Joe Cole and Owen Hargreaves have been blown away by Dominik Szoboszlai's performances for Liverpool this season despite the Reds' struggles
Arne Slot, head coach of Liverpool, embraces Dominik Szoboszlai of Liverpool after the team's victory in the Premier League match between Liverpool and Bournemouth at Anfield
Arne Slot, head coach of Liverpool, embraces Dominik Szoboszlai of Liverpool after the team's victory in the Premier League match between Liverpool and Bournemouth at Anfield
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Dominik Szoboszlai found himself back to being utilised as a makeshift right-back as Liverpool’s season went from bad to worse on Saturday. The Reds fell to an embarrassing 3-0 defeat at home to Nottingham Forest, with the loss enough to see them fall to 11th in the Premier League table.
Arne Slot’s side have now lost six of their last seven matches in the English top-flight, and eight of their last 11 games in all competitions.
Their Premier League title defence lies in tatters as a result following such a drastic loss of form, despite Liverpool embarking on a £450m transfer spending spree in the summer as they added eight new senior players to their ranks.
The majority of the Reds’ new arrivals are yet to find form at Anfield, while a number of Slot’s Premier League-winning stars have also fallen short of the levels that won them the title last season.
Szoboszlai has been a rare exception. His place in Slot’s starting XI had seemed at threat following the £116m signing of Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen, but the Hungarian has been one of the undisputed stars of Liverpool’s season to date.
Making 17 appearances, he has been an ever-present for the Reds in both the Premier League and Champions League and boasts two goals and five assists. Meanwhile, his efforts saw him voted the club’s Player of the Month for both August and October.
And his impressive form comes despite Slot being forced to field Szoboszlai in a variety of positions, with the 25-year-old being called upon at number 10, number eight and at right-back so far this season.
Injuries to Conor Bradley and Jeremie Frimpong saw the Hungary captain fielded out of position at right-back against Forest, but he had been catching the eye back at number 10 prior to the November international break.
And former Liverpool playmaker Joe Cole has been blown away by Szoboszlai’s performances for the Reds so far this season, even comparing the Hungarian to club legend Steven Gerrard as he admitted such showings are made even more impressive given his old club’s ongoing struggles.
“I love him, I love him,” he said on TNT Sports. “It’s even more impressive how well he’s playing because the functionality of the Liverpool team isn’t there.
“So he’s almost… and I’m going to throw a name in here… it’s almost been Steven Gerrard-esque. Because the Liverpool team that Stevie played in was nowhere near as good as this team.
“Not nowhere near (but) it wasn’t as good as this team. But Szoboszlai is just taking the games from the scruff of the neck.”
Appearing alongside Cole, former England international Owen Hargreaves praised Szoboszlai for his work-rate as he shared his belief that the Hungarian has made himself ‘undroppable’.
“People don’t realise he was a proper number 10,” he said. “He was a number 10 like you (Cole), in the best team, ball player, plays everything.
“And he said when he went to RB, Salzburg and then Leipzig, he said if he didn’t press, he wouldn’t play. Because he just wanted to get on the ball and spray it about and be the guy.
“But they said they don’t care. If you’re not running around, you’re not playing. And now, he’s a brilliant player. But now he has that in the best team and that’s why he’s undroppable.”
Dominik Szoboszlai has been Liverpool's best player this season.
Dominik Szoboszlai has been Liverpool's best player this season.
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With this year’s Champions League final taking place in Budapest, Szoboszlai recently admitted it would be a dream come true to play for Liverpool in the showpiece in his homeland of Hungary.
“I don’t think there could be a better story than this,” he told World Soccer. “My dream has always been to win the Champions League.
“I now have the opportunity to be playing in a team that has a chance to reach the final and to be in Hungary. Honestly, it would be like a fairy tale.”
But while Szoboszlai had seemingly edged ahead of Wirtz in the pecking order at number 10 prior to being needed once more at right-back, Hargreaves has warned Liverpool that they will not able to win the Champions League if Slot keeps trying to fit all his star names into his starting XI.
“Liverpool reminds me of our England team where they almost have too many good players to fit in,” he said. “They’re trying to play them all and the balance of the team is just off.
“That’s why we never won with England. We had too many stars out there. We didn’t have the balance of the team right.
“Liverpool are trying to integrate all these boys, Isak, Ekitike, all proper players, Wirtz, plus Mo Salah. I don’t think you can win the Champions League playing all of them.”