Chris Sutton has claimed that Arne Slot is ‘killing’ one Liverpool player with a tactic that the Dutchman has repeated throughout the early weeks of the season.
It was a case of one right-back out and another one in during the summer as Trent Alexander-Arnold left for Real Madrid, with Jeremie Frimpong swiftly arriving at Anfield to vie with Conor Bradley for a starting berth.
However, in several matches over the past couple of months, Dominik Szoboszlai has been moved from his customary midfield position to take up station on the right-hand side of defence, despite the Premier League champions having two natural senior options for that area of the pitch.
Sutton bemoans Liverpool right-back ‘mess’
Sutton appeared on BBC Sport‘s Monday Night Club podcast as he and others sifted through Liverpool’s defeat to Manchester United at the weekend, and he was critical of Slot for reducing the 24-year-old’s impact by deploying him at right-back.
The former Blackburn striker said: “The right-back situation is a mess… Szoboszlai playing in that positon, he’s been one of their best midfielders and that kills him playing there.”
Slot can’t seem to settle on a starting right-back
Four of Liverpool’s 12 matches so far this season have seen the Hungary captain starting at right-back, most recently against Galatasaray when Frimpong was actually utilised as a right-sided attacker, an experiment that Slot abandoned during the defeat in Istanbul.
In fact, the head coach has split the starting right-back allocation equally between the three players he’s deployed in that position, a firm indication that the 47-year-old has yet to decide on who to trust as his first-choice option for the role.
| Number of starts at right-back this season | (via Transfermarkt) |
| Conor Bradley | 4 |
| Jeremie Frimpong | 4 |
| Dominik Szoboszlai | 4 |
Bradley hasn’t quite kicked on this season despite Alexander-Arnold’s departure, with Jamie Redknapp calling out the performance of our number 12 against Chelsea earlier this month, when he was substituted at half-time.
Szoboszlai had initially seemed to adjust well to playing at right-back, having excelled in that position on the day that he scored a sumptuous free kick to beat Arsenal in August, but more recently he’s looked somewhat muzzled when redeployed in that area of the pitch.
The Hungarian is at his best when adding energy and physicality in midfield for Liverpool, and it doesn’t reflect particuarly well on Frimpong that his only Premier League start since joining in the summer came in the opening night win over Bournemouth.
Slot needs to choose between either him or Bradley as his firm first-choice so that the Reds can get some stability on that side of their defence. By all means change it during a match if need be, but at the moment the situation is a ‘mess’, as Sutton has said.
You can watch Slot’s full post-Manchester United press conference via Empire of the Kop on YouTube:
What’s gone wrong?
1 shouldn’t have sold Diaz was our hardest working player
2 poor recruitment, buying players who don’t fit into the system. Wirtz poor signing.
3 slot tinkering too much , playing midfielders at right back
4 left it too late to buy Marc guehi
5 should have bought defensive midfielder , gone back in for zubimendi
6 shouldn’t have scrapped the klopp system, high line, pressing from the front. Dominate the midfield.