In the first part of his weekly column, John Aldridge reflects on Liverpool's defeat against Manchester City and a potential new role for Dominik Szoboszlai
Manchester City's Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring a penalty past Liverpool's Alisson Becker during the Premier League match at Anfield on February 8 2026
Manchester City's Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring a penalty past Liverpool's Alisson Becker during the Premier League match at Anfield on February 8 2026
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(Image: Paul ELLIS / AFP via Getty Images)
Sunday afternoon was a very bitter pill for Liverpool to swallow. We had Manchester City by the crown jewels and we let them slip through our fingers.
And the Reds can only have themselves to blame after the latest example of simply being unable to negotiate the closing moments of a tightly-fought game.
The goals Arne Slot’s side have conceded late on this season have been largely different. On Sunday it was a penalty, at Fulham it was a long-range screamer, at Bournemouth a goalmouth scramble from a long throw, at Chelsea a counter-attack.
But what a lot of them have in common is a sense of panic. Of players making rash decisions that were often completely unnecessary. Or a problem with the mindset.
And that was definitely the case from Alisson Becker at the weekend with the needless rush from his line that ended with Mateus Nunes tumbling to the ground and Erling Haaland scoring the inevitable penalty.
Why does this keep happening? It could now be a mental block over the prospect of being in a narrow winning position and having let it slide so many times this season.
It has, though, become ridiculous. This is simply not good enough.
And the first half was also not acceptable from Liverpool. There wasn’t a lot of entertainment, the crowd wasn’t really into it and City had the best of a pretty boring 45 minutes.
The second half, though, was much, much better. Liverpool perhaps gave City too much respect initially but that was definitely addressed in the second half.
City may be in second place but they are definitely not in the same class as previous Pep Guardiola teams. They’re not the same as the team we fought regularly against for the title and we exposed them after half-time and were deservedly ahead.
But then it all fell apart. And the first City goal was, for me, all down to small details.
We should have closed down the initial cross into the box. Ibrahima Konate should have reacted quicker to the deflection that was flicked on by Haaland. Virgil van Dijk lost Bernardo Silva for a split-second. And Dominik Szoboszlai, perhaps showing that he isn’t a right-back by trade, could have stepped out quicker to play Silva offside.
City will rightly regard it as a fine goal from their point of view but for Liverpool it was easily avoidable.
The turning point for me had come when Curtis Jones had the ball in midfield and we had a three-on-one on the counter-attack. A good pass and we’d have been away and had a chance to make it 2-0.
Instead, City intercepted and then within a short while they were level. Again, small things like that count in big games.
And as for the disallowed City strike, let’s be honest – it should have been a goal. I do have a bit of sympathy for the referee as he’s just following the rules and in fairness he gave the goal initially before VAR intervened.
It made for a strange end to a very frustrating afternoon for Liverpool. The manner of the defeat will be what hurts the most.
Szoboszlai new role?
It was the best goal never to win a game. In fact, it didn’t even earn Liverpool a point.
But it again underlined that Dominik Szoboszlai has been by some distance the Reds’ best player of the season.
He’s not a right-back but he warmed to it and in the second half was having a good game even before his goal.
Going forward, he reminds me a bit of Trent Alexander-Arnold although that might be because he is so used to affecting the game further upfield from a midfield position.
I quite like him playing out wide, actually. With question marks over Mohamed Salah’s future next season, I wouldn’t be averse to Szoboszlai being on the right long-term.
He can do a lot of damage from out there with his ability to put crosses in and his willingness to cut inside and have a shot or work from a more central position.
With Florian Wirtz as the number 10, Alexander Isak up front and Hugo Ekitike on the left, that’s a forward line that could have everything. But that’s a possibility for next season perhaps and not now.
* John Aldridge was speaking to Ian Doyle