Carragher Critiques Liverpool's Milos Kerkez Performance
Jamie Carragher has torn into Liverpool left-back Milos Kerkez, branding him the “Darwin Núñez of full-backs” and accusing the youngster of playing with chaos rather than control.
Kerkez has started Liverpool’s first two Premier League games of the season, but as the team stutters under Andoni Iraola, the 20-year-old has found himself at the centre of the storm. Two games, two 2-2 draws – against Newcastle and Nottingham Forest – and two full-backs under heavy fire.
Carragher: ‘Head down and run’
Speaking on The Overlap, Carragher did not soften a single blow when assessing Kerkez’s game intelligence and composure.
“Their understanding of the game is really, really poor. You’re watching the game and thinking, ‘Why has he done that?’” he said, grouping Kerkez’s decision-making with Liverpool’s other defensive issues.
He then revisited a comparison he’d made before.
“I described Kerkez last season – and it was his first season, maybe it was a bit harsh at the time – he's the Darwin Nunez of full-backs. It's just like ‘head down and run’, everything Kerkez does is 100 miles an hour.”
For Carragher, the problem is not just rawness. It’s that the £40 million signing, in his eyes, leans almost entirely on speed rather than reading the game, leaving Liverpool exposed in an area that has defined their success for years.
Big spend, wrong areas?
The frustration is sharpened by Liverpool’s summer business. They spent aggressively, but not where many expected.
“They've brought in Kerkez for £40million,” Carragher continued. “He’s had his first season, it wasn't amazing, but right, you go: ‘OK, Iraola’s come in from Bournemouth, he knows him, he's still our left-back. Andy Robertson moved on, we had another left-back on loan, so we're probably not going to spend another £40million on another. He's our left-back, let him have another year’.”
Liverpool did exactly that – they backed Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong – while funnelling huge money into other positions. Bradley Barcola arrived for £106m. Jeremy Jacquet cost £55m. Four more signings followed. None of them were full-backs.
So when the same defensive cracks reappeared in the opening fortnight, the questions came thick and fast.
Neville ‘stunned’ by full-back gamble
Gary Neville echoed Carragher’s concerns, openly questioning the club’s recruitment logic after last season had already flagged up the same issues.
“The two full-backs, it was quite clear at the start of last season when you watched them for five or six matches, that defensively they weren’t going to be quite at the level to do it,” Neville said.
“I’m stunned. We talk about ‘will Arsenal regret not bringing in a forward’ – will Liverpool regret not bringing in a couple of full-backs?”
That is the crux of it. Iraola has tried to reshape Liverpool’s structure, inject intensity, and modernise the side after a summer of big spending. But with Kerkez and Frimpong again under scrutiny and Liverpool still searching for their first win, the risk the club took at full-back already looks like it could define their season.
