Dominik Szoboszlai is Liverpool’s best player but his physicality also highlights what Arne Slot’s side are missing | Football News

Welcome to The Debrief, a Sky Sports column in which Adam Bate uses a blend of data and opinion to reflect on some of the key stories from the latest Premier League matches. This week:

Szoboszlai showing what Liverpool lackPereira is changing Forest’s approachHaaland’s record touches in new roleHurzeler turns to experience at Brighton

Szoboszlai steps up again – and shows what Liverpool lack

Liverpool supporters were urging Dominik Szoboszlai to fling the ball into the box. They were anxious. Maybe even his manager was too. “It felt to me it was the last moment,” said Arne Slot. “To stay so cool when everyone was expecting the ball to come in…”

It took the swagger of Szoboszlai to take responsibility, ignore the easy passes, shifting left and then right before producing the cross that led to Liverpool’s 97th-minute winner at Nottingham Forest. Jamie Carragher called it football arrogance on Sky Sports.

“I think now he has got the arrogance of, ‘I am the best player in this team. I am one of the best players in the Premier League and European football and I am going to make something happen here.’ That comes from confidence, arrogance,” Carragher explained.

How Liverpool could do with more like him because this was a victory that came with many red flags. Slot’s side appeared utterly unable to cope with Forest’s intensity during the first half, passing the ball slowly and pressing even slower. They looked so lethargic.

Szoboszlai is the exception, as he has been all season. Mohamed Salah acknowledged recently that Liverpool rely on the Hungarian so much and the difficulty for Slot is that despite the energy that he brings to match the class, there is still only one of him to pick.

He is having to fill in at right-back because of injuries, leading to the peculiar spectacle of Liverpool’s standout player of the season being asked to spend much of it out of position. He is better than the other options there. But he is better than them elsewhere as well.

Slot had to move him into midfield because Curtis Jones was struggling badly to cover in there following Florian Wirtz’s injury on the eve of kick-off. “He takes too long on the ball,” said Carragher of Jones, somewhat ironically given Szoboszlai’s composure late on.

“It was about having more control over their midfield,” revealed Slot. Szoboszlai’s quality in possession has been important too. He created five chances against Forest. The rest of his teammates mustered three between them. But it is this physicality that is key.

The outrageous free-kicks against Arsenal and Manchester City deservedly garnered headlines and there have been many more key contributions in the Champions League. But while others have produced moments none compare in terms of running power.

He ranks top for Liverpool in terms of distance covered and sprints. More worryingly, he seems to be playing at a different pace to his colleagues. “We face players of … different physicality,” recognised Slot in his press conference after the game at the City Ground.

Liverpool know it is an issue, an imbalance. They are experiencing it too often in the Premier League. And in Szoboszlai they have an example right there on their own training ground of the standards that the rest of the squad will need to reach if they are to address it.

Forest aggression shows Pereira impact

There was a line in Vitor Pereira’s press conference after the defeat to Liverpool when his problems were compared to ‘all his predecessors this season’ – not even both but all. He is Nottingham Forest’s fourth head coach of the current campaign, of course.

But while there were certainly similarities with Forest’s previous games in terms of the poor finishing, this was something different against Liverpool. It was a front-footed approach against a big team that showed what these players are really capable of producing.

Sean Dyche’s style had aggravated supporters because it presupposed that this was a limited group. That never chimed well with admirers of Elliot Anderson and Morgan Gibbs-White. With Ibrahim Sangare shining behind them, they dominated early on.

They did so by being aggressive. Forest won possession of the ball seven times in Liverpool’s defensive third in the opening 45 minutes. Only Sunderland against Bournemouth have won it more times in that zone of the pitch in the first half of a game this season.

Forest had not won it high more than four times in the first half of any game this season prior to this and finished the contest with a season-high number of high regains. It was a very different Forest display. “We played very good football with the ball,” said Pereira.

“Switching play to the other side, creating problems in the counter-attack, creating problems in the organised attack.” Unfortunately, they tired. “The second half was not the same, because of course it is impossible to have the same energy,” he explained.

Unable to “keep with our pressure, to keep the block higher” the pattern changed. Perhaps it will be an issue if Forest go deep in Europe and this style proves unworkable given the fixture demands. But it hinted at a potential that has been wasted this season.

Haaland’s record touches in new role

It was added-time within added-time when Erling Haaland cleared the ball from inside his own penalty box for the final time to help Manchester City hold on for a 2-1 win over Newcastle that kept up the pressure on Arsenal. He would make some centre-back.

No City player made more clearances in the game. Haaland himself had made more clearances in only two of his previous 123 Premier League appearances. It was also the most touches that the big Norwegian striker has ever had in a Premier League match.

That overall contribution helps to explain why Pep Guardiola made the case for Haaland to be the player of the match despite Nico O’Reilly’s two goals. It was his perfectly directed cross that set up O’Reilly for what turned out to be the game’s winning goal.

It was a seventh assist of the Premier League season. Only Bruno Fernandes has more. “He is an incredible, generous player,” said Guardiola. “I will never forget what Erling has done for us.” Contrast that with his comments after the win over Liverpool.

On that occasion, Haaland scored the winner himself but Guardiola was less effusive in his praise. “I know it’s an incredibly difficult task (against Ibrahima) Konate and (Virgil) van Dijk, to win those balls, but the second half (they did) not even try,” he complained.

Haaland could not be accused of that throughout his bruising battle with Dan Burn. Perhaps the 10-day break explains it. Having not featured against Salford, this was the longest gap between his appearances for both club and country so far this season.

Visibly sharper as a result, Haaland’s greater involvement also reflects the slight change of role for him since Omar Marmoush returned from the Africa Cup of Nations. He now has a strike partner in Guardiola’s 4-2-2-2 system, enabling him to cut in from the right.

Haaland is showing more to his game, running at defences rather than being a more static presence up top as the game happens in front of him. Will he score more? Maybe not. But it is fun seeing this side of him. And it is what City need from him right now.

Hurzeler turns to experience at Brighton

When Brighton played Sunderland in December, Fabian Hurzeler picked what was, at the time, the youngest team to appear in any Premier League game this season. It has since been surpassed by Chelsea but that side had an average age of under 24.

The average age of the Brighton team that Hurzeler picked against Brentford on Saturday was 29 – among the oldest in the Premier League. It is highly unusual for the same club to select line-ups at opposite ends of the age spectrum within the same season.

In came James Milner at the age of 40 to break the Premier League appearance record. Lewis Dunk, Joel Veltman and Danny Welbeck all started. “At the moment we try to find the team that is the most stable, reliable and resilient in this situation,” said Hurzeler.

“These are attitudes that are very important at the moment for our team.” And so it proved. Brighton defeated an in-form Brentford side 2-0 away from home, alleviating some of the pressure on their coach after a run of one win in 13 Premier League games.

There is understandable frustration with Hurzeler. He has made some curious selections and substitutions, picked players in odd positions and generally presided over a period during which Brighton’s identity on the pitch has become less apparent.

But there should be some acknowledgement that his team boasts so few peak-age players that consistency of performance is always likely to be challenging. Brighton’s squad is packed with players who are years away from their prime – for very different reasons.

It will be a challenging rebuild because these older players cannot carry on much longer and the youngsters do not appear ready to step up. Will Hurzeler get the opportunity to oversee it? That is not clear but this safety-first selection buys him a bit more time.