It is easy to be blinded by the glitz and glamour of Mohamed Salah’s seemingly countless goals and assists this season and forget the dirty work that this Liverpool machine do with pride.
Arne Slot has taken a page out of Jurgen Klopp’s book by making work ethic a non-negotiable on the pitch. Klopp’s great Liverpool sides were living proof of the fact that the best teams in the world also make it a habit of leaving every drop of blood, sweat and tears on the pitch.
From the old guard consisting of Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold to last summer’s fresh faces such as Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Wataru Endo are all accustomed to Jurgen Klopp’s demands — making it a seemingly effortless transition for such stalwarts to display the same degree of hard graft under Arne Slot.
Szoboszlai, in particular has managed to win over both Klopp and Slot by running his socks off and leaving it all out on the pitch. Arne Slot claimed Szoboszlai “runs for two players” — which would have been music to the £60 million (Sky Sports) man’s ears.
The Hungarian captain’s diligence has not gone under the radar by his teammates at Anfield as well, with Van Dijk hailing Szoboszlai’s work rate by pinpointing the “energy” he brings by “sprinting” and “pressing” at all times.
Paul Merson has also had his say on Szoboszlai after he was asked whether Slot has improved him as a player.
Paul Merson says Dominik Szoboszlai is so hard-working
Merson claimed that in his eyes, Szoboszlai was top-class at Liverpool from day one.
But for Paul Merson, what stands out about Szoboszlai are two facets of his game: firstly, the work that the 24-year-old puts in and how intelligent a runner he is both on and off the ball.
On Sky Sports News, the pundit said: “Yeah, I thought he was outstanding last season, probably one of the best signings of the season, I thought he started well, probably caught up with him towards the end of the season. This season, this lad, he works hard. He runs off the ball. It’s an art, running off the ball, people want to work when they’ve got the ball at their feet, people really don’t want to work when they haven’t got the ball at their feet.”
“He will make runs for the team and look at the distances he covers but he’s not one of them who just runs anywhere, he’s very precise in when he makes his runs and he gets himself into good positions. I think he’s a top player, I really do.”
“But some people run and around and they don’t really affect the game but he affects the game, whether it be a run taking players away for [Mohamed] Salah to get the ball, he’s a top, top player, top-draw player.”
Dominik Szoboszlai is the hardest working player at Liverpool
For any player, the pre-requisite is to give their all for the badge and not many typify this quality than the former RB Leipzig midfielder.
The statistics back up Paul Merson claiming just how hard-working Szoboszlai has been for Liverpool throughout the season.
| DOMINIK SZOBOSZLAI STATS AT LIVERPOOL | CLUB RANK | |
| DISTANCE COVERED | 94.5 KM | FIRST |
| POSSESSION WON | 42 | SECOND |
| RECOVERIES | 42 | THIRD |
The Carabao Cup winner has covered the most distance out of any player at Liverpool (94.5 km) for around two months — which statistically proves there is no harder worker in the squad than him.
Winning possession and making recoveries 42 times apiece also shows Szoboszlai is an incredibly importance cog in the Liverpool machine when they are trying to regain the ball back.
Becoming the first player to don the number eight shirt at Liverpool that was made iconic by Steven Gerrard, it seems like Szoboszlai is doing the best impression of the great man’s all-action approach to play in midfield.
