Arne Slot has confirmed he will speak to Dominik Szoboszlai after the midfielder’s costly error in Liverpool’s FA Cup third-round win over Barnsley on Monday night.
Dominik Szoboszlai, who opened the scoring, gifted the League One side a route back into the game after a careless backheel inside his own box presented Adam Phillips with a simple finish in front of the Kop.
Liverpool had been 2-0 up at the time. Although late goals from substitutes Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike added gloss to the scoreline, the Reds were made to work harder than expected.
Slot was left frustrated by the mistake, lamenting another sloppy goal conceded by his side.
“I don’t think you should do that in an FA Cup game or League Cup, a friendly game or even a training session,” he said. “I have my opinion about that that I am definitely going to share with him.
“I thought a lot in that moment. I thought a lot towards half-time but I chose to inform them in the best possible way for us to be more fluid, have more tempo, to be able to create more chances.
“But that didn’t work out that well because in the second half we created a few chances but not a lot.
“And it is not the first time, and I am talking generally, we are 2-0 up and there are no problems in the game but we then concede a sloppy or easy goal.
“But this one stands out, even for us, when it is conceding an easy or sloppy goal.”
He continued: “It doesn’t help to concede a goal when you are 2-0 up. Normally when you are 2-0 up, the other team is close to maybe accepting their loss, especially if you can keep going and have the ball so much.
“Then usually teams are like, ‘We are 2-0 down, we hardly touched the ball, now we are probably not as aggressive in defending.’ Then you can score the third and fourth.
“But if you give away an easy goal, as we have done so many times this season, it is a big difference in mindset for the other team that is 2-0 down and never have the ball or is 2-1 down and never has the ball.
“Then they do feel in the first half they never had the ball but in one moment they can score a goal so maybe they can do this again.
“It is definitely not helpful for us. Even tonight we could see a lot of things being the same as we’ve seen so many times this season.”
Read more: Arne Slot shares latest Liverpool injury and team news ahead of FA Cup tie against Barnsley
Liverpool defender Conor Bradley out for season with serious knee injury
RB Leipzig star Yan Diomande opens door to future transfer to Liverpool
