Arne Slot wanted to put the spotlight on midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai after Liverpool’s comfortable 4-1 win over Ipswich Town on Saturday.
After a mixed debut season at Anfield, Szoboszlai has established himself as a key part of Slot’s squad this season, scoring his third goal of the season to help score against Ipswich. The Hungary international had a more attacking role this weekend and took more shots (four) than anyone else on the pitch.
Asked whether Szoboszlai’s freedom to pull the trigger was part of his tactics, the Liverpool boss insisted the Hungarian is now playing with a well-deserved confidence.
“I think that’s the evolution the team is in because when we played Brentford we had 37 shots, a Premier League record for an away team,” Slot explained. “And then because he’s involved with this team, he’ll probably take some shots as well.
“We are us, the players behind the ball, putting our attacking players in even more promising positions than at the start of the season.
“Then if you zoom in on Dom, he would have played that ball in front of Mo at the start of the season [Salah]Most of the time it was a very good choice because Mo can definitely score a goal too. And now he decided to reach the goal himself and scored the goal himself.
“Good for him because I think he’s a bit underrated. Not by me, but he doesn’t always get the credit for the fact that he’s very important to this team because his work rate is unknown. Liev-Assible,” Slot gushed, putting extra emphasis on each syllable. “He just runs at the highest intensity, and that’s so important for a team that wants to compete for something.”
Szoboszlai has often shared minutes at the top of Liverpool’s midfield with Curtis Jones, but when the 23-year-old missed Saturday through injury he could be brought in for an extended run in the starting lineup.