Underlap, Overlap, Kerkez Runs Free

Viva la Womble

I guested on Distance Covered’s podcast about Diogo Jota earlier this week, which is free to listen to here. I felt better for doing it, plus it now feels easier to write about other stuff. Every new story on here will be topped and tailed with links to my tribute articles for a good while yet though. Jots forever.

Diogo Jota, Legendary Striker

Diogo Jota: Pressing Monster, Pressing Master

Milos Kerkez can run. He can run hard, he can run fast, he can run inside and he can run out. Eat your heart out, Forrest Gump.

It makes him very difficult for opposition right-backs to track. Is he going to move outside his winger or inside, drag you away from your centre-back or force you onto their toes? The power of movement, incarnate.

Exactly how many overlapping or underlapping runs Kerkez completed in 2024/25 is hard to say without access to the data. A Sky Sports article in April gave his figures as 182 and 116 respectively, whereas Opta Analyst went with 66 and 52 last month.

Both sources stated he was near the top of the Premier League rankings regardless. Perhaps the figures differ thanks to whether he received a pass following the run or not? Whatever; the boy is a winger’s dream, an opposing full-back’s nightmare.

Alex Smith of the Bournemouth Daily Echo highlighted this when he spoke to Liverpool’s official website once the Kerkez deal had been completed. “His overlapping runs were vital in overloading the opposition's half in transition and his final delivery was potent,” he said.

Smith also gave an example of this with reference to “his assist for David Brooks' Goal of the Season nominee against Everton.” You can see what he means here.

A Bluesky post by Head of Opta Data Editorial ‘Orbinho’ was also eye-catching on this subject because it showed the leading performances for overlapping runs in 2024/25. Kerkez features twice, as do Lewis Hall, Tino Livramento and Ben White. Strangely, only one of the 10 examples occurred in a home game.

One of them was unlike the other nine in different ways. It was against a side that finished above eighth in the table, delivered when facing one of England’s established big six clubs.

Kerkez at Anfield.

Nobody else earned their place on the list when their team saw as little of the ball. The same is true for the five examples of six or more overlapping runs, thanks to the Hungarian’s efforts at Brentford.

As the outlier occurred against the side for whom Kerkez has now signed, it is worth reviewing the match in full to see what happened, what came of his runs and whether his inside or outside movement made Liverpool pay. Let’s look at some clips.