Patience Is Still the Right Call on Kerkez

Milos Kerkez splits opinion among Liverpool supporters like few other current squad members. Some feel the twenty two year old has not delivered enough since his move from Bournemouth to justify the fee or the hype that came with it. Others still see obvious quality and think the surrounding circumstances are being ignored. Both positions have merit, and neither tells the whole story on its own.

Following a Modern Great Was Always Going to Be Hard

Kerkez arrived as the long term successor to Andy Robertson, a player who set an extremely high bar at left back over the best part of a decade at Anfield. Matching that level of reliability and output was never going to happen overnight, and it becomes even harder when the club around a new signing is unsettled and every mistake gets magnified by supporters and pundits alike.

Robertson, speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, offered a grounded explanation for why the adjustment has taken longer than some expected. His view has little to do with effort and much more to do with role, rhythm and the sheer difference in demands between clubs. He drew on his own experience at Hull City, where a team seeing far less of the ball rarely pushed him forward more than a handful of times a game, compared with the ten or more attacking bursts a Liverpool full back is expected to make. That shift alone changes the decision making and delivery required in the final third.

The Defensive Side Was Never the Real Question

Defensively, there is little argument to be had. Kerkez has the aggression and the athleticism to make himself a nightmare in individual duels, closing opponents down quickly and rarely giving them a comfortable second on the ball. Robertson made a point of praising exactly that side of his game, while also suggesting the Hungarian needs to pick his moments better once Liverpool are dominating possession rather than treating every situation like a transition to defend.

That distinction is the real substance of the debate. Liverpool do not need chaos and urgency from their left back on every single occasion, particularly when the team already holds the majority of the ball. What they need is composure and better timing, qualities that tend to arrive with games rather than instinct. Robertson’s own experience backs this up. He described how systems and the distances players are asked to cover keep shifting at Liverpool as the squad continues to be rebuilt, and how full backs in particular feel that disruption because their entire role depends on the structure playing out in front of them.

Attitude Will Carry Him Through

Robertson’s conclusion was firm rather than hedged. He backed Kerkez to become a genuinely good full back for Liverpool, pointing to his attitude as the trait that will win supporters over regardless of any rocky early spells. Talent gets a player through the door, but it is attitude that keeps him there once things get difficult, and by that measure Robertson clearly rates him highly.

Wirtz and Isak Face the Same Scrutiny

Kerkez is far from the only new arrival facing an early verdict he probably has not earned yet. Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak have both had to find their feet in a difficult environment, with Liverpool still working through the fallout of an incredibly painful period following the death of Diogo Jota. Judging any of these players in isolation, without acknowledging what the dressing room has been through, risks being unfair and short sighted.

Robertson framed this season as the real starting point for all three, arguing that it makes more sense to treat this as their first genuine campaign at the club rather than holding them to standards set during a period of major upheaval. If results are still lacking by the end of the season, that is the point to reassess. Right now, he suggested, patience is simply the sensible position.

Our View

Nobody serious is arguing that Kerkez has arrived as the finished article, and nobody serious should be writing him off either. The debate was never really about whether there is a capable player there. There clearly is. The real question is whether Liverpool can help him bring his attacking end product up to the level of his defending. If that clicks, the noise around him disappears fast, and Robertson’s backing will look entirely justified.