It is a blessing in disguise for Liverpool that Dominik Szoboszlai got to play right-back because he’s the closest thing to Trent Alexander-Arnold that they have. He is their most important player.

He’s their most important player because of how versatile he is, how he patrols play on the fringes of the formation, maintaining rhythm and control, and how well he works with and how in-tune he is with Mohamed Salah.

Szoboszlai is no where near as good a passer as Alexander-Arnold, Trent is a generational passer, but he has the necessary timing of when to play certain passes and when to clear his lines by punting it up field. Liverpool live off those one- or two-touch long balls from the right back. It resets the opposition, forces the opposition defense back, and it creates space in the middle of the park.

He’s the only starting midfielder that is in tune with Mohamed Salah. You can see it in their body language. When Szoboszlai receives the ball, he is looking for Salah. You can see Salah start to initiate specific runs off the left back from the wing when Szoboszlai receives the ball. When Salah has the ball, he knows what space to occupy to act as a decoy or outlet. Trent Alexander-Arnold had that same understanding, and that is why that triangle between Szoboszlai, Salah, and Trent worked so well in previous seasons. That is an understanding that Frimpong and Wirtz don’t yet have with Salah.

I’d argue, and he showed this in previous seasons, he’s a better defender than Alexander-Arnold, especially in the box. You saw that against Newcastle in the first half when he shielded the ball away on the line for Newcastle’s first chance in the box, dove in to block Gordon’s shot in the six-yard box with a sliding tackle, and headed away several crosses at the far post. He has a strong frame, and he tracks far post runs extremely well, positioning his body off the man.

He has always shown the ability to track back and defend off the right, deputizing for Trent in transition to defense when Trent gets stuck further forward up the pitch. Szoboszlai would rotate back and cover for him. He is an extremely underrated defender and tackler. It’s not surprising that he can defend one-on-one on the wing; it’s not new to him.

And then you could argue he’s a better dribbler. Of course, that inverted right-back role works perfectly for him because he’s at home in midfield; he inverts and then has the football IQ to know when he needs to move back out wide.

He’s not as fast as Trent, but it’s a good in-between to help bridge the gap as they transition from the familiar dynamics of Liverpool with Trent Alexander-Arnold, to a different system with Jeremie Frimpong. If they get in trouble because Frimpong has none of the passing capabilities of Trent or Szoboszlai or if Konate becomes too isolated, they can revert to this. Or they can start Frimpong and then have Szoboszlai rotate back to right back more frequently.

The only critique on his performance against Newcastle was that his defending became a bit loose towards the middle part of the game, as he became fatigued. More loose than you’d expect. Curtis Jones had to help bail him out on one occasion.

The icing on the cake for his performance was the dummy for the winning goal. He plays right back the entire game, Conor Bradley gets subbed on at right back, and Szoboszlai moves into midfield. He finds himself in a striker’s position up top, running towards the right side of the six-yard box. Salah squares the ball at pace across the box towards Szoboszlai, but he recognizes Rio Ngumoha is wide open behind him because he drags the Newcastle right back with him. Szoboszlai feints over the ball, lets the ball run through his legs to Rio, and Rio scores the winning goal. He’s a world-class player, and that speaks to his versatility.

I’m a big proponent of midfielders playing as fullbacks. Look at Federico Valverde at Real Madrid as an example. Dribbling and passing ability out wide at the back always helps, and Liverpool will need that control.