Dominik Szoboszlai was a mainstay in Liverpool's charge to the title under Arne Slot last season. There were several of those — one of the myriad issues discussed around the Reds' sharp and ongoing slump is the Dutch tactician's apparent reluctance when it comes to rotating key men in his starting lineup.
But Szobozlai was indisputably key. He played in 36 of 38 Premier League games, missing the ones he did due to suspension and illness respectively. All but two of his 29 starts came as a No. 10, typically ahead of Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister in an industrious engine room.
In February's 2-0 win at Manchester City, Szoboszlai played as a double false nine alongside Curtis Jones. It was a shrewd tactical tweak from Slot against an embattled opponent and the Austria international finished with a goal and an assist.
When Liverpool had already wrapped up the title, Szoboszlai played in a central two with Harvey Elliott as the advanced midfielder. The 24-year-old's second Premier League start in this position came in the opening game of this season against Bournemouth, playing to accommodate Florian Wirtz as he did in the Community Shield versus Crystal Palace.
The next three league games, he played at right-back, performing largely in imperious fashion and contributing at the other end of the pitch. First, there was the sublime dummy for Rio Ngumoha's winner at Newcastle United before Szoboszlai dispatched one of the great Premier League free-kicks to down Arsenal 1-0 at Anfield.
That was one of those "let's all laugh at Arsenal" days, although Mikel Arteta's side haven't stopped winning since then. Now Liverpool appear incapable of doing so, across four defeats in all competitions.
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Dominik Szoboszlai is the victim of Arne Slot's Galactico fumble
At the start of the downturn, Szoboszlai was back in his natural position, although he played in central midfield against Atletico Madrid and reverted to full-back for the loss at Galatasaray in the Champions League. In Liverpool's past two losses to Chelsea and Manchester United — games where they went behind, equalised and lost late, just as they did at Palace — Szoboszlai started at No. 10 and was then shunted to right-back when Wirtz came on for Conor Bradley, who started on the right-hand side of the defence.
Szoboszlai ended the United game playing behind Jeremie Frimpong, the right-back signed to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold who is not trusted to be a better right-back than last season's locked in No. 10. He, of course, can't play as a No. 10 too regularly because there's £116 million worth of Wirtz to get up to speed and maybe eke a goal contribution from.
So much of Slot's thinking looks muddled. During the second half of the loss to United, where it must be acknowledged Liverpool applied plenty of sustained pressure and created enough chances to claim at least a point, he looked lost in the worst indulgences of a Galacticos mentality.
Alexander Isak looks a shadow of a £125m striker. Hugo Ekitike, on the other hand, has adapted seamlessly to life on Merseyside, other than when he was needlessly sent off for disrobing against Southampton. When the young French forward was ready to come on with half an hour to play against United, the strong and authoritative change would have been to replace Isak. "You haven't been good enough, again. Now it's this guy's turn." Putting them both out there together and playing Wirtz further back in whatever approximation of a central midfield Slot settled upon was a cop-out; a decision that made more sense in terms of price tags and expectations than it did winning a football match. As it happens, Jones played well in that slapdash midfield. Just don't expect him to start any time soon.
Szoboszlai's 16 goals and as many assists in 105 Liverpool appearances form some of the argument for signing Wirtz. More output from that area of the field makes sense, as does building from a position of strength. But shunting an industrious and intelligent presser after selling Luis Diaz and suffering Diogo Jota's unspeakably tragic passing does not make tactical sense. A new forward line is finding its feet, and Salah looks a little lost without Alexander-Arnold.
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Without Szoboszlai harassing the opposition's deep midfielders and Alexander-Arnold closing up passing lanes, Liverpool are horribly exposed in transitions. It's no surprise the defenders look like they're on the waltzers. Virgil van Dijk was awful against United, and Ibrahima Konate has come in for sustained criticism. Milos Kerkez looks a shadow of the force of nature we saw last season at Bournemouth, and then there's whatever's going on over there *gestures at the right-back area*. Oh, and they're all playing in front of a new goalkeeper because Alisson is injured.
The most galling aspect of this from a Liverpool point of view was how Slot did not try to remedy the chaos with smart tactical choices at the weekend. He accepted it, leant into it and thought he could blast his way out of trouble by just chucking on a load of players who were more talented than the opposition. Funnily enough, Manchester United did that quite a lot in the previous decade, around the time Jurgen Klopp was making Liverpool greater than the sum of their parts.
Even though he only arrived for Klopp's final season, players like Szoboszlai had obvious value within those parameters. In a very short space of time, Slot's Liverpool have moved away from that model, and the alternative looks far from appealing.
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