{"id":692341,"date":"2026-01-13T02:55:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T02:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/692341\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T02:55:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T02:55:17","slug":"dominik-szoboszlai-marries-the-sublime-with-the-ridiculous-on-night-of-mixed-fortune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/692341\/","title":{"rendered":"Dominik Szoboszlai marries the sublime with the ridiculous on night of mixed fortune"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Few score from 30 yards and create a goal with a backheel in the same game. When a player does, it could be cause for unadulterated joy. The sight of a crestfallen Dominik Szoboszlai<\/a> told another tale. He struck for Liverpool in spectacular style, gifted Barnsley<\/a> a goal with an embarrassing blunder and was the man of the match in the sense that it revolved around him to a remarkable extent; Barnsley wanted a penalty for his shirt tug on the lively Reyes Cleary. The night ended with Liverpool progressing in the FA Cup<\/a> simultaneously because of and despite Szoboszlai. <\/p>\n

Szoboszlai has usually been the one who was blameless this season. Not this time, though a gaffe at least allowed Adam Phillips to realise an ambition. \u201cScoring in front of the Kop, Liverpool fan, coming through the academy; it\u2019s something he can look back on for the rest of his life and say he did that,\u201d said his manager, Conor Hourihane. <\/p>\n

When Szoboszlai looks back, it may be with more regret. The Hungarian first showed his side the way and was then punished for his showboating. His night began with a celebration and ended with an apology. \u201cSorry to the team again,\u201d he said. \u201cI made it hard for us. It was an easy mistake.\u201d <\/p>\n

It may not spare him an inquest from an unhappy Arne Slot. \u201cI don\u2019t think you should do that in an FA Cup game or League Cup, a friendly game or even a training session,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a weird choice but I prefer to speak about that with Dom.\u201d <\/p>\n

Indeed, Szoboszlai united the two managers in criticism. \u201cA little bit disrespectful from their player, I don\u2019t think he does that against Chelsea or Arsenal or in a Champions League game,\u201d said Barnsley\u2019s Hourihane. Szoboszlai does at least score against both Arsenal and Barnsley. His sixth of the season means only Hugo Ekitike has more for Liverpool. <\/p>\n

It still necessitated a display of bench strength from Slot to take Liverpool through. Perhaps scarred by last season\u2019s exit to Plymouth, when many of his replacements were rookies, he summoned Florian Wirtz and Ekitike, saw both score and assist and ended with a 4-1 scoreline that flattered his side. But on the day a former Liverpool favourite, Xabi Alonso, became an unemployed manager, victory may have been timely for Slot. His side are now unbeaten in 11 games and if the figure is more emphatic than many of the performances, Liverpool have booked a date with Brighton. The temptation is to suggest it could have been Liverpool against Manchester United. <\/p>\n

It might, though, have been Barnsley against Brighton. The Tykes fell to their first defeat at Anfield since 1959, a few months before Liverpool appointed Bill Shankly, but the team 17th in League One may wonder if it might have been their third straight win here. They struck the woodwork inside 30 seconds and played with a verve that belied their recent form. <\/p>\n

\"Dominik<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Dominik Szoboszlai scored a 30-yard screamer to give Liverpool the lead (Reuters)\"Jeremie<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Jeremie Frimpong added a second for the hosts (Liverpool FC via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

They also justified Slot\u2019s choices. \u201cNot that it is a compliment to myself but I think I made the right decision to play a lot of starters,\u201d he said. He made six changes, with Rio Ngumoha the sole youngster to start. When Liverpool\u2019s lead sometimes seemed precarious, Slot made a triple change to bring on Ibrahima Konate, Wirtz and Ekitike, who have a combined cost of over \u00a3200m. If Barnsley could take that as a compliment, the reinforcements finished off the third-tier team. Wirtz\u2019s third goal in five games was set up by Ekitike with a backheel \u2013 that, he may have showed Szoboszlai, is how to do it \u2013 and curled in from 25 yards. Then the German escaped down the right flank, centred and Ekitike was given a relatively simple finish. <\/p>\n

So three Liverpool players made and scored a goal, but only two purely for the Reds. As Liverpool conceded a terrible goal, they scored three crackers. \u201cIt is not always easy to unlock a low block,\u201d said Slot, repeating a favourite theme. He often says it takes a moment of magic. As Barnsley played 5-4-1, the Premier League champions got three. <\/p>\n

Indeed, Alexis Mac Allister got a pair of assists for two distinctly unexceptional passes. The finishes were rather more memorable. First came the good from Szoboszlai, a swerving shot from 30 yards that flew past Murphy Cooper. <\/p>\n

\"Adam<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Adam Phillips benefited from Szoboszlai\u2019s backheel blunder (Reuters)\"Florian<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike came off the bench to score Liverpool\u2019s third and fourth goals (PA)<\/p>\n

Then Jeremie Frimpong cut in to lash in an unstoppable shot for his first goal at Anfield. The worrying element for Liverpool was that, without Conor Bradley for the remainder of the season, Frimpong was troubled defensively. <\/p>\n

If there were moments when Liverpool looked frail at the back, especially against counterattacks, Barnsley\u2019s goal came in rather different fashion. Szoboszlai has often been the role model for Liverpool this season. This was the example of how not to do things. An attempt at a backheel in his own six-yard box was an attempt to be clever that left him looking foolish. He then presented Phillips with a tap in with an attempt to be too clever. \u201cIt is not the first time we are 2-0 up and concede a sloppy goal but that stands out even for us,\u201d said Slot. <\/p>\n

His night just got harder. It had almost begun terribly. Liverpool had defended wonderfully against Arsenal but started shambolically. With 28 seconds gone, Davis Keillor-Dunn headed Phillips\u2019s cross against the post. Joe Gomez was culpable then. It was not to prove Liverpool\u2019s worst aberration at the back, though. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":692342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,4884,179,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-692341","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-liverpool","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115885540985638850","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=692341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/692342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=692341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=692341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=692341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}