Alim Ozturk’s Sunderland career seemed like it was spiralling nowhere before Phil Parkinson came in, as prior to that he had made just 13 league appearances for the Black Cats in more than a year in the north-east.
He is now on a great run of form following Parkinson’s decision to recall him to the side, and he looks at home in a back five accompanied by the likes of Jordan Willis and Joel Lynch.
Sunderland have suffered a lot defensively this season with Lee Burge and Jon McLaughlin keeping two and three clean sheets respectively from a combined total of 31 matches.
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While shut-outs have still been elusive at times, there has been an improvement since the Turk came into the side, with four goals conceded in his last five starts, a spell where the Black Cats have only lost once.
He offers a physical presence which is valuable in dealing with League One target men, helping to keep out the prolific Armand Gnanduillet just before Christmas for example – a striker who has 14 goals to his name this campaign.
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Ozturk was dependable once more in the trip to Fleetwood on Wednesday, and Sunderland likely wouldn’t have conceded if Charlie Wyke hadn’t given away a first-half penalty.
As per WhoScored, the 27-year-old was dominant in a number of areas, which proved very useful to negate the threat of Ched Evans and Paddy Madden, who have scored a combined 23 goals this term.
It is little surprise, therefore, that the Black Cats’ defence looks much more assured with him marshalling his teammates, as Willis and Lynch also looked better too. The latter made four tackles.
If Ozturk can maintain his current form then Sunderland should have a platform to pick up points in each game they play, as Parkinson will be confident that goals at the other end is all they will need to win more matches.
Parkinson deserves credit for recalling the centre-back to the side despite him not being fancied by his predecessor, and now the defence looks to be getting up to the standard required all that is needed is attacking improvement.
In other news, fans have aimed criticism at head of recruitment Tony Coton after failed signing Laurens De Bock returned to Leeds to end his loan spell.