Jamie Carragher Critiques Liverpool's Milos Kerkez as Defensive Woes Emerge
Liverpool’s new season is only two games old, but the inquest has already started. Two matches, two 2-2 draws – against Newcastle and Nottingham Forest – and a defensive structure that looks anything but secure under Andoni Iraola.
Right at the heart of the debate: Milos Kerkez.
Carragher’s brutal comparison
Jamie Carragher has never been shy with an opinion, but his assessment of Liverpool’s left-back was particularly unforgiving. Speaking on The Overlap, he branded Kerkez “the Darwin Nunez of full-backs” – not as a compliment to his chaos factor, but as a warning about his decision-making.
“Their understanding of the game is really, really poor. You’re watching the game and thinking, ‘Why has he done that?’” Carragher said, grouping Kerkez in with Liverpool’s other problem full-back, Jeremie Frimpong.
He doubled down on Kerkez specifically.
“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.”
That, in Carragher’s eyes, is the core issue. A £40 million defender who leans on raw pace and constant forward thrust, but offers little of the composure or positional intelligence required in a back line already under strain.
A big fee, a bigger question
Kerkez has started both of Liverpool’s Premier League fixtures so far. Neither display has calmed the doubts that were already bubbling after his first campaign at Anfield.
Carragher laid out the internal logic that seemed to guide Liverpool’s summer – and why it now looks so exposed.
“They’ve brought in Kerkez for £40million. 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’.”
On paper, it’s continuity. On the pitch, it’s risk. And after back-to-back 2-2 draws, it already feels like a gamble that might define Liverpool’s season.
Heavy spending, glaring omission
Liverpool did not sit out the summer market. Far from it. They spent aggressively, but chose to ignore the one area now under the harshest spotlight.
Bradley Barcola arrived for £106m. Jeremy Jacquet for £55m. Four more signings followed, reshaping the squad and refreshing the attack and midfield. The full-back positions, though, were left untouched. Kerkez and Frimpong stayed as undisputed first choices.
The pressure finally told in the punditry box.
Gary Neville admitted he could not understand the strategy. For him, the warning signs were already flashing last season.
“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.
His conclusion was blunt.
“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?”
Early-season storm for Iraola
For Iraola, this is the reality of managing Liverpool in 2024: two games in, the conversation has moved from tactical tweaks to structural flaws. The team has scored four, but conceded four. Kerkez and Frimpong are being targeted by opponents and pundits alike.
Liverpool chose to trust a £40m left-back whose game is built on speed and aggression, and a right-back with similar attacking instincts. The club chose to spend big elsewhere. Carragher and Neville have made it clear what they think of that calculation.
The question now hangs over Anfield: are these just teething problems under a new manager, or the first cracks in a defensive plan that was always one signing short?
