Let’s start with the good stuff. Dominik Szoboszlai scored another mood lifting goal, this time at Old Trafford. It started a comeback for Liverpool that eventually fell short, but it was the kind of display that gave all of us supporters hope that we might be able to bring at least a point back from Manchester United. That is unfortunately not what ended up happening, letting the hosts take the double from us for the first time in ten years.
“Not good, as we go home with zero points,” Szoboszlai
told the club website following the match.
“And after the first half we shouldn’t be happy at all, we should just take from this game the beginning of the second half I think because that’s when we showed properly who we are.
“Before the game you speak about set-pieces, don’t concede; I don’t know when the first goal happened, you concede from a set-piece. Also you talk about counter-attacks and then the second goal happens from a counter-attack. We have to be more focused, we have to take more care of the details and in the end hopefully the luck is going to stay on our side.”
While much of the comeback came from capitalizing on United’s mistakes, it was Liverpool’s mistakes that would have eventually undone them, despite Szoboszlai’s efforts to push the squad into the fight. His attempts at taking matches by the scruff and leading the team towards winning ways haven’t gone unnoticed, and he’s quietly been having a stellar season himself.
“You have to ask the other ones – I try to do my best, I try to, as you say, drag them with me, take them with me and hopefully set an example day by day, game by game. That’s what I want to do and that’s going to be my plan for the last three games as well,” the midfielder humbly explained.
“We have a lot of players who can set an example. I try to be one of them and if it works, I’m happy.”
With only three matches left in this wretched season, thoughts are inevitably turning towards the next season. With so much in flux, and the departures of senior members hanging over these remaining matches, Szoboszlai is sure to point out that he is focused on the present and finishing the season in a decent standing.
“First, I don’t focus on next season – my focus is on these three games because we have a lot of things to achieve in a way that we want to play Champions League next season because Liverpool belongs there,” Szoboszlai said.
“And then we will see what happens in the future. Hopefully this team can stay together as much as is possible and from thereon we will see.”
Liverpool next face Chelsea on Saturday, May 9, at Anfield and look to try and maintain their precarious spot in the top four of the table.
