“Her takımda bulunması gereken bir oyuncu”
Football pundit Ahmet Çakar highlighted the crucial partnership between national team midfielder Salih Özcan and playmaker Orkun Kökçü, underlining how their balance in midfield has transformed the way the team attacks.
According to Çakar, Salih Özcan’s defensive qualities bring a level of stability that fundamentally changes the structure of the game. With Özcan shielding the back line, winning challenges, and closing passing lanes, Orkun Kökçü is freed from many of his defensive duties and can focus much more on orchestrating the offense.
Çakar emphasized that this kind of player profile is indispensable for any serious team: “Salih Özcan is absolutely the type of player every side must have. When he is on the pitch, Orkun can think far more about attacking.” In his view, Özcan’s presence is not only about individual performance, but about enabling the team’s creative players to operate closer to the opponent’s goal.
He drew a sharp contrast with the previous season, when the midfielder playing next to Kökçü failed to provide the same defensive coverage. “Who was playing alongside Orkun last season? I honestly don’t remember,” Çakar said, underlining that the role was never convincingly filled. “Back then Orkun had to think: ‘If I push forward and we lose the ball, I have to stay back a bit so the defense doesn’t collapse immediately.'”
This constant concern about safeguarding the defense, Çakar argued, limited Kökçü’s natural attacking instincts. Instead of joining counters with full conviction or making late runs into the box, he was forced to measure every move against the risk of leaving his defenders exposed.
With Salih Özcan now anchoring the midfield, that mental burden is largely removed. Çakar described the new dynamic as a psychological as much as a tactical shift: “Now that Salih is there, Orkun can say to himself: ‘The moment you see the gap, go for it.'” The message is simple: trust the holding midfielder, and attack the space without hesitation.
The result, Çakar noted, is clearly visible in Kökçü’s involvement in goal-scoring situations. With fewer defensive shackles, he can join counterattacks earlier, arrive in the penalty area at the right time, and take more risks in the final third. “In football, when you see a sudden counter, when the opponent leaves space, you think: ‘Let me make that forward run; if the pass comes, it’s a goal, and if I get a shot away, it can be a goal,'” he explained. “That’s exactly what happened tonight. He scored a beautiful goal.”
Why a player like Salih Özcan is so valuable
Çakar’s comments point to a broader truth about modern football: teams desperately need midfielders who are willing to do the “dirty work” so that their more creative teammates can shine. Özcan is not necessarily the star who appears in every highlight reel, but his positioning, ball recoveries, and pressing intensity are what allow the system to function.
A player of his type:
– Protects the center of the pitch, forcing opponents to the wings.
– Breaks up counterattacks before they become truly dangerous.
– Offers a constant passing option for defenders under pressure.
– Covers the spaces left by full-backs and attacking midfielders when they move forward.
Without this kind of balance, even the most gifted playmaker can end up playing with the handbrake on, always torn between defending and attacking.
The psychological freedom for Orkun Kökçü
For someone like Kökçü, whose strengths lie in vision, passing between the lines, and shooting from distance, the presence of a robust partner like Özcan changes everything. Instead of dropping deep to help build from the back and then trying to appear again near the box, he can occupy more advanced zones consistently.
That psychological freedom has several consequences:
– He attempts more riskier vertical passes.
– He makes more late runs into the box.
– He takes more shots from promising positions.
– He presses higher, knowing there is coverage behind him.
Çakar’s observation that Kökçü now thinks “If you see the chance, go” captures how an effective defensive midfielder can unleash a playmaker’s full potential.
Lessons from last season’s imbalance
The remark “I don’t even remember who played next to Orkun last year” is not just a jab at the previous options; it highlights how forgettable and inconsistent that role was. When the partner in midfield:
– Arrives late in duels,
– Loses second balls,
– Fails to protect the central channels,
the entire team becomes stretched. In that scenario, Kökçü, despite being an attacking player, feels compelled to act as a second holding midfielder at times. That robs the team of his main qualities in the final third and often results in sterile domination without enough clear chances.
With Özcan now firmly establishing himself in that role, the structure is more predictable and cohesive. The defenders know who will be in front of them; Kökçü knows when he can vacate his position and surge forward.
Tactical dimension of their partnership
From a tactical standpoint, the Özcan-Kökçü pairing embodies a classic “double pivot with asymmetry.” Özcan forms the deeper point of the triangle, dropping in or staying parallel with the center-backs when needed, while Kökçü occupies a half-space between midfield and attack.
This has several tactical advantages:
– In possession, Özcan offers security against counters, allowing full-backs to push high.
– Out of possession, he often becomes the first barrier in central zones, guiding opponents away from their preferred passing lanes.
– Kökçü can drift wide or step into the pockets behind the opposing midfield without constantly worrying about leaving a hole.
Thus, what looks like a simple pairing is in fact a coordinated mechanism: one stays, one goes; one protects, one creates.
How this affects pressing and transitions
Another aspect Çakar implicitly touched on is transitions. When a team loses the ball, the first seconds are decisive. If Özcan is in the right spot, he can either immediately counter-press or commit a smart tactical foul to slow down the opponent. That fraction of a second gives time for Kökçü and the other advanced players to recover their positions.
Conversely, when the team wins the ball, Özcan’s first pass often sets the tone of the attack. If he can find Kökçü quickly between the lines, the team can launch fast, direct attacks. This quick connection between ball-winner and playmaker is one of the key reasons why Kökçü is now appearing more often near the opponent’s box at the end of moves rather than at the beginning.
The importance of roles and specialization
Çakar’s praise for Özcan “as a player who should be in every team” underscores a broader principle: clear roles and specialization matter. Not every midfielder can do everything at the highest level. Some excel in defensive discipline, others in creativity, and the best teams are those that combine these profiles in a complementary way.
In this context, Salih Özcan represents:
– Discipline and reliability.
– Tactical intelligence without seeking the limelight.
– A willingness to sacrifice personal statistics for collective balance.
Orkun Kökçü, on the other hand, represents:
– Imagination, risk-taking, and offensive responsibility.
– The ability to change a match with one pass or shot.
– The player fans notice first when goals are scored.
Neither profile is complete without the other. Özcan’s work would be less visible without a playmaker to capitalize on the spaces he creates; Kökçü’s brilliance would be less frequent without someone to secure his back.
Impact on results and long-term planning
Although Çakar focused on a single match and a single goal, the implications of this partnership extend beyond one evening. Over the course of a season or a tournament, a stable and well-structured midfield can be the difference between a team that collapses under pressure and a side that consistently competes at the top level.
A player like Özcan:
– Reduces the number of chaotic defensive situations.
– Helps maintain compactness in difficult phases of the game.
– Allows coaches to design more attack-minded game plans, knowing there is a reliable anchor.
For a national team or a club seeking to build a clear identity, having such a “must-have” midfielder is often one of the first building blocks.
A goal as a symbol of a new balance
The goal that Çakar described as “very beautiful” is more than just an individual highlight for Kökçü. It symbolizes the new balance in the team: a quick transition, a confident forward run, and a shot taken without hesitation. All of that is made possible because behind that action stands a structure, and at the heart of that structure stands Salih Özcan.
In the end, Çakar’s verdict is less about elevating one player above all others and more about recognizing how football truly works at the highest level. Stars like Orkun Kökçü need the invisible workers behind them. And among those workers, Salih Özcan is, in his words, the type of footballer “who must be present in every team.”