Dominik Szoboszlai Shines with Thunderbolt Goal for Liverpool

Dominik Szoboszlai didn’t just answer his critics. He silenced them with a thunderbolt.

Under the Anfield lights in the Carabao Cup, the Hungarian drove Liverpool past Tottenham with a 3-1 win, crowned by a vicious long-range strike that ripped into the top corner and jolted the stadium back to the memory of why his arrival had caused such excitement in the first place.

He’d heard the noise around him. Or rather, he hadn’t.

“Was there a criticism? I don't know, I didn't see but thanks for telling me,” Szoboszlai said afterwards, a wry smile behind the words. “You know this goal [against Spurs] was for the people who are always next to me because we are also humans so we can have bad games.”

That “bad game” he referenced came at Craven Cottage. In the 0-0 draw with Fulham, Szoboszlai endured one of his toughest afternoons since joining Liverpool. He won just one of his 10 duels, looked off the pace, and quickly became the focal point of debate shows and social media threads dissecting his form and his role.

Under Andoni Iraola, Liverpool have been rewired. The Spaniard has installed a more fluid, aggressive midfield structure, with Szoboszlai asked to become the shape-shifter at its heart. He has been pushed, pulled and repositioned across the central band of the pitch, sometimes in the same game.

“I think you guys see a little bit different because we play with one 6, one 8 and one 10,” he explained, leaning into the tactical detail. “So the 6 and the 8 are not next to each other, the 8 is a little bit higher and the 6 is a little bit deeper and the 10 is a little bit even higher so it is not two next to each other.”

It is not a simple job description. It is a puzzle.

The staff at Liverpool have highlighted his football intelligence since he walked through the door, and Iraola has leaned heavily on that. Szoboszlai has become the movable piece, the one asked to plug gaps and unlock games.

“Last week against Fulham I was a No. 8, I have been No. 2 as well, I have been No. 6, No. 8, No. 10, No. 7 also,” he said, listing positions like shirt sizes.

Supporters and pundits keep circling back to the same question: is he an attacking spearhead or a deeper creator? A No. 10 or an 8? The argument rumbles on, but Szoboszlai himself seems uninterested in being boxed in.

“No, I just want to be on the pitch,” he said. “Maybe I am not at the best in the 6 position because I win one of the 10 duels, maybe next the game I am going to win eight out of 10, so I am then a good 6? So it's always balance.”

That word – balance – is exactly what Iraola has been searching for while juggling injuries and reshaping the side in real time. Szoboszlai’s willingness to absorb new instructions and occupy unfamiliar spaces has given the manager room to experiment without completely losing the team’s identity.

Against Spurs, the payoff was obvious. The goal will make the highlights reels, but the performance around it mattered just as much: energy without the ball, sharpness in transition, a willingness to demand possession in tight areas when Liverpool needed calm.

The reward for that win is a fourth-round clash with Chelsea, a tie that already feels like a measuring stick for Iraola’s early work. Before that, though, comes Bournemouth in the Premier League on Sunday, and with it another test of consistency for a player who knows the spotlight will not dim.

At a club like Liverpool, one game never tells the whole story. The reaction does.

“There will be games where we are not playing at our best as a team, as personally me or somebody else,” Szoboszlai said. “But trust me it is always leave the past and then the next one, the next one, the reaction is what matters.”

The criticism has been answered once. The real question now is how often he can make that kind of reaction the norm.