Michael Owen believes Milos Kerkez ‘looks a bag of nerves’ and needs to be dropped after Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat to Wolves.
Arne Slot’s side went behind at Molineux as Rodrigo Gomes put Wolves in front before Mohamed Salah scored with seven minutes remaining to tug Liverpool level.
Nevertheless, Wolves sealed only their third Premier League win of the season with Andre’s deflected goal in injury time.
The result leaves Liverpool fifth within the Premier League they usually shall be overtaken by Chelsea in the event that they beat Aston Villa on Wednesday.
Owen, meanwhile, stays unsure of Kerkez’s future at Liverpool with the left-back struggling to make an impact following his £40 million move from Bournemouth last summer.
‘I’m just not convinced about one or two of the players,’ Owen told Premier League Productions.
‘Full-backs you’ve gone from Trent [Alexander-Arnold] and [Andy] Robertson, possibly the most effective combination of full-back the Premier League has seen for an extended, very long time, you had [Mohamed] Salah ahead of him who has just been a freak over the previous couple of years, incredible, and naturally [Luis] Diaz who played nearly all of the time and was exceptional as well, a great deal of energy. Those 4 players have mainly been modified now.
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‘I can’t warm to Kerkez, I’m afraid. He looks like a bag of nerves, he looks like he doesn’t want the ball, he looks like he’s an emotional defender, he’s playing like this [shaking] on a regular basis, it’s like, ‘calm down, man’, you’re in possession of the ball lots of the time, just calm down, it’s like he’s in a trance continually.
‘[Cody] Gakpo is half the player he was last season. Salah is a tenth of the player he was last season. After which the right-backs trying to exchange Trent, none of them are ever slot in Conor Bradley and [Jeremie] Frimpong.
‘Immediately in 4 places Liverpool are weaker, much weaker, than last season. Is that transition or is Salah getting older, is Gakpo not quite the identical this season? The total-backs should not pretty much as good because the previous full-backs in order that they’re definitely going to weaken the team.
‘Trent decided to go, you may’t do much about that. Diaz decided to, you may’t do an excessive amount of about that, a giant offer got here in and he desired to go. The choice to re-sign Mo Salah on an additional two years, everyone was clamouring for that to occur, every Liverpool fan wanted that to occur, so you may’t blame the manager.
‘Left-back, I believe they pensioned off Andy Robertson a bit of bit too soon, I believe he should still be playing now.
‘Now I’m not saying don’t bring a left-back in, [Kostas] Tsimikas probably not quite as much as it, so yes, usher in any individual for the longer term, I didn’t disagree with it, and I liked Kerkez at Bournemouth but Liverpool is a distinct kettle of fish to Bournemouth, you’ve got to find a way to administer pressure, all of the eyes are on you, and it just looks just like the club is a bit too big for him for the time being, he might quiet down, he might recuperate, but for the time being I’m sticking Andy Robertson straight back in.’
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