Liverpool star talks about importance of distance covered
Liverpool defender Milos Kerkez has offered an insight into the physical demands Andoni Iraola is placing on his players, with running, pressing and maintaining intensity across 90 minutes central to the new head coach’s approach.
Speaking alongside Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai on the Reds Roundtable podcast, Kerkez was particularly well placed to discuss Iraola’s methods. The defender previously spent two years working under him at Bournemouth and has now been reunited with the Spaniard at Liverpool.
For Kerkez, there is little mystery about what Iraola expects.
“The intensity the level he wants us to play like for whole 90 minutes. He wants us to run, you know, to press a lot and to show it.”
It is a simple description, but one which goes some way towards explaining the physical expectations now being established at Liverpool.
Iraola demands Liverpool intensity
Distance covered can sometimes be treated as a statistic without context. Within Iraola’s football, the comments from Liverpool’s players suggest that running has a clear purpose.
Kerkez explained: “We have to listen and we have we have to run a lot.”
He then linked that physical commitment directly with Liverpool’s ambitions.
“But if you if you run run a lot and play like that, I think we have a good chance like Don said and to compete in for everything.”
Kerkez knows precisely what Iraola requires because he has already experienced it. Reflecting on their previous spell together, he said: “I spent two years with him in Bournemouth and it was really growing years for me.”
That familiarity gives Liverpool somebody within the squad who understands the standards Iraola is trying to establish.
Szoboszlai explains physical demands
Kerkez was not alone in highlighting the importance of Liverpool’s work without the ball.
Szoboszlai was asked whether training had become more aggressive and demanding under Iraola, and his response was immediate.
“Yeah, for sure. The training sessions are hard and long.”
The Hungary international believes those sessions are necessary if Liverpool want to reproduce Iraola’s approach when matches begin.
“I think we need this. That’s the only case you can use this in the game as well because we want to be aggressive, we want to be intense, we want to run more than the other team.”
That final phrase is particularly revealing. Liverpool want to “run more than the other team”, placing the physical output of Iraola’s players firmly within the competitive demands of his system.
Szoboszlai added: “The words are sometimes useless if you don’t do it.”
Gravenberch highlights man to man approach
Gravenberch provided another piece of the picture when explaining how Liverpool are being asked to operate under their new head coach.
“He’s a manager like want to press always like full intensity and always want to go men against men,” Gravenberch said. “So it’s different, but I like it.”
That man to man approach inevitably places considerable physical responsibility on individual players. Gravenberch also described how Iraola’s demands have intensified competition within the squad.
“If you do it well done if you don’t I think the next one going to get the chance and from there on you are one step back,” he said.
For Gravenberch, that competition is welcome because “everybody’s competing with everyone”.
Liverpool players embracing Iraola demands
Kerkez’s comments also reveal something important about the mentality Iraola appears to value.
Later in the Reds Roundtable discussion, the defender was asked what advice he would offer players arriving at Liverpool.
His answer returned immediately to physical commitment.
“Give 100%. People need to see you run, tackle, fight, you know, big and fans will love you here.”
There is a consistent theme running through everything Kerkez, Szoboszlai and Gravenberch said.
Run. Press. Compete. Maintain the intensity.
Liverpool are still learning precisely how Iraola wants to use his players, but the physical requirements appear considerably easier to define. As Kerkez put it, Liverpool “have to run a lot”, while Szoboszlai says they want to “run more than the other team”.
For Iraola’s Liverpool, distance covered appears to be about considerably more than accumulating kilometres. The players’ own words indicate that the running must support pressing, aggression and a level of intensity they are expected to sustain throughout the match.
