Carragher Critiques Liverpool's Left-Back Situation
Jamie Carragher has torn into Liverpool’s left-back situation, branding Milos Kerkez “the Darwin Nunez of full-backs” and questioning the club’s entire summer strategy after a stuttering start to the season.
Two games. Two 2-2 draws. Two points on the board and a back line already under the microscope. Under Andoni Iraola, Liverpool have looked exhilarating going forward and alarmingly loose at the back, with Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong taking the brunt of the criticism.
Carragher’s brutal verdict on Kerkez
Carragher, never shy of a strong opinion, used The Overlap to lay out his concerns in full. For him, Kerkez’s issues go far beyond early-season rust.
“Their understanding of the game is really, really poor. You’re watching the game and thinking, ‘Why has he done that?’”
he said, lumping Kerkez in with Liverpool’s other young full-back options.
Then came the comparison that will stick.
“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.”
This isn’t about effort. It’s about control. Carragher’s argument is that a £40 million defender should bring more than raw speed and chaos. He believes Kerkez leans too heavily on his pace, without the positional intelligence or composure that top-level full-backs need in a side with title ambitions.
Liverpool backed him, though. They made him their left-back, allowed Andy Robertson to move on, and chose not to bring in another senior option. That, in Carragher’s eyes, is where the gamble begins.
“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'.”
Big money spent, big questions at full-back
Liverpool did not hold back in the market. Bradley Barcola arrived for £106m. Jeremy Jacquet for £55m. Four more signings followed. The squad looks deeper, more dynamic, more dangerous in the final third.
But the flanks of the defence? Untouched.
The pressure has built quickly on Kerkez and Frimpong after the 2-2 draws with Newcastle and Nottingham Forest, matches that exposed the same defensive frailties pundits highlighted last season. The sense of déjà vu is impossible to ignore.
Gary Neville, watching on, could not believe the club’s priorities.
“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,”
he said.
Neville drew a sharp comparison with another title contender.
“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?”
That is the crux of it. Liverpool have spent heavily to sharpen their attack and refresh the squad, yet left the most obvious weak point untouched. Iraola’s system demands aggressive, high-risk full-backs. Right now, the two entrusted with those roles are being picked apart on national television.
The season is only two games old, but the narrative around Liverpool’s title credentials is already being shaped by what they didn’t do in the summer. The money went on flair. The doubts sit at full-back.
