Gary Neville slams £40m Liverpool man who is playing football like a ‘baby’ right now

Add as preferred source on Google

Liverpool’s difficult week continued over the weekend, as the side suffered their third consecutive defeat against Chelsea.

Under Arne Slot so far this season, the Reds have been far from their convincing best, but they’ve managed to get results nonetheless.

That is until the past week, which saw Liverpool suffer a late defeat to Crystal Palace, before losing to Galatasaray in the Champions League.

A return to the Premier League saw Liverpool take on Chelsea, but it wasn’t much easier for them.

Moises Caicedo’s wonderstrike gave the Blues the lead before Cody Gakpo found the back of the net to draw the game level.

Then, in the final moments of the game, an outstretched leg from Estevao ensured that Chelsea took all three points.

It was another difficult result for Liverpool to take right before the international break, but for Gary Neville, there is one star who is simply struggling.

• READ MORE: Arne Slot did something Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk will hate during Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool

Gary Neville questions Milos Kerkez after another difficult Liverpool display

Liverpool’s summer transfer activity saw them hit the market hard in search of new options to bolster their ranks.

While plenty of attention was focused on the attacking players brought into the club, there were some big changes at full-back too.

Jeremie Frimpong joined as a fresh right-back option, while Milos Kerkez was signed from Bournemouth in a £40 million deal to improve the left-back position.

However, it hasn’t been an easy start for the Hungarian international.

Another tough display at Stamford Bridge has led to even more questions about his start, with Gary Neville slamming him on the Gary Neville Podcast.

He claimed: “The boy, Kerkez, to be honest at this moment in time… He looks like a youth team player.

“And that’s not being sort of, I know he’s a good player, but he looks like he’s playing for the under 21s, for the youth team, for the academy. He looks so naïve, looks like a baby out there.”

It’s a potentially harsh assessment of Milos Kerkez, but it is clear that he hasn’t quite settled into life at Liverpool yet.

With the defender continuing to adjust, the next few weeks on international duty could be key to him finding some form again.

• READ MORE: Arne Slot has not noticed Ryan Gravenberch flaw which has left Jan Molby ‘surprised’

Arne Slot is still searching for balance in his Liverpool team

There is no hiding that Liverpool have plenty of talent in their ranks, especially on the attacking front.

The main issue appears to be how to balance the team as best as possible to strike a balance between attacking and defending.

While Liverpool can blow other teams away, they have yet to click in the forward areas and do that on many occasions.

With the other side of the game being so important, the inability of the Reds to defend well and score plenty is costing them.

That balance can be best seen in how Slot has been changing his full-backs, now rarely opting for both Kerkez and Frimpong at the same time due to their attacking nature.

When asked about striking that balance after the Chelsea game, the manager said: “I think if you play the style we play, so a high press, and the style Chelsea plays, a high press, it would be a surprise if both teams, with the quality that both teams have, that they never play through your press, so that would be unrealistic.

“You go here to Stamford Bridge with them having eight injuries, so you’re like, ‘This can be positive, then they probably don’t have the options from the bench.’

“But they did still have a few good options from the bench to impact the game. So it would be unrealistic to expect that if you play Chelsea, they want to play out from the back, that they never play through your press, as we played through their press as well.”

It’s clearly still a challenge for Slot and Liverpool, with the lack of control seemingly costing them in games.