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Arne Slot praised Dominik Szoboszlai in his post-match interview after Ipswich Town, labelling the Hungarian ‘unbelievable’ and ‘underrated’.

It would be hard to disagree with the former Feyenoord manager.

Whilst Slot praised Szoboszlai’s growing confidence in reference to his long-range effort, it’s worth focusing on the movements and runs Szoboszlai is making that are going under the radar but helping Liverpool become a devastating attacking machine.

Courtesy of TNT Sports.

For the first goal, because of how Trent Alexander-Arnold has pushed up on the right-hand side, Ipswich Town’s back four are pinned by Luis Diaz, Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold in a 3v4.

There’s a gap between the two centre-backs, Szoboszlai senses this and moves forward waiting for the pass.

Whilst Ipswich Town’s two midfielders are occupied by Gravenberch and Mac Allister, it allows Szoboszlai to push forward in between the dangerous area of Ipswich’s defence and midfield.

Jaden Philogene as Ipswich’s left winger is doing the correct thing by dropping back and helping his defence, but the pass cuts through between him and Kalvin Phillips.

Whilst Phillips’s positioning is lazy and he should be further back with Szobozlai, it’s salient that the ex-RB Leipzig attacker was keen on joining the attack, receiving, and then scoring.

For most big teams, they spend the majority of their games trying to break down teams that sit deep, naturally, the tactic is to commit more men forward.

However, it isn’t as simple as this, as you can leave yourself vulnerable to transitions.

Smart movements and rotations are required and Szoboszlai is one of the league’s smartest off-ball movers.

Courtesy of TNT Sports.

Liverpool’s rotations have been fantastic this season and frankly underappreciated in their success.

In the example above, Andy Robertson strides forward and with Mac Allister dropping back in build-up it means Liverpool don’t lose a player in build-up or in attack.

Similar to the first few examples, Szoboszlai is occupying Ipswich’s centre-back, so as Liverpool worked the ball from side to side waiting for an opening, Ipswich had an extra player to mark in Liverpool’s front line.

It’s important to note how crucial Szoboszlai’s movements were in the Ipswich game because as the season becomes more intense and the stakes are raised, Ipswich won’t be the first team to show up at Anfield and attempt to play a low block.

Dominik Szoboszlai 2024/25?

Liverpool can hurt teams in different ways and playing Mac Allister and Gravenberch together whilst instructing Szoboszlai to push up and join the attack is one of them.

As opposed to Szoboszlai needing to drop deeper and be an extra option to pass to in midfield, he is pinning Ipswich’s centre-back so Virgil Van Dijk can try a ball over the top and in behind to Robertson.

This is only made possible with the Hungarian pushing up, as otherwise Jacob Greaves would be able to come across and mark Robertson and Dara O’Shea would track Luis Diaz.

Courtesy of TNT Sports.

With Szoboszlai’s positioning being at such an awkward place in Ipswich’s half, it also attracted Greaves pushing out from centre-back and Phillips in midfield

It left Salah one-on-one with Leif Davis at full-back for the Egyptian to run at.

In the same move, when Cody Gakpo crosses from the left-hand side, Szoboszlai takes two men away for the ball to fall at Salah behind him to score.

The Hungarian’s work without the ball is creating space for others and elevating the entire attacking line as well as elevating his own game.

Under Jurgen Klopp, we would see Szoboszlai deeper in some games, but his importance in an advanced role for Slot is clear.

We’ll be sure to see teams that are more organised and compact than Ipswich was this past weekend at Anfield.

Liverpool will take comfort from the fact that when they face more stubborn opposition Szoboszlai’s smart, penetrative runs can help break them down.

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