Liverpool head coach Arne Slot stood in front of the advertising panel and maintained his cool demeanour: “There are lots of challenges ahead.”
Indeed, Arne. However, you said something similar in November, and the Red players have maintained startling consistency to break away from the title-chasing pack.
Arsenal have been Liverpool’s biggest challenger this season with Manchester City, who have now succumbed to Slot’s blade twice, fallen by the wayside. The Gunners’ injury woes have effectively neutralised their attacking threat.
Thus, creating a wider gap at Pep Guardiola’s den was essential after the Emirates hosted West Ham United and lost on Saturday, especially after recent draws on the road in the Merseyside derby and against Aston Villa.
Liverpool put Man City to the sword, with Mohamed Salah’s absurd campaign taking another leap forward.
That’s 11 Premier League games with a goal and an assist claimed in 2024/25 – he’s in a different stratosphere to his rivals, both domestically and across the continent.
However, Liverpool are a team of many parts, and there’s another man who stepped up to the plate, putting in a performance for the ages.
Premier League
27 (27)
25
16
Champions League
7 (7)
3
4
Carabao Cup
4 (2)
2
1
Slot's turned Liverpool man into an "absolute monster"
Dominik Szoboszlai was uncontainable on Sunday evening, the Hungarian machine thrashing against the City defence with matchless energy and drive.
The contrast with the ageing Kevin De Bruyne was stark. The Belgian, 33, is one of the greatest players in Premier League history, but clearly past his best.
Slot’s tactical precepts have seen Jurgen Klopp’s midfield signing dovetail into a new system that enjoys his unrelenting engine – but has also streamlined his technical production.
As per FBref, Szoboszlai ranks among the top 6% of positional peers in England’s top flight this season for pass completion, the top 8% for passes attempted and the top 18% for progressive passes per 90, illustrating his ball-playing aptitude.
An attacking midfielder with plenty of dynamism, Szoboszlai thrived in a tweaked role, operating in flux with Curtis Jones as a makeshift false nine. Reporter Lewis Steele hailed the 23-year-old’s energy, saying he “never stops running” and is “silky in possession.”
He assisted Salah with a skimmed pass from an expert corner routine, arcing away from goal and flicking Alexis Mac Allister’s grounded delivery into space.
It was an all-encompassing performance and a marker of Szoboszlai’s protean technical ability, with Liverpool operating without a centre-forward. The home side claimed 66% of the match possession, but it mattered not for Slot’s side, who showed their ability to mix things up and play against the flow of the control. Although that said, Liverpool always looked in charge regardless.
Matches (starts)
90′
Goals
1
Assists
1
Shots (on target)
3 (1)
Accurate passes
19/24 (79%)
Key passes
1
Dribbles
1/1
Recoveries
3
Tackles
2
Ground duels
3/7
It was a breathtaking performance and a reminder to the rest of the division that Slot’s Liverpool unit are so much more than the output of one man. Liverpool content creator Asim Mahmood was in awe at full-time, remarking: “What an absolute monster of a shift he put in today.”
Unfortunately, one man’s gain is another’s deflation. There was one part of the visitors’ bench that cut a dejected figure on a momentous occasion.
Big-money Liverpool star is now staring at the exit
Swaddled in overlayers at the Etihad as the rain lashed down, Darwin Nunez hardly looked a face of optimism as he sat and stayed on the bench, Slot not bringing Liverpool’s £85m striker into the equation following his poor form this season.
Nunez had every right to be upset. He is Liverpool’s club-record man and this is the so-called toughest fixture on the calendar. He wants to succeed. But he can have no complaints, with erratic and disjointed performances limiting him to off-the-bench roles here and there.
The 2-2 draw at Villa Park last week summed up his struggle, with the in-form Szoboszlai breaking free on the right and guiding a spinning cross-box pass into Nunez’s path. The goalmouth gaped, but the ball flew wide.
Slot seemed able to forgive the miss, for this is the life of a striker. However, he rebuked Nunez’s “behaviour” in the period after, suggesting that the Uruguayan lacked work ethic and commitment.
For a number nine who has scored six goals and added five assists across 35 matches this season, it’s clear to see why Slot isn’t impressed; Nunez doesn’t exactly produce the slickest of all-round play, completing just 70% of his passes in the Premier League this term, averaging at 5.5 per game, as per Sofascore.
With Luis Diaz and now Szoboszlai filling in at number nine to circumvent Liverpool’s lack of a true central striker, Slot appears happy to keep Nunez on the sidelines. It’s damning, and suggestive that he’s off in the summer.
To say that Nunez is poor is reductive. He’s immensely talented but is also hot-headed, lacking the clinical edge that the finest goalscorers need in the Premier League. Moreover, his overall output has actually regressed under Slot’s wing, whose tactics have limited him and confirmed his ultimate departure. It’s for this more nuanced reason that Slot will cash in.
In January, Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr were ready to sign the £140k-per-week Liverpool forward and had even presented a package in excess of €75m (roughly £62m) plus add-ons, as per Fabrizio Romano.
Nunez is affable and popular with the Liverpool fanbase. He has a certain indefinable quality, able to reel you back in when returning to a more positive light.
His quick-fire brace to turn the tide against Brentford in January restored hopes that he would play an increased part in the title charge over the business months, but his efforts since have lacked clarity and conviction.
Liverpool need a new striker this summer, to be sure, but Szoboszlai appears to have been the latest man to shift ahead of Nunez in the pecking order this season.
It could be a long and peripheral period over the coming months for the £85m man.
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