Liverpool bounced back from a chastening defeat against Manchester City last weekend to record back-to-back wins across two different competitions.

But while Reds fans have plenty to be positive about after beating LASK and then Brentford, it has not been a good week for everyone.

Kerkez continues to be a concern for Liverpool

On a day when a number of Liverpool players really stepped up to help them battle back against Brentford, Kerkez could not count himself amongst them.

The 22-year-old has had a difficult season so far, and is yet to make good on the hope that Iraola could return him to the form he showed under his stewardship at Bournemouth.

Saturday’s display was arguably the worst of the lot from Kerkez. His passing was poor, completing 40 out of 50 attempts, while he failed to connect with a teammate on his one attempted cross or any of the three long balls he tried.

To be fair to Kerkez, his defensive stats were okay on the day, and it’s pleasing to see that he won four out of six ground duels and one out of one aerial duel. Nevertheless, it was on the ball where he really let himself down.

Ever since his £40m arrival at Liverpool in 2025, Kerkez has not shown any kind of creativity in the final third. Two assists in 57 appearances for the Reds is simply not good enough, and he often looks like a fish out of water when trying to build up from the back as well. Good-looking attacks rarely come to anything and he has a tendency to be on the wrong wavelength with his teammates around him. Liverpool need so much more from their left-back.

Tsimikas is providing an attractive alternative

When Liverpool let Andy Robertson go and brought Tsimikas back from his loan spell with Roma, it was a clear signal to Kerkez that he was absolutely to be Iraola’s man at left-back.

Tsimikas underlined this further with a terrible first Premier League start of the season against Fulham in September, when he was hooked at half-time.

However, the Greek has done well since then, with Wednesday’s performance in LASK a contender for his best in a Liverpool shirt. Not only did he lay on two excellent assists – equalling Kerkez’s haul for the past 14 months – he was also good going back to his own goal and provided good leadership with the captain’s armband.

Tsimikas is not anybody’s idea of a long-term solution for Liverpool, but with Kerkez becoming a genuine liability, he deserves the chance to stake his claim.

Kerkez may get a further chance to turn his form around, and that would be fair enough. Liverpool also should not give up on the Hungary international who could still turn into the right player for them. But he cannot continue in the team irrespective of his form, and with Tsimikas waiting in the wings, the time is surely coming to try something else.