"We play really aggressive. We need to run a lot more," Miloš Kerkez said of the demands he has felt since moving to Liverpool. The left-back says the change is not just about work rate, it has also given him "more freedom to fly up and down" and "putting more balls into boxes". He spent two seasons with Bournemouth under Andoni Iraola before the move.
Kerkez's role change
Kerkez's comments are pretty direct. He says Liverpool now ask for more running, more aggression and more attacking release on the left side. That fits the way he describes his own role, with extra freedom to get forward rather than sitting in a narrower, more restrained setup.
The pre-season signs have been positive too. Kerkez completed his first 90 minutes against Como and said he felt fatigue around the 70-minute mark. His recent league numbers give a bit more context to that workload, with 251 minutes across his last five Liverpool league appearances, a best recent rating of 6.9 and an average of 6.74.
Newcastle away is the first test
The change in demands will be judged properly when the games start to matter. Liverpool begin their Premier League campaign away to Newcastle on Sunday, and Kerkez called that kind of trip a test of “Premier League intensity”.
He also pointed to the need for rhythm after pre-season, saying it was good that a lot of players got 90 minutes in. That is the immediate standard now. Liverpool have a left-back who sounds comfortable with the new workload, and the first league check comes at Newcastle.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 3 outlets. How we work →
