Forget Jota & Salah: Liverpool’s 51-touch rocket was their best player v Fulham by a mile

If ever there was a game Liverpool needed to rely upon Dominik Szoboslzai’s sizeable tank – Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Fulham was the one.

The Merseysiders were forced to draw deep from the well to come back against Marco Silva’s men after Andy Robertson’s first-half sending-off left them short of a man for over an hour of action.

Mo Salah, Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo all combined in the second 45 to ensure that the hosts left Anfield with a point to their name.

But they might have struggled otherwise without their Hungarian teammate seemingly doing the work of two men in a truly erratic game of football on the red half of Merseyside.

Dominik Szoboszlai was relentless against Fulham

The stats do not lie; Szoboszlai was an absolute force of nature for Liverpool at the weekend.

Sofascore handed the former RB Leipzig midfielder a 7.5/10 for his efforts – a score we at Empire of the Kop feel is somewhat conservative.

Amid 51 touches, the footballer racked up 3 key passes (creating one big chance) and completed 5/6 ground duels attempted.

There were also a further six recoveries made in an all-action performance from our summer 2023 signing, as was noted by Bence Bocsak on X (formerly Twitter).

Dominik Szoboszlai made the most recoveries (6) and won the most tackles (2) while he was on the pitch for #LFC vs Fulham.

Also created 3 chances and won 5/7 duels.

Tons of energy again today. Good performance. pic.twitter.com/PqQiY3wSBS

— Bence Bocsák (@BenBocsak) December 14, 2024

Szoboszlai deserves a place in Liverpool’s midfield

What a bounty of options at Arne Slot’s disposal in the middle of the park!

The return of Harvey Elliott certainly solidified that Liverpool are blessed with some top-quality midfielders – a reality bolstered by the remarkable transformation of Ryan Gravenberch this term.

Szoboszlai has recently seen himself succumb to the reality of our midfield depth (at least as far as the more advanced midfield slots are concerned), with Curtis Jones taking advantage of the No.8’s inconsistency.

Such a powerhouse of a display against Fulham, however, surely has to put the Hungary star back in the reckoning as far as our remaining December fixtures are concerned.

It’s far from a bad headache for Slot at least!

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