Graeme Souness questioned whether Dominik Szoboszlai was doing enough to put pressure on the opposition in the Liverpool midfield.
The Hungarian was not totally isolated, however, as the ex-Red also took issue with the Reds’ midfield in general for a lacklustre approach to pressing.
The 25-year-old has arguably been the Merseysiders’ strongest performer this season, registering 12 goals and eight assists in all competitions this term.
Souness did praise our No.8’s ball-striking, but suggested his (and his fellow midfielders, Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister) were letting the side down with their lackadaisical pressing.
“He’s the most wonderful striker of the ball. [But] does he do the other side of it?” the Scot spoke on TalkSPORT.
“When you’re talking about pushing up to the halfway line and holding a high line, you can only do that when the rest of the players in front of you are pressing the ball all the time and keeping the head down of the man in possession. Liverpool have not been very good at that this year.
“How many times do you see people going straight down the middle. Look at Tottenham last weekend. The ball was going straight down the middle with Gomez and Van Dijk.
“So, I would suggest a lot of the problem has been that midfield not hunting it down and keeping the opposition’s head down when they’re in possession.”
To be completely fair to the former Liverpool manager, there’s clear evidence in numbers to back up his claims, thanks to James Gheerbrant’s research for The Times.
Liverpool have been outrun in all but four of their 31 Premier League games this season – but although the distance statistics look damning, it’s not clear that a lack of running is the root of all their problems
Read @JamesGheerbrant's analysis 🔽https://t.co/xbAzBfXgyU
— Times Sport (@TimesSport) March 23, 2026
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Whilst the reporter is correct to highlight that our struggles this term don’t all boil down to work-rate, there’s no question that it’s having an impact on outcomes for the club.
At this late stage in the campaign, it seems unlikely that Liverpool can unlock another gear in intensity to finish the season strong.
But the fact of the matter is that our hopes of securing Champions League football via a qualifying place in the Premier League hinge on this.
* Liverpool’s recent Premier League form
We’re struggling to assert ourselves, and whilst that also has something to do with our fragility in physical battles and set-piece situations, our evident dip in work-rate has to be considered a contributing factor.
A good place for Arne Slot to start is his training sessions, given worrying recent reports over a drop in standards from the prior campaign. Not to mention making full use of the engines naturally on offer with players like Dominik Szoboszlai.
Otherwise, it just looks like we’re putting all our chips on carving an unlikely path to the Champions League final and winning the competition to ensure qualification.
On current form (seven points taken from a possible 15 in our last five league games), we’re destined to fall outside of the top five come the end of May.
Welcome to our Live Comments section, where new comments will appear automatically
They lack a mascherano type of player. Gravenberch is being asked to do that which he did excel in 433 formation but now with 4231, which should be that defensive anchorman as macallister also loves to attack? They are also wasting gravenberch’s attacking talents.
I wonder why everyone is not seeing the bigger picture. Those Liverpool players are good. The problem is Arne Slot. His style of play just doesn’t suit Liverpool. Those boys are already known with the gengenpressing that klopp instilled on them. Coming now to change it to a dull and uninspiring style of play is the real problem. Sack Arne Slot now and bring in Sebastian Hoeness. He is the only one that’s close to klopps methods.
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