Initially Unsatisfactory, Now The Duet Of Young Defender Kabak And Phillips Is Praised By Klopp

JAKARTA - The duo of young Liverpool center-backs Ozan Kabak and Nathaniel Phillips earned praise from Jurgen Klopp after the Reds won 1-0 over Wolverhampton in the Premier League at Molineux, Tuesday WIB.

It was the second appearance of Kabak and Phillips as a duet as a crossbar for Liverpool's defense after the second leg of the last 16 of the Champions League against RB Leipzig in the middle of last week.

𝐁𝐈𝐆 performance! 💪 @ ozankabak4 is your #WOLLIV Man of the Match 🏆 pic.twitter.com/jUscklqhIz

- Liverpool FC (@LFC) March 15, 2021

In these two matches, Kabak and Phillips were able to maintain a clean sheet in two consecutive wins ahead of the international break until early April.

"They have played two games in a row together and are doing a good job," Klopp said after the match quoted by Antara from Liverpool's official website.

"You can imagine how difficult the match against Leipzig was, but tonight the level of difficulty is different because there is Amada Traore's pace which is difficult to stop at the moment," he added.

Klopp admitted that the early minutes of Kabak and Phillips 'performances were less than satisfying because they and their other colleagues were not active enough to dampen Wolves' breakthrough passes.

But after that passed, the duo Kabak and Phillips appeared to be improving and able to overcome the challenge of concentrating.

"Since then, they played very, very well and I really like it. It's a tough task from the point of view of maintaining concentration, but they are doing well and I'm happy for that," concluded Klopp.

𝐓𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 ✊ #YNWA pic.twitter.com/f2qeiSIPJf

- Liverpool FC (@LFC) March 15, 2021

Victory over Wolverhampton saw Liverpool move up to sixth with 46 points and cut the gap from the top four with five points remaining.

After the international break, Liverpool are scheduled to visit Arsenal's headquarters on April 4.