Stephen Warnock has called for Arne Slot to take one Liverpool player ‘out of the firing line’ after tonight’s Carabao Cup tie against Crystal Palace.
Milos Kerkez was the only member of the starting XI against Brentford last weekend to be named in the line-up for the cup clash, and the head coach’s decision to rotate heavily didn’t pay off as the Reds exited the tournament at the fourth round.
The Dutchman kept faith with the 21-year-old left-back despite some fierce criticism of his performances in recent weeks, with Paul Scholes remarking that the Hungary international ‘looks like a kid playing against men at times’.
Warnock calls for Kerkez to be dropped
Warnock is at Anfield tonight for the Carabao Cup clash, and he wasn’t overly impressed with what he saw from Liverpool’s number 6.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, the former Reds defender said: “I would be inclined to take Milos Kerkez out of the firing line. Let him understand his role in the team. He is certainly struggling and he looks so uncomfortable.”
Kerkez hasn’t quite got going at Liverpool just yet
Kerkez had a slightly different role tonight as a left wing-back as Slot opted for a three-man central defensive unit, and to be fair to the Hungarian, he did alright in that guise.
The Liverpool Echo observed that the 21-year-old was ‘steady enough’ against Palace and had ‘moments of good understanding’ with Rio Ngumoha along the flank, with the teenage winger giving the Eagles plenty to think about in the first half before Ismaila Sarr’s brace.
His influence waned in the second half as the away side took firm control though, with the Reds doing little to trouble the visitors once the two-goal lead had been established.
Warnock’s call for Kerkez to be taken out of the starting XI might be heeded by Slot after the Hungarian’s heavy involvement over the past week, in contrast to how most of our regular starters had tonight off duty.
The 21-year-old is a very good player – he showed that with Bournemouth over the past couple of years – but so far it isn’t quite happening for him in a Liverpool shirt. Hopefully that’ll change over the coming months and we’ll see him return to being the effervescent left-back of last season.
Get a grip Warnock , thought Kerkes played well tonight, especially when doing robbos job as well as his own 🤬
Yeah I thought he was good tonight. Criticism of him all season has been well over the top. Everyone needs a scapegoat. Especially pundits with nothing else to say or who failed dismally in their attempt to be a Liverpool left back
I am nursing fears in relation to LFC performances.For me the excuse of new players not combining is neither here nor there.National team players don’t have ample time together but do play well. My take in LFC performances emanate from the fact that,managers have seen how to counteract Slot & Slot runs out of ideas when his philosophy has been detected and neutralized.When that happens LFC become ineffective. It should be expected that teams will employ the same tactics against LFC.
I believe the problem within the sqaud is the lack of a holding midfield player like Fabinio or, further back along, someone like Alonso and Mascherano
Slot has seen that teams play long balls in order to bypass our midfield because they know theirs are out performed when they don’t play long balls.Teams are aware we struggle with set pieces.So LFC should spend more time in set pieces practices because it does not help playing eye catching foot ball &lose.Foot ball is business and playing good foot ball is not remembered when your team loses.Praise will be on the winning side regardless of playing bad.
When we played Arsenal we were not open but we are now open.We need to be compact regardless of the opponent, even if we economical in scoring.We should revist agression in our game. We are too soft and we should revisit our movement especially in the final thord.As we will be playing Real Madrid ,a back three so that we are not exposed when wing backs bomb foward.
I believe the recent disappointing performances are due to injuries to important players at the beginning of the season. These injury issues have created difficulties in choosing the team. Moreover, some of our main players, like Mac Allister and Ibrahima Konate, are not performing well right now. It has certainly been a challenging start for LFC this season, but I trust that Slot will quickly improve the situation.
Can’t we swap Isak for three at the back? Just saying… I have to agree looking not only at the cup game – Kerkez should be dropped from the line up. On the other hand, I thought Morrison should be played more, and Rio too. That youngster is lightning.
Patience, people.
It’s a bad patch. They happen.
Encouragement and faith will help relieve the pressure both they and Arne will be feeling…..