In the second part of his weekly column, John Aldridge makes a plea about Dominik Szoboszlai and laments the absence of Florian Wirtz
Dominik Szoboszlai of Liverpool during the Premier League match at Nottingham Forest on February 22 2026
Dominik Szoboszlai of Liverpool during the Premier League match at Nottingham Forest on February 22 2026(Image: Carl Recine/Getty Images)
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Dominik Szoboszlai is being wasted at right-back at Liverpool. And the time has come for the experiment of using the Hungarian as an emergency answer to the problem position to be stopped once and for all.
Only 15 minutes had gone at Nottingham Forest on Sunday when I was shouting at the television for Arne Slot to move Szoboszlai out of the role and back into the engine room.
Liverpool were being overrun in midfield and really needed somebody with his physicality and attributes to get stuck in.
In the end, it took another quarter-of-an-hour before Slot made the change and Liverpool were much better for it, particularly in the second half.
Szoboszlai has been our best player this season by some distance and it makes sense to play him where he does the most damage to the opposition and best serves the Reds.
He offers something different to the other Liverpool midfielders and has the type of dynamism that, for all their qualities, Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister do not.
I know Slot is reluctant to play Joe Gomez at right-back as he wants him as centre-back cover. But if Gomez isn’t getting the nod, then Curtis Jones can go to right-back as he did so for much of the game at Forest.
Hopefully Jeremie Frimpong will be back for West Ham United next weekend, but he can’t be expected to start every game having had injury issues this season.
Even if Slot wants to stick with his current midfielders, there’s also an option to put Szoboszlai on the right wing in rotation with Mohamed Salah.
He obviously isn’t a true winger, but he can play inside and give a bit of space to perhaps Frimpong down the right.
Another reason for Gomez starting is we can utilise his long throws. They made an impact against Forest.
I had Dave Challinor when I was Tranmere Rovers manager and his long throws were incredible. And if you can score a goal off a long throw or a corner, who cares? It’s not all about nice passes.
It might not be pretty but it’s not anti-football, although you wouldn’t want a team to become overly reliant on them. And sometimes needs must.
Ekitike learning
Liverpool missed the ingenuity of Florian Wirtz against Nottingham Forest and fingers crossed he’ll be okay to start against West Ham United.
Hugo Ekitike had probably his worst game for Liverpool on Sunday since signing last summer. But it didn’t help that he was given hardly any service.
He was fighting a lone battle up front and kept coming too deep to get the ball, and that meant he was into out midfield and that just invited Forest to keep running at us.
Ekitike had to stay up top. When you are under the cosh, you need your striker to occupy the two centre-backs and not allow them almost complete freedom, as was the case in the first half at Forest.
But you can’t be too harsh on Ekitike. He’s been much better than anyone could have anticipated this season and definitely works better with someone alongside him, whether it’s up top or as a number 10 like Wirtz has been for recent games.