A change of management at Liverpool is set to bring with it new tactical ideas and possible amendments to the roles that the players had previously undertaken.
The long-standing debate about Trent Alexander-Arnold’s best position will inevitably continue, while there have been suggestions that Arne Slot could deploy Mo Salah more centrally after seven years as a prolific winger at Anfield.
In an article for The Telegraph on Wednesday, Chris Bascombe touched upon a possible tweak regarding another Reds player.
In relation to the defensive midfield position at Liverpool, he wrote: “[Wataru] Endo, Curtis Jones and Alexis Mac Allister all played deep with varying degrees of success and Dominik Szoboszlai is considered capable, albeit reluctant to play the role.”
Pre-season gives Slot the perfect opportunity to experiment with ideas such as, perhaps, fielding Szoboszlai at the base of midfield, with nothing to be lost if it doesn’t work in friendles and plenty to be gained either in terms of hitting upon a durable solution or quickly realising that it’s a non-runner.
In truth, we’d be surprised if the Hungary international is revamped as a number 6 in the forthcoming campaign, having never played in that position competitively during his career for club or country (Transfermarkt).
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Also, as per FBref, he ranks far more favourably among positional peers for attack-minded metrics such as shots, progressive carries and non-penalty goals per 90 minutes, than for defensive attributes like tackles, interceptions and clearances per game.
We don’t believe that playing Szoboszlai as a defensive midfielder would be the best way to utilise his skill set, and it certainly shouldn’t be adopted in preference to signing a specialist player for that position, especially when Bascombe has described it as an ‘area glaringly in need of improvement’ at Anfield (The Telegraph).
Then again, we could be taken completely by surprise and it might work wonders. If it’s something that Slot wants to try out, though, the time to do it is over the coming two weeks and not when we’re in the thick of a hectic season where there’s no margin for error.
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