Liverpool manager Arne Slott has vowed to sit down with Dominik Szoboszlai after his shock blunder against Barnsley at Anfield on Monday night. The Hungarian midfielder experienced a contrasting fate in the third round of the FA Cup. He opened the scoring with a superb shot – his sixth goal of the season – before Jeremy Frimpong extended Liverpool’s advantage with an equally impressive goal.
But Szoboszlai’s night took a turn for the worse when he made an inexplicable mistake just yards from his own goal, attempting a bizarre backheel that flopped. Adam Phillips capitalized on the mistake to pull one back for the visitors. In the end, Liverpool won 4-1 thanks to late goals from Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike. Despite the win, Slott was frustrated by the midfielder’s lack of concentration, especially after Barnsley manager Conor Hourihane branded the incident “disrespectful”.
In an interview with TNT Sports after the match, Slott said: “What does he mean by disrespectful? I don’t think you should do that in a Premier League game, in a League Cup game, in a friendly or in a training session. It’s a strange choice and I have an opinion on it, but I’m going to keep it to myself and talk to Dom about it.”
Meanwhile, Szoboszlai apologetically told his colleagues after the final whistle: “I’m sorry again to the team. We made a simple mistake and made it difficult for the team. But that’s what happens in football. We’ll move on and move on to the next round.”
Meanwhile, Szoboszlai was thrilled with his long-range goal and added to his impressive collection. The midfielder said: “Yeah, I finally got into my position and I didn’t really think about it too much. If I had a chance to take a shot, I just took advantage of the opportunity and took the shot and ended up scoring a really good goal.”
Asked whether Szoboszlai’s attempted backheel was “disrespectful”, Hourihane replied: “I was a little disappointed with our goal. I don’t think any player would do that against Chelsea, against Arsenal or in the Champions League. To be honest, I’m a little disappointed with that. I thought our players were at the top.”
He added: “Yes, potentially (it was disrespectful). He doesn’t do that against Arsenal, against Chelsea, in the Champions League. He doesn’t do that.”
Liverpool’s victory sets up a fourth-round tie against Premier League rivals Brighton at Anfield in mid-February.
