Arne Slot claims Liverpool have been playing with 12 men

Earlier this season Dominik Szoboszlai was challenged by head coach Arne Slot to do more.

The Dutchman wanted goals and assists from his £60 million midfielder, whose endeavour had never been in doubt but whose end product never really lived up to its billing.

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The 24-year-old has switched the script in the last few weeks however, adding a significant goalscoring output to his workrate. The Hungarian international was the man of the match in Wednesday night’s Premier League victory over Newcastle at Anfield - a win which puts the Reds only seven wins away from claiming the title.

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He opened the scoring on 10 minutes and impressed once again with a solid display, just three days after putting Manchester City to the sword with a goal and assist.

Szoboszlai earned the praise from Arne Slot in the aftermath of the Newcastle win, telling TNT Sports that the former RB Leipzig man is getting through enough work for two. On the night, as well as his goal, he won eight of his 10 duels and made five tackles.

“I think he’s been very, very important for us the whole season,” Slot told the broadcaster. “Again today maybe people talk about his goal, which they should because it was an important goal and a good goal.

“But I think what helped the team even more than him scoring a goal was the amount of times he wins the second ball, he wins the ball back for us.

“He runs for two players, so that probably deserves more credit than him scoring a goal.

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“But it’s nice that he starts scoring goals as well because that in the end is also what you need to do if you are an attacking midfielder that wears the Liverpool shirt.”

Keep it up, Dom

The final line can be seen as a reminder for Szoboszlai to keep it up. It’s clear he is responding to Slot’s man-management with a very impressive 2025 thus far under his belt.

Along with his starring roles against City and Newcastle, Szoboszlai was also incredible in the 4-0 Carabao Cup semi-final second-leg win against Tottenham earlier this month. He also added a goal in the facile 4-0 league win against Ipswich.

Having arrived with much fanfare from Leipzig, Szoboszlai initially got his Anfield career off to a strong start before his first season at the club fizzled out. Harvey Elliott was actually preferred to the No8 towards the end of last season.

And he began this campaign in decent - if not spectacular - form. He scored only two league goals - adding three assists - from the start of the season into January.

That was insufficient, in the eyes of Slot, who often rotated his options in midfield and allowed Curtis Jones the chance to shine. But now it looks like Szoboszlai has won the battle heading into crucial fixtures in the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain and in the Carabao Cup final against Newcastle.

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Slot has worked his managerial magic on several Liverpool first-team stars, including Ibrahima Konate, Ryan Gravenberch and Cody Gakpo this season. To this list we can now add Szoboszlai. Under contract until 2028, Liverpool fans can be excited about what’s to come.

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