Dominik Szoboszlai produced ‘his worst game in a Liverpool shirt’ during Sunday’s 0-0 bore draw with Premier League rivals Manchester United at Anfield.
Amid all the excitement and the enthusiasm which greeted the Hungarian’s impressive start to life on Merseyside, this was a performance typical of Dominik Szoboszlai over the last few weeks.
Liverpool legend John Barnes admitted recently that Szoboszlai reminded him of Steven Gerrard, but this was a performance more reminiscent of a Christian Poulsen, his passing about as accurate as a faulty Sat Nav as the summer signing from RB Leipzig coughed up possession time and again.
It was a display the Liverpool Echo described as ‘awful’, and with some justification.
Liverpool held by Manchester United
“His worst game in a LIverpool shirt,” Anfield icon Souness tells talkSPORT (18 November, 10am).
“The midfield didnt have that key to the door to open it, and create some killer chances. For me, I learned nothing about Liverpool.
“I still think they are in with a big shout of winning this league.”
With Man United digging in, with Raphael Varane and Jonny Evans rolling back the years and with Andre Onana doing what David de Gea could not during the Red Devils last trip to Anfield, Liverpool failed to turn their dominance of possession into a steady stream of clear goalscoring chances.
In fact, United actually created the better openings, Alejandro Garnacho squandering an opportunity following a sublime Kobbie Mainoo pass and Rasmus Hojlund denied by a trademark Alisson Becker save one-v-one.
Jurgen Klopp frustrated at Anfield
Jurgen Klopp, meanwhile, dismissed suggestions that Szoboszlai’s 61st minute substitution was a reflection of his overall display, telling the Liverpool Echo that the decision was purely tactical.
“He is still a very young boy but he was exceptional today in a lot of situations in the game. Then we lost a couple of balls. (His performance) had nothing to do with the substitution or whatever,” Klopp explains.
“It’s just we have options, and we wanted to change system. We wanted to have Joey (Gomez) higher, properly on the wing. Same for Kosti (Tsimikas).
“So you need players in these half-spaces. Cody Gakpo right, Lucho (Luis Diaz) left, Mo Salah in the centre. Then we changed again with Harvey Elliott on 10. We played on a team who played man-marking.”
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
