Sport

Arne Slot must drop Milos Kerkez for his own good

Liverpool spent over £400m rebuilding their squad in the summer and the signing of Milos Kerkez was a big part of that effort. Signed from Bournemouth to be the Reds’ new long-term left back, Kerkez arrived at Anfield as one of the brightest youngsters in the Premier League. Only a few months later, though, he is fighting to prove himself.

Kerkez has been decidedly shaky in the first few months of his Liverpool career, so shaky in fact that the Hungarian has been hooked early by Arne Slot in more than one match. He was fortunate to last an hour of Sunday’s damaging defeat to Brentford as one of the worst players on the pitch.

It should be noted that Kerkez scored in West London, giving Liverpool hope of a comeback before half time. However, the 21-year-old was generally erratic in his performance and was a player Brentford regularly targeted with their direct balls into the final third. Kerkez was very vulnerable for 61 minutes.

“The reason why we brought him in, that I can tell you, is that he is bringing a lot of energy to the game, keeps going up and down,” said Slot when asked about the performances Kerkez has produced over the early part of his Liverpool career with criticism of the Hungarian starting to mount.

Andy Robertson returned to the lineup for last week’s Champions League match away to Eintracht Frankfurt and was an important figure in arguably Liverpool’s best performance of the season so far. The Scotland international contributed an excellent assist for Hugo Ekitike in a 5-1 victory for Slot’s side.

Slot could have kept Robertson in the lineup for the Premier League match away to Brentford on Sunday, but instead opted to bring Kerkez back. This decision has to be questioned considering how poorly the young Hungarian performed as Liverpool suffered a fourth successive league defeat.

Not so long ago, Liverpool were on a five-game winning run to start the Premier League season. While their performances had been uneven, the sense was that the Reds would be frontrunners in another title race such was the level of their attacking play. They hit the ground running after the summer.

Since then, though, things have fallen apart for the Anfield club. Liverpool’s general intensity has dropped dramatically while the balance of their midfield has been off. In the final third, Alexander Isak, Mohamed Salah and Ekitike have struggled to get on the same page. No real understanding between the trio has developed yet.

Then there’s Florian Wirtz whose club-record arrival at Liverpool was the source of much excitement and hype over the summer. The German playmaker’s talent can’t be denied, but he has still to find his role in Slot’s side. Wirtz’s struggles have been overblown. Nonetheless, he hasn’t been the player he was at Bayer Leverkusen.

In terms of the balance of the team as a whole, though, Liverpool’s replacement of both first-choice full backs has been the most consequential change made over the summer. On the right side, Trent Alexander-Arnold left for Real Madrid while Robertson has faded physically at left back over the last 18 months or so.

Kerkez, however, isn’t ready yet to be a first-choice Liverpool player. The 21-year-old’s potential is still clear. He was impressive for Bournemouth last season as the Cherries punched well above their weight and finished in the top half of the Premier League table. Kerkez was a big part of that success.

Right now, though, Liverpool need a more reliable performer on the left side of their defensive line to recover their form and get their Premier League title defence back on track. Kerkez might still have a bright future ahead of him at Anfield, but Slot might have no choice but to drop him for both the player and the team’s benefit.