Liverpool's Versatile Strategy: Szoboszlai at Right-Back

Andoni Iraola is preparing Liverpool for a season of improvisation, and Dominic Szoboszlai might once again find himself at the heart of it – even if that heart is stationed at right-back.

The Hungarian, Liverpool’s reigning player of the year, delivered the best campaign of his Anfield career last season. Fifty-three appearances, 13 goals, 12 assists. The numbers stand up on their own. What made them stand out even more was where he produced them from. Often shunted to right-back, often out of his natural comfort zone, yet still one of the side’s most decisive players.

That experiment may not be over.

Szoboszlai the stopgap – again

Liverpool’s summer ended with a familiar feeling: a hole at full-back and no late miracle to plug it. Jeremie Frimpong, exposed in the opening two games, underlined the fragility on that flank. The club tried to move. A late push on deadline day, an attempt to prise a solution from Chelsea. The answer from Stamford Bridge was swift and firm: no.

So Iraola turns back to what he knows he can trust – versatility.

“I haven’t found any situation where a player has said he doesn’t want to play in a position,” he said in Thursday’s press conference, choosing his words carefully but making his stance 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 message is blunt. Roles are fluid, reputations are secondary. If Szoboszlai has to patrol the touchline instead of dictate from the middle, he will.

No panic over missed signings

The lack of a new senior full-back could easily have dominated the narrative around Liverpool’s window. Iraola is having none of it.

The club’s big outlay went on Bradley Barcola, a £123m statement of faith in the attack. Beyond that, the door stayed relatively shut. No late scramble, no extra body just for the sake of it.

“I’m very happy with the signings we made,” Iraola insisted. “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.

“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.”

It was a firm defence of the club’s strategy and a clear challenge to the dressing room. The solutions, for now, must come from within.

Square pegs, tight schedule

Injuries have already begun to bite, forcing Liverpool into the kind of tactical contortions managers dread and coaches secretly relish. Iraola, though, is not complaining about having to shuffle his pack.

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

“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.”

That last line is telling. No complaints about recruitment, no public nudges upstairs. If this Liverpool side are to navigate the coming weeks, it will be on the back of Iraola’s selections and the willingness of players like Szoboszlai to bend without breaking.

Injuries and the road back

The injury list is not catastrophic, but it is disruptive. Key options are missing, and the timeline for their return shapes how bold Iraola can be with his positional experiments.

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

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

Those names matter. Gomez’s return offers depth and experience. Leoni adds another body to the rotation. Bradley’s recovery could finally stabilise the right-back slot. Until then, the patchwork continues.

And so Liverpool move into a congested run of fixtures with a star midfielder who may again be asked to defend the flank, a manager publicly backing his squad, and a squad quietly being told there will be no excuses.

If Szoboszlai thrives once more while dragged away from his natural habitat, Liverpool’s season might just be defined not by who they signed, but by who adapted.