Arne Slot Should Drop Liverpool’s Szoboszlai After Burnley Draw

In what can be considered another flash point of their underwhelming campaign, Anfield played host to Liverpool’s drab 1-1 draw against Burnley on Saturday afternoon – and the Anfield faithful have begun to turn on one player, who they believed looked ‘lost’ against the Clarets, in particular.

Remaining in fourth place in the Premier League table on 36 points, just one ahead of Manchester United after their 2-0 derby day victory, the Reds would’ve rued their chance to pile the pressure on third-place Aston Villa.

That is especially the case given the troubles experienced by Scott Parker’s Burnley since their promotion last season. The Clarets hit back through Marcus Edwards in the 65th minute and his strike cancelled out Florian Wirtz’s first-half finish to see both sides leave the stadium with a share of the spoils.

‘Short on Confidence’ – Liverpool Star Flattered to Deceive vs Burnley

In truth, there were very few Liverpool players who covered themselves in glory after picking up a point when three were up for grabs in the race for top four. Having added £400 million’s worth of talent to their title-winning squad in the summer, much was expected of Slot’s men – but their latest result is an indictment of what can be considered poor recruitment.

Hugo Ekitike, albeit heavily involved in play, struggled to get things to click; the back four defended poorly for Edwards’ equaliser and the midfield didn’t use their talent to the best of their ability.

Dominik Szoboszlai, in particular, struggled. With Alexis Mac Allister sat on the bench, Arne Slot opted to use Szoboszlai in a two-man pivot alongside Ryan Gravenbech – but fans are not convinced of his ability in the middle. “Is Szoboszlai massively overrated? A good player but nothing more in my opinion,” one wrote in disbelief.

Typically an energetic presence in the middle, the Hungary international has been a rare shining light for the Reds this season – and his versatility, with him playing anywhere in the engine room but also at right-back, has been key. But his performance against Burnley, fans will hope, was an anomaly.

As mentioned, the 2000-born star’s display against Burnley was slightly worrying, and Liverpool fans have rushed to social media (most notably, X) to suggest that he was a passenger in the engine room. “This has been Szoboszlai’s worst game he looks lost,” one said. Another wrote: “Szoboszlai looking short on confidence.”

“Is Szoboszlai massively overrated? A good player but nothing more in my opinion,” another member of the Anfield faithful wrote before a third added: “Szoboszlai is having a weird game. He’s not looking very sharp and sometimes slows the game down.”

“Never seen a worse team than this Liverpool team ever. Szoboszlai, Gakpo, Jones all absolutely shocking,” another said about Szoboszlai, who arrived from RB Leipzig in the summer of 2023 to plenty of fanfare given his reputation as one of Europe’s most exciting youngsters. But could he be poised for a break on the bench given how spent he looks?