As far as Arne Slot’s Liverpool are concerned, there hasn’t been much to write home about this season.
It’s been difficult, for a great number of reasons, and the Reds have slumped to five defeats from six matches in the Premier League. They say it’s too early to make such calls at this stage of the campaign, but Liverpool simply cannot be considered as title contenders unless something significant shifts in the coming weeks and months.
Physicality and control. Two central tenets of any Premier League midfield worth their salt, and especially so for Liverpool. However, Slot’s side have lacked both in equally concerning measure for much of the term so far.
And with that in mind, we can’t help but recall the days of Gini Wijnaldum in the middle of the park, for the Dutchman is very much missed right now.
Why Gini Wijnaldum left Liverpool
Wijnaldum has plied his trade away from Anfield for four years now, and it’s perhaps fair to say that Liverpool have not replaced his profile in the years since. The 35-year-old was very distinctive in his style for the Reds.
Liverpool signed Wijnaldum from Newcastle United in 2016 after their relegation from the Premier League. Wijnaldum was among the standout Magpies that year.
He was an attacking midfielder and had put four past Norwich City early in the campaign, a bright flicker in a dark year on Tyneside. However, Jurgen Klopp fashioned the Dutchman into an industrious, press-resistent central midfielder, part of an energetic centre that charged Liverpool’s glittering success of the past decade.
Though Wijnaldum didn’t score often for the Merseysiders, he came up trumps on a few occasions, alright, and scribed his name into the record books when bagging a brace off the bench on that night against Barcelona.
So cool and composed and calm on the ball, Gini was the metronome in the middle. To think that he played in advanced roles with consistency during his days with Newcastle and PSV Eindhoven before that is a marker of Klopp’s tactical brain, successfully reshaping into something that produced fewer show-stopping moments but contributed more greatly to the Liverpool project.
Liverpool miss him, for sure, but there’s a member of Slot’s squad who is beginning to show signs of the Netherlands man’s former qualities.
Liverpool’s new version of Wijnaldum
Slot’s own ‘version’ of Wijnaldum might not be stylistically the same, but he’s playing a versatile and yet singular role for the Anfield side this season.
Enter Dominik Szoboszlai, the shining light of Liverpool’s dreary campaign so far.
The Hungarian has been hailed by reporter Lewis Steele as being Liverpool’s “player of the season” so far. Admittedly, the bar isn’t high, but Szoboszlai ranks highly across the whole of Europe in regard to individual efforts, having matured into a leader as well as a tireless source of energy and a technically proficient technician.
To say that he’s come on leaps and bounds would be quite the understatement, and this with Liverpool struggling to muster any kind of form.
Klopp oversaw the £60m signing of RB Leipzig’s talented playmaker in 2023, beating Newcastle to his signature. Szoboszlai has ebbed and flowed in a Liverpool shirt, criticised at times for his lack of end product. At the end of Klopp’s reign, Szoboszlai fell out to the fringes, starting only one of the final six Premier League fixtures of the term, and was hooked at half-time during a miserable home defeat to Crystal Palace before that.
Dominik Szoboszlai under Arne Slot (Prem)
Stats (* per game)
24/25
25/26
Matches (starts)
36 (29)
11 (11)
Goals
6
1
Assists
6
1
Touches*
46.1
82.6
Accurate passes*
29.6 (86%)
52.1 (87%)
Key passes*
1.6
1.5
Dribble (success)*
0.6 (55%)
0.8 (60%)
Recoveries*
3.7
6.1
Tackles + interceptions*
1.4
2.7
Clearances*
0.4
2.5
Duels (won)*
2.8 (43%)
4.2 (51%)
Data via Sofascore
Since Slot has taken to the dugout, Szoboszlai’s role has changed some, and that has become crystal clear this season, for he has never been more involved, never more entrusted with a starring role in the side, hailed as a “proper leader” and Liverpool’s star man by content creator Jonathan Morley.
Szoboszlai is a player whose skill and tenacity out of possession, his intelligence and vision and ability to do the right thing at the right time, make him a unique and priceless part of a system. Wijnaldum-esque, perhaps.
Gini was, after all, lauded as being “irreplaceable” for Liverpool by correspondent Richard Jolly. He wasn’t a vocal leader on the field, but the former Netherlands international provided a calming presence, redefined once he settled in on Merseyside and then became a central part of one of the glittering outfits of their age.
Jurgen Klopp and Gini WijnaldumÂ
Liverpool may not be at the races this season, but there’s a long road still ahead, and with Szoboszlai shaping into an all-action midfielder of the highest class, Slot’s own version of Wijnaldum, there will be hope that the rest of these talented players can recover their levels and match Szoboszlai’s commitment and desire.
His free-kick against Arsenal, sealing victory against Mikel Arteta’s title challengers toward the start of the season, his Man of the Match performances on a number of occasions already, Szoboszlai is the real deal, alright, and when Liverpool do return to form, he might just reach even loftier levels under Slot’s wing.
Szoboszlai has been Liverpool’s standout player this season, and though this has been tempered by the otherwise miserable performances, solace can be found in the knowledge that Slot has unearthed the club’s latest superstar.
