“Hasn’t worked at all” – Sky reporter claims one Arne Slot selection has backfired v Galatasaray | OneFootball

Arne Slot rolled the dice with aspects of his team selection for Liverpool’s Champions League clash against Galatasaray, but one particular decision has come in for questioning after a frustrating first hald for the Reds.

The Premier League champions trailed 1-0 at the interval after a contentious penalty award against Dominik Szoboszlai – starting at right-back tonight – for a very harsh foul on Baris Alper Yilmaz, with Victor Osimhen duly converting the spot kick.

While the Hungarian could could himself unlucky with that decision from Clement Turpin, at times he found the Turkish winger difficult to handle in his makeshift position.

Slot’s decision on Szoboszlai called into question

In Sky Sports‘ live web commentary (20:55), Sam Blitz questioned Slot’s decision to deploy the 24-year-old at right-back tonight and utilise Jeremie Frimpong as a right-sided winger.

The reporter wrote: “Would not be surprised if Arne Slot makes changes – particularly down that right flank…what hasn’t worked at all is Szoboszlai at right-back. Yilmaz has had so much joy down that flank. The Hungarian has lost five of his six duels.”

(Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

Not the best first-half display from the usually dependable Szoboszlai

Szoboszlai has performed admirably at right-back in previous games this season, but his first-half display against Galatasaray wasn’t his finest.

As per Sofascore, he won only one of his six duels before the interval, was dribbled past on one occasion and lost the ball five times. He was also caught napping for a Yilmaz chance inside the first two minutes, with Alisson Becker bailing him out with a strong one-on-one save.

The Liverpool Echo gave the Hungarian a lowly 5/10 in their half-time player ratings, with their assessment that he was ‘given a testing assignment’ by the Turkish winger, although they too claimed that the penalty award was ‘soft’.

Slot persisted with Szoboszlai at right-back at the beginning of the second half, trusting in the 24-year-old to come good just as he’s done for much of the season so far. Hopefully we’ll see an improvement after the interval from the usually dependable ex-Leipzig man.