‘Unacceptable’—Liverpool Teammate Continues Dominik Szoboszlai Pile on

The spotlight was the Hungarian for a glaring error at Anfield—one that followed a stonking goal.

Dominik Szoboszlai was left red-faced against Barnsley. | Liverpool FC/Getty Images

Andy Robertson lambasted Dominik Szoboszlai’s blunder against Barnsley in the FA Cup third round as “unacceptable,” wondering aloud whether Anfield’s acclaim “went to his head” as the Liverpool midfielder continued to suffer for his actions.

Szoboszlai was responsible for the game’s opening goal on Monday night, thumping a blistering effort from range into the top corner. Jeremie Frimpong delivered a thunderous strike of his own before Szoboszlai took it upon himself to halve the deficit with an egregious giveaway inside his own penalty box.

In the act of trying to roll the ball back to goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili, Liverpool’s No. 8 conspired to present Adam Phillips with a clear sight of the unguarded net. Barnsley manager Conor Hourihane derided the action as “disrespectful,” arguing: “He doesn’t do that against Chelsea or Arsenal.”

Robertson took the same dim view of his Szoboszlai’s behaviour. “The frustrating thing is Dom does this unbelievable 60-yard sprint to start with,” the left back began in the aftermath of the 4–1 win. “He’s getting the clap off the Kop and I don’t know if that maybe went to his head.

“We can joke about it now but it’s unacceptable to lose a goal like that. Dom obviously knows that. He’s been magnificent for us this season and he was again really good. He just had a lapse of concentration, and we can’t afford too many of them in the six-yard box.

Dominik Szoboszlai (left) got an earful from Andy Robertson (right). | PETER POWELL/AFP/Getty Images

“I don’t think Gio [Mamardashvili] was too happy. He wants to keep a clean sheet, the defence wants to keep a clean sheet as well, so it wasn’t great. It gave them a way back in and it was 2–1 for a long time. It made it a bit nervy but we got there in the end.

“I think we all said something [to Szoboszlai] at the time, but he realised and apologised at half time. If anyone’s performances can’t get criticised this season, it’s Dom’s. He’s been 100% every game this season and has this lapse of concentration which isn’t great. We can’t really afford that in the so-called bigger games.”

Liverpool manager Arne Slot would argue that some members of his squad couldn’t afford that slip up even in the cup tie.

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Slot Laments Mistake He Made in Aftermath of Gaffe

Arne Slot was not best pleased. | Liverpool FC/Getty Images

Slot refrained from directly criticising Szoboszlai publicly, but he did blame the midfielder’s mistake for his own error in not substituting Trey Nyoni into the game sooner.

The 18-year-old was only afforded a rare outing for the senior side in the 88th minute, once Liverpool had extended their precarious advantage to 3–1 four minutes earlier. Emboldened by Szoboszlai’s cocky misstep on the cusp of half time, the League One visitors had maintained a one-goal deficit for much of the second 45 minutes, creating a sense of unease in the contest which Slot didn’t feel suited the inexperienced Nyoni.

“I feel really sorry for Trey because maybe it was my mistake, but at 2–1 I thought I had to make the substitutions to win the game instead of giving a young player who is training so hard every single day and is such a big talent the playing time he might deserve,” Slot subsequently admitted, explaining why Ryan Gravenberch came on in the 73rd minute rather than the teenager.

“I thought, ‘Let’s bring Ryan in first,’ and that all had to do with us conceding the 2–1, because usually a game like this should go to three and then maybe more.”

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