After seeing two big chances go begging in Liverpool’s 3-2 win over Brighton, Dominik Szoboszlai has acknowledged his lack of “luck” in front of goal.
Szoboszlai, who played as one of two false nines along with Curtis Jones, was twice in strong positions to score at the Amex on Wednesday night – and both times failed to convert.
Per FotMob, no player missed more big chances than the Hungarian (two), with Luis Diaz and Tariq Lamptey (both one) the only others to do so.
While Szoboszlai’s second miss was more due to the weighting of the pass from Cody Gakpo, his first – sidefooted into goalkeeper Jason Steele from close range – should have resulted in a goal.
It continued a drought for the No. 8 in a Liverpool shirt, with Szoboszlai now having gone eight games without a goal, including six starts.
Both player and head coach have admitted that more goals are required from a player in his advanced position, and it was clearly playing on the midfielder’s mind after the game.
“Good job tonight, we advanced to the quarter-finals,” Szoboszlai wrote on Instagram.
“Now I’ll start working on my luck, though…!”
There is, naturally, an argument to be made over whether it is down to luck or the quality of shooting from the 24-year-old at present.
But it is clear that Szoboszlai is aware of the situation and is eager to rectify it, and there is a commonly held belief that once a drought ends, goals should come freely again.
Part of his issue seems to be the role he is playing in Slot’s midfield, as though he is effectively the No. 10, his impact is more felt off the ball.
Szoboszlai is first onto second balls on a consistent basis, sustaining Liverpool’s pressure in the final third, while his relentless energy sets the tone in terms of pressing.
Speaking before the Champions League win over former club RB Leipzig earlier this month, Szoboszlai accepted the need to improve but insisted he was happy to “do a dirty job.”
“[My form] can be always better so, no [I’m not happy]. I can play even better,” he told reporters.
“I can score more goals and do more assists. But I am doing a dirty job for the team and that is most important for me.”
He added: “If we are top of the league and I don’t score a goal I’ll take it…I’m trying to work on it to be in a position to score more goals. It will take time but I will get there.”
Szoboszlai netted seven goals and laid on four assists in 45 appearances in his first season at Liverpool, while so far this term he has one goal and three assists in 13 games.
In his final campaign at Leipzig he scored 10 and assisted 13 in 46 outings, while his career-best record in front of goal came in 2019/20, when he scored 12 and assisted 18 in 40 games for Red Bull Salzburg.
Before joining Liverpool, Szoboszlai had failed to break the 10-goal mark only once in six seasons since becoming a senior player.
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