Milos Kerkez has had a difficult start to his career at Liverpool after being signed from Bournemouth for £40million – and Jamie Carragher has issued another stinging piece of criticism
Jamie Carragher is no stranger to criticising Liverpool’s Milos Kerkez(Image: Sky Sports)
Jamie Carragher has brutally compared Milos Kerkez with Liverpool flop Darwin Nunez in his latest criticism of the £40million defender. Liverpool fought off competition from Manchester City to sign Kerkez, who arrived at Anfield in June with a glowing reputation thanks to his superb season at Bournemouth.
But the Hungary international, 22, hasn’t settled under Arne Slot, a theme among the Reds’ summer signings. Having been named on the bench as Liverpool drew 0-0 with Leeds in midweek, Kerkez was recalled to the starting line-up by Slot for their trip to Fulham on Sunday.
Carragher was asked if time out of the side had been good for Kerkez, whose displays improved in December, having shared the minutes with fellow left-back Andy Robertson towards the end of the calendar year. “No, but I think it’s working for Liverpool in that I don’t think he should be playing every week,” the Liverpool legend told Sky Sports.
“You’ve got too good a player in Andy Robertson who needs to play games as well. I think when Andy Robertson’s played, he hasn’t played as much as Kerkez, I think you’d probably say Andy Robertson’s performances have been better than Kerkez’s.
“He’s found it tough, it’s been a struggle for him. He’s a young man, but he will have to improve in the second half of the season, there’s no doubt about that.”
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Carragher went on to say: “It’s funny watching him [Kerkez] play. I always remember speaking about Trent Alexander-Arnold, who Liverpool have missed enormously of course, and said it’s like having Kevin De Bruyne at right-back.
“Sometimes, when you watch Kerkez, it’s like having Darwin Nunez at left-back, it’s just a bit mad. There’s no real thought process, what’s he doing with the ball, how’s he connecting with other players, it’s just head down, run. He never gets his head up and actually plays passes.”
A number of Liverpool supporters weren’t happy with his comments, though. One fan posted on X: “The way Carragher is talking about Kerkez here is ridiculous… He’s been sound for over a month now and arguably our best player in a couple of games.”
“Carragher insulting Kerkez and Darwin Nunez (a Premier League winner btw),” a second noted. “The guy [has] become an absolute weirdo recently.”
Will Milos Kerkez be a success at Liverpool? Give us your prediction in the comments section.
Milos Kerkez played 90 minutes in Liverpool’s 2-2 draw at Fulham(Image: Gaspafotos/MB Media/Getty Images)
Following Liverpool’s 3-2 win over Newcastle back in August, Carragher declared: “Kerkez has made a really poor start to his Liverpool career. He found it really difficult against Bournemouth, he was a little bit nervous.
“He was up against [Anthony] Elanga today, not easy, but this (his efforts for Bruno Guimaraes’ goal) is just not enough – you’ve just got to go and head the ball and he’s almost just trying to stop the player. That is just really, really poor. He’s not the biggest, but you’ve got to jump, you’ve got to challenge in that situation.”
Carragher’s Sky Sports colleague, Kris Boyd, criticised Kerkez’s performance as Liverpool drew 2-2 with Fulham, conceding in the seventh minute of stoppage time despite taking the lead three minutes prior. “A lot of times Kerkez ran down the left-hand side and his final ball was not good enough,” Boyd said.
“He’s definitely not hit the heights he did last season at Bournemouth. He’s going to have to get used to the demands and pressure of playing at a club that has to win every game.”
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