Szoboszlai’s Versatility: Key to Liverpool's Right-Back Challenge

Andoni Iraola is ready to lean on Dominic Szoboszlai’s versatility again – even if it means dropping Liverpool’s reigning player of the year back to right-back.

Szoboszlai was one of Liverpool’s standout performers last season, racking up 25 goal involvements – 13 goals and 12 assists – in 53 games. He did that while often being shunted out of his preferred midfield role to plug gaps on the right side of defence. It didn’t blunt his impact. If anything, it underlined his importance.

This season, he might be asked to do it all over again.

Szoboszlai the solution at right-back?

Liverpool’s failure to land a specialist full-back this summer has already come under the microscope. Jeremie Frimpong has struggled in the opening two games when used there, and a late move to fix the problem never materialised. A deadline-day attempt to prise a right-back from Chelsea was quickly shut down by the London club.

So Iraola is looking inwards. And that keeps leading him back to Szoboszlai.

“I haven’t found any situation where a player has said he doesn’t want to play in a position,” Iraola said in Thursday’s press conference, keeping his cards close but his message clear.

“We have discussions, but everyone wants to help. If we have to play Dom as a right winger, as a right-back or a midfielder, he wants to help the team first.

“We have some injuries now, and we need the versatility of the players, players like Dom. Even in the game, they have to change positions.”

The hint is obvious. If the right-back issue flares up again, Szoboszlai is firmly in the frame.

No transfer regrets

Liverpool’s summer window ended with only one major first-team arrival: £123m man Bradley Barcola. No late defensive reinforcement. No extra midfielder. No new full-back.

Iraola, though, is not entertaining any public frustration about that.

“I’m very happy with the signings we made. Do I want more signings? At the end, the club has decided those signings we have done are the ones that will improve our team,” he said.

“There were other options we decided not to take for different reasons, sometimes sporting or economic; the deal didn’t make sense in the market. But I’m happy now.

“We have a lot of quality in the team. The moment is for the players to give it all they have.”

The message to the dressing room is unmistakable: no excuses. The solutions have to come from within.

Covering cracks with versatility

Right-back remains the obvious weak spot, especially with Conor Bradley sidelined. Iraola didn’t shy away from that reality.

“The challenge in the squad now is we don’t have Conor there at right-back. That’s why I value Dom at right-back, as he can play there,” he explained.

“Versatility in the player helps us go through the moments when we have injuries.

“In midfield we have good numbers. Now it’s a matter of getting the right calls from myself.

“I’m finding now the best combinations, and we are going through a period now where we will play a lot of games, and we’ll have a chance to see the options we have and the combinations we have. It’s a matter of coaching.”

Liverpool have already been forced into “square pegs in round holes” territory. That theme is unlikely to disappear in the coming weeks. Iraola’s trust in flexible profiles – and in Szoboszlai in particular – will be tested as the schedule tightens.

Injury picture at Anfield

The injury list has shaped much of this early-season juggling. Iraola outlined where the recovery timeline stands.

“The closest one [to playing again] is Joe [Gomez]. He will start training with us next week,” he said.

“Next one is [Giovanni] Leoni; he could be training during the break with the group. Conor [Bradley] is next, and, especially Hugo, longer.”

Gomez’s imminent return will help, but it doesn’t erase the structural question at right-back. With Conor Bradley still working his way back and no new signing through the door, the temptation to push Szoboszlai deeper will only grow.

Liverpool’s season, then, may hinge on a simple dilemma: can their most creative force afford to be their emergency full-back as well?