Arne Slot has every reason to be deeply worried about Milos Kerkez after the left-back\u2019s showing in Hungary\u2019s 3\u20132 defeat to Ireland on Sunday afternoon. Slot guided Liverpool to the Premier League title in his debut season, and a huge summer outlay \u2014 \u00a3419 million in reinforcements \u2014 should have paved the way for another dominant campaign. Instead, it\u2019s had the opposite effect.<\/p>\n
Three of those expensive additions have already been included in lists of the 10 worst Premier League signings of the season, and Kerkez is one of them. The defender has recently lost his place to the very player he was brought in to succeed, Andrew Robertson. Early signs suggested that his standout year with Bournemouth may have inflated expectations \u2014 raising concerns that he was a one-season wonder struggling to adjust to the demands at Anfield.<\/p>\n
Yet Liverpool fans monitoring his international outings have been quick to argue that Kerkez still possesses real quality; he just hasn\u2019t managed to show it in a Liverpool shirt. Increasingly, the criticism is shifting away from the player and toward Slot\u2019s handling of him.<\/p>\n
Hungary Form Highlights Questions Over Slot\u2019s Use of Kerkez<\/p>\n
Kerkez\u2019s last truly impressive game for Liverpool likely came in the narrow 1\u20130 win over Arsenal, where he won every duel against Noni Madueke and displayed controlled aggression. Since then \u2014 nearly three months later \u2014 his club form has been inconsistent at best. At international level, however, the story couldn\u2019t be more different.<\/p>\n
Under Marco Rossi, Kerkez appears unaffected by the issues plaguing him at Liverpool. His performance against Ireland again showcased the level he can reach. In 95 minutes, he won all three of his tackles, made three interceptions, produced five clearances, blocked a shot, won seven of eight ground duels, delivered an assist, and created a match-high five chances.<\/p>\n
Statistics like these have prompted fans to question what\u2019s going wrong for him at club level \u2014 and whether Slot\u2019s system is the root cause. As one X user put it:<\/p>\n
“I can\u2019t believe people are calling Kerkez a flop already when it\u2019s so clear most of his bad displays are due to how Slot is using him.”<\/p>\n
Hungary\u2019s loss ultimately ended their hopes of reaching next summer\u2019s World Cup, which in itself won\u2019t alarm Liverpool fans. What does raise concern, though, is the stark contrast between his international form and his Liverpool showings. Another supporter summed up the growing frustration: \u201cMilos Kerkez assist. Dominik Szoboszlai assist. Arne Slot\u2026 I prefer not to speak.\u201d<\/p>\n
A third added: \u201cAnother brilliant Kerkez assist for Hungary. This is genuinely frustrating \u2014 Slot, fix it,\u201d while a fourth said: \u201cI\u2019m worried about Slot. Kerkez always looks like a different player for Hungary, and at Bournemouth he was superb.\u201d<\/p>\n
Breaking into the side ahead of Robertson was always going to be a monumental challenge, and in fairness, few left-backs would relish trying. Some supporters are already sounding alarms, but Slot \u2014 the most tactically flexible manager in world football last season \u2014 has shown he can adapt. A slower, more deliberate integration period may be exactly what Kerkez needs, even if the benefits aren\u2019t immediate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arne Slot has every reason to be deeply worried about Milos Kerkez after the left-back\u2019s showing in Hungary\u2019s 3\u20132 defeat to Ireland on Sunday afternoon. Slot guided Liverpool to the Premier League title in his debut season, and a huge summer outlay \u2014 \u00a3419 million in reinforcements \u2014 should have paved the way for another …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":54645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/mixcollage-16-nov-2025-03-51-pm-662.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54644"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54646,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54644\/revisions\/54646"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/54645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}