Slogoszlai
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FOOTBALL | PAUL JOYCE
Szoboszlai has shades of Gerrard: long-range strikes, tackles – even Liverpool No 8 shirt
The Hungary midfielder, who joined the Merseyside club this summer, has already earned comparisons to the former captain
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Paul Joyce, Northern Football Correspondent
Thursday September 28 2023, 7.00pm, The Times
The lactate test at Liverpool had become James Milner’s domain. Every pre-season, he would be the last man standing in the endurance exercise, which shows the highest intensity a player can train or compete at before hitting the wall.
Milner’s departure at the end of last season, therefore, cleared the way for someone else to step forward and when Jürgen Klopp’s squad reconvened in the summer much of the intrigue surrounded who would take on the mantle.
Differing schedules meant Mohamed Salah and Jordan Henderson trained with a small group, but the bulk of the remaining players began the drill together. As exhausted bodies started dropping out, one figure kept on going. And going.
The sight of Dominik Szoboszlai disappearing into the distance, churning out lap after lap, made an instant impression on his new team-mates as he hit the ground running following a £60 million move from RB Leipzig.
He has not stopped since and long before seducing Liverpool supporters with his hard running, passing range and sharp-shooting — best highlighted by his jaw-dropping goal in Wednesday’s Carabao Cup win over Leicester City — the midfielder continued to win over the hearts and minds of his team-mates.
Around those opening training sessions, Szoboszlai, the Hungary international, openly quizzed some of his dressing room colleagues over which games would be the hardest for Liverpool over the course of the forthcoming season.
Manchester City was obviously mentioned. Manchester United too due to the history of the fixture.
The 22-year-old calmly replied that he expected Liverpool would win them all and the fearless mindset of the new boy resonated, marking him out to established stars as someone they could immediately rely upon to help drive the club towards realising its goals.
When Alisson walked into Liverpool’s pre-season camp in 2018 following a £65 million transfer from AS Roma, legend has it that one player simply said: “Get him in my goal.”
The impact of Szoboszlai prompted a similar response. His attitude and energy in training has also been noted, bringing a new dynamic that is already pushing those around him to excel.
While Argentina World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister was able to forge a bond with Liverpool’s South American contingent when he joined from Brighton & Hove Albion, Szoboszlai did not have a group into which he naturally fell.
Both he and Trent Alexander-Arnold have gravitated towards each other. Alexander-Arnold had played against him with England — Szoboszlai scored the winning goal from the penalty spot in a 1-0 Nations League success in June 2022 — and also with Liverpool against Red Bull Salzburg in two Champions League games in 2019-20.
In Austria, Szoboszlai was a team-mate of Erling Haaland and despite the club rivalry that now exists, they have remained not only friends but are also neighbours, with the prolific Manchester City forward helping him find a house in the North West.
Alexander-Arnold recognised the talent and potential of the newcomer and they have quickly hit it off. So much so that when Szoboszlai assumed responsibility for free kick duties in the right back’s absence against West Ham United last weekend, both his efforts cannoning into the wall, some playful ribbing ensued with Alexander-Arnold quick to offer a reminder that the natural order would be restored when he was fit again.
Yet it is safe to say no one was surprised at the power Szoboszlai conjured in the thunderbolt strike which tipped the game against Sky Bet Championship leaders Leicester City in Liverpool’s favour.
The sight of him channelling his inner Steven Gerrard was also apt given he wears the No 8 shirt that the former Liverpool captain wore with distinction but also because of the tattoo which stretches down his forearm.
“God gives you talent but if you don’t work hard and sacrifice a lot, it is nothing,’ reads the inking of a quote attributed to Gerrard but which is harder to source.
Szoboszlai’s father, Zsolt, struck a bet with his son that he could get the tattoo if he broke a running record while at Salzburg’s academy. He duly obliged and the influence of his dad is well documented.
At the age of three, Szoboszlai was instructed to dribble between plastic bottles by Zsolt, who also made him train with a golf ball in his hands to help improve his technique and balance.
Those are just two of the qualities that he has showcased so far and the trust he has garnered from his team-mates is further illustrated by the fact only Andrew Robertson (with 547) has had more touches than Szoboszlai (510) in the Premier League for Liverpool this season. Whether it is Salah or Alexander-Arnold or Mac Allister, everyone is prepared to give him the ball.
What he then does with it has instantly endeared him to Anfield’s masses as he passes, tackles, recovers possession and sets the tempo as a centrepiece in Liverpool’s new-look midfield.
Szoboszlai has also scored two goals this season in eight appearances in all competitions where last term Milner, Fabinho, Thiago Alcântara, Naby Keita and Henderson registered no goals in a combined 176 appearances.
That both efforts came from outside the penalty area demonstrates that the opportunities would have been there for others to execute the same skill.
Still, the focus now moves onto Saturday’s visit to Tottenham Hotspur when Liverpool’s encouraging start will be put to the test. It is one Szoboszlai is determined to pass.
Damn.. if Milner and Szoboslai both did the lactate test.. they'd probably still be going today.
archive.ph
Copy and paste the url of the article you want to read
will bypass most paywalls ;-)
Please don't ruin that song for me. It was the theme of many a nerd camp.
All I can say is he has a ridiculous engine, is ridiculously fast, great shot, passes well, smart, healthy arrogance and is probably going to be one of the best players in the world.
He is fucking world class already.
What a signing.
He is fucking world class already.
What a signing.
Agree with all of that, I just wish he would stop giving the ball away to the opposition so much, its becoming another "world class" feature of his game. In all the years I have watched Liverpool under Klopp - I have not seen a player give the ball away so much, and still maintain his place.
Hendo's pass completion in 22/23 season at 84.8%:
Szobo's pass completion this season at 88.3%:
And Szobo's far more adventurous with the ball in both attack and our own half.
Here's Mo at 76.9% pass success rate.
You missed out "& is a sexy cunt"
F
Attackers passing succession rates are always gonna be lower than midfielders and defenders, well maybe not always but more often than not.Here's Mo at 76.9% pass success rate.
Obviously, yes.
Just putting the stats out there to let Moron know he’s wrong.
Penalty + assist vs Lithuania
Got to say that 95% in CM doesn't seen at all correct to me. I'd love to see heat maps because it seems like he spends more than 3% of his time on the right (which would be natural since that's where he's used to playing).
He probably does spend more time on the right as he's the RCM, rather than an outright RM
Probably doesn't help the diagram itself is drawn to terrible scale.
If we're talking without looking at any heat maps or anything and just split the pitch in 3 sectors of left central and right he probably does linger a little more centrally then you'd think as we play a fairly narrow midfield (and moreso when we've gone down to 10/9 men so the data in the games against Spurs in particular would've really skewed the graphs)
[article]Hungary coach Marco Rossi admits trying Dominik Szoboszlai in a new position for their 2-2 draw with Lithuania.
The national team skipper scored on the night.
Rossi said, “My idea was for Szoboszlai to play football further back, but it didn't work out. It's as if we missed the first half completely; we left a large area for the opponent, who took advantage of it.
“The changes made during the break worked; the picture of the match completely changed; we broke through the opponent's defence several times, so we had a lot of chances.
“But the Lithuanian goalkeeper defended brilliantly, so we didn't manage to win."
[/article]
Switching with Trent in the buildup innitFound some heat maps to endorse my suspicions.
This one is great too :
Can almost forgive the white boots. Flash prick would have a got a kicking in my day.
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