The FA Cup is a matter of greater significance in these parts than it has been for some years and if Liverpool can make their way to silverware then the man with the rolled down socks and very intense expression on his face may prove to be one of the signature players of this year’s tournament.
Milos Kerkez was taken some time to convince the Liverpool public. There has been the adjustment to British football to make and the Kop’s understandable embrace of Andy Robertson, arguably the greatest warrior soul of this generation.
There is too little patience in football these days. Arne Slot somehow finds himself criticised for the slightest mannerism on forums and in podcasts and Kerkez has taken some negativity, too.
But the 22-year-old left back was one the who provided the sparkle and the steel on Saturday night, delivering the cross from the wide area which met the arriving Curtis Jones and sent the side on their way, and far more besides that.
It was Kerkez who added the fizz to a game which took time to burst into life. There was a take-down and shot on an angle which Jason Steele touched over, to go with the beautiful cut back and shot, from an offside position it turned out, 20 minutes earlier. And then, within five minutes of setting up Jones, he was going nose to nose with Brighton, holding his ground. If there is a more improved Liverpool player these past few months then it is hard to think who.
It was a night for remembering some of the football giants of this club. A public message of support for Kevin Keegan, on his 75th birthday, contending with cancer treatment, and mentions in despatches for Bob Paisley, arguably Liverpool’s greatest manager, who passed away 30 years ago on Saturday.
Liverpool swept aside Brighton 3-0 as Curtis Jones (centre) made his case for more minutes
Dominik Szoboszlai doubled Liverpool’s lead after Jones’ opener in the first half
Mohamed Salah held his badge as he faces the Kop after wrapping up a comprehensive win
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Milos Kerkez, who has often been criticised this season, put in a brilliant performance
In the here and now, there was the more prosaic challenge of resolving the injury problems that have deprived Slot of almost every serviceable right back. And so it was that Jones, whose struggle to make inroads at the only club he has known since the age of nine saw Inter Milan make an approach for him in January, pressed into an emergency role he has hardly ever filled.
The way Jones ghosted in from the deep to receive Kerkez’s cross just before half time, adroitly keeping down the rising ball as he put Liverpool ahead, was testament to the fact that he has deserved more chances this season than Arne Slot has granted him. His looked up to those he knew in the crowd, and the grin told the story. It was a first goal since 2024 for a player who could reasonably ask why Alexis MacAllister has been so often preferred to him.
You could audibly hear the relief wash around this place when the goal went in because it had hitherto been a moribund, scrappy business from Liverpool, and Brighton, with the pace of the Greek forward Charalampos Koustoulas, tested Virgil van Dijk at times early on.
There was energy from Mo Salah, 94 days on from his unexpected early arrival from the bench in the home league game here against Brighton at the height of the dispute with Slot, which was the beginning of his rehabilitation. An overhit cross and underhit corner from the Egyptian told the story of a player who initially found little joy down the right.
But he was at the helm as Liverpool drove into the Fifth Round when they picked up the pace after half-time. It was his sumptuous volleyed pass which sent the ball into Dominik Szoboszlai’s path to despatch the second. And his jinxing run in the box which drew a foul from Pascal Gross and won the penalty which he converted. As in the league game here, Brighton’s defence crumbled too often.
Salah held the badge to the Kop when he despatched his spot kick but almost overlooked in the gorgeous build-up was Kerkez’s dummy run, disorientating the retreating defence. The sound of ‘We’re going to in the Cup’ struck up at the end in a rather old-school way. It feels like they’re finding some light here, after a long and difficult winter.