Anfield Watch
·6 October 2024
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·6 October 2024
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has said that Dominik Szoboszlai has given him reason to ‘wonder’ ahead of the international break.
With a great deal of scrutiny around the 23 year-old midfielder’s performances of late, Slot saw fit to explain why he chose not to start Szoboszlai in the Reds’ 1-0 win away to Crystal Palace on Saturday lunchtime.
The Hungarian is a key pillar of his national team and it was important for him to rest after a gruelling few weeks filled with long-busting runs in the Liverpool midfield.
But Slot's explanation for why he dropped Szoboszlai also had an interesting revelation about how the Reds' no.8 has forced the Dutchman to wonder about something very important at Liverpool.
Speaking before the game to TNT Sports on television, Slot described his thinking behind the decision to start Curtis Jones instead. “We’ve played a lot of games and Cody has done really well, Kostas has done really well and Curtis every time when he comes in did well.
“So it’s a good moment for Curtis to start also, because he’s not going to go [away] for international games, so it’s good for him to have a game as well.
“He’s done very good when he came in and Dom is putting so, so, so much effort in his pressing that you wonder if he can continue doing it every three days.”
It’s no surprise that Slot has come to this decision, as aside from the consternation around the Szoboszlai’s recent output or lack thereof, he will almost certainly rack up a lot of minutes for Hungary over the international break as they face the Netherlands as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Nations League.
Dominik Szoboszlai
Rotation is sure to be an important topic for plenty of teams, not just Liverpool, as we head into what is sure to be one of the most tightly-packed fixture schedules in recent memory.
Slot is right to mention that every three days is a short time for players to recover, and Szoboszlai is more likely than most to tire given his role leading the Reds’ press.
Perhaps this indicates that we are more likely to see Jones and Szoboszlai take turns starting, not to mention Harvey Elliott after he returns from injury.
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