Fabinho to stay for every game, and not only that but hope the midfield doesn’t suffer anymore injuries.
I think the two lads give Klopp options and rotation choices and if either push on and prove there worth then they won’t be fresh to the club in the summer.
At the end of the day, it’s a team sport, and if the team is shit, then even the best players struggle. Swap Matip (injury free) for Kabak and they’d still be in the shitstorm they are in.
We’ve signed players from relegated clubs in the past, including a Gini and Robbo, both of whom have been immense for us in winning everything we’ve won. We were all underwhelmed by their signings, yet it became clear that they could be an integral cog in the system.
I see Kabak as a rough diamond that’s ended up in a team that is massively off form, and it’s provided us with an opportunity to snap him up cheap, essentially on a try before you buy.
Welcome lad. It’s one of the best place to play football. Hope you will love it here and make it big here.
Incredibly harsh assessment that.
2nd goal, he’s held up his man and goes out to close down the cross from a Bayern player stood out on the wing all on his own. I’d be fuming if he’d run away from the crosser back to the middle. The complete opposite of what you want him to do in that position and where is his support on that side of the pitch?
3rd goal, fair enough gives away the penalty but Lewandoski runs off the other defender and Kabak, who is holding his position in the line to play offside is left to try and cover round with a last ditch tackle. Clearly gets his feet tangled and it’s a poor challenge but he’s covering someone else’s shoddy marking.
4th he’s going with his man so as to try and stop him being able to turn and open up the counter. The issue is no one tracks the midfield runners and even then, it’s two on two and the other guys do a pretty shit job. In hindsight he might have dropped off but that’s exactly how we want our CBs to defend.
7th he’s the deepest Schalke player even if he is in their half . He’s got a guy breaking out on his right with no sign of his fullback on that side and Sane breaking through the middle leaving whoever is marking him flailing. He’s the only one to recognise the danger and make any effort to chase back.
Notice there’s no mention of him being the only looking like he gives a shit when the fifth goes in or his great tackle on Lewandoski before the sixth goal…
A 20 year old kid playing in a team like that can’t be expected to perform miracles when everyone around him has quite clearly given up.
We’ll see.
If he shares some qualities with Lovren at the age of 20, that’s okay. My problem was that Lovren remained the same idiot at the age of 30 like he was when he was 20. So hopefully a lesson there, you have to mature mentally with time.
I’d say it’s pretty indicative that we categorically rejected the proposal to buy him or the obligation buy option. We were prepared to walk away from the player if Schalke didn’t agree on an option to buy.
So he’s got a few months to potentially earn himself a move here.
Good luck.
Still way better than Luiz 
Probably saw TAA’s name completely filled the back of the kit, then thought, why not on mine as well?!
That put me into a trance and I forgot all the trouble in the world
