2 weeks ago
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Gary Neville has criticised Liverpool left-back Milos Kerkez again with the Hungary defender still adapting to life at Anfield following his $54 million (£40 million) summer switch from Bournemouth.
Kerkez and Liverpool were on the wrong end of a defeat to Manchester United over the weekend, making it four losses on the spin for the Reds in all competitions. Games with Eintracht Frankfurt (Champions League) and Brentford (Premier League) come next.
"I think the individual performances of Liverpool's defenders were really poor," Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast. "The left back hasn’t settled in. He plays like a 10 year old; he is all over the place.
"Conor Bradley was OK — he didn’t really do anything wrong — but I haven’t seen Virgil van Dijk as shaky as that. He has been holding it together but he had one of his worst games.
"He wasn’t himself. And if your captain and leader isn’t playing well, it can rub off on everyone else."
Neville wasn't the only pundit to have reservations about what Kerkez was offering against Manchester United.
"Kerkez is very nervous," Jamie Redknapp said at half-time. "He's like a nervous wreck out there. I feel for him. It's almost a bit too much for him.
"The game is happening a bit too fast and Amad Diallo is causing him problems. Like you've mentioned, with Bryan Mbeumo and [Matheus] Cunha they've gone for a different approach with a bit more pace."
This is not the first time this season that Kerkez has come under fire, either.
"To be honest with you, at this point in time, he looks like a youth-team player," Neville said after Liverpool lost late against Chelsea. "I know he's a good player, but he looks like he's playing for the youth team, or the Under-21s.
"He looks so naïve; he looks like a baby out there. He's losing 50-50s with Pedro Neto! He's had Premier League experience, it's not like he's come in from another country.
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"He's got a lot of games under his belt; he's played at these grounds before, so I expected him to slot in.
"One, he's playing alongside Van Dijk, the best center half in the world, so if you want to play in a back four, you want to play with great defenders and he is doing.
"And he's got players who work hard on that side, it's not like he's playing on the right with Salah in front of him, which is always a bit more difficult because you always get a little bit more exposed.
"But I have to say from the first 10 minutes of that game against Bournemouth on the first game of the season, he's struggled."
Liverpool.com says: Kerkez is playing a different role to what he was asked to do under Andoni Iraola but there is no need for concern yet. He is 21 and clearly very talented. In time, when the rest of the team settles, so will he.
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