03 Sep 2026 11:33:42
?️ Andoni Iraola on right-back and midfield cover:
"Challenge in the squad now is we don't have Conor Bradley there at right-back. That's why I value Dom [Szoboszlai] at right-back as he can play there. 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."
Gaffer seems pretty calm on the situation. Of course he wouldn't come out and say he feels like what he has isn't good enough even if he did feel that way, but at least he's saying the right things regardless.
I hope we see as little of Szoboszlai at RB as possible though. Bradley can't come back soon enough!
03 Sep 2026 12:40:31
I disagree, MK, I think Szoboszlai at RB is the ideal position for him to cover his weaknesses and show his strengths. He has excellent quality on the ball but serious positional indiscipline.
Very few wingers will outlast him as he has speed and stamina, and RB will give him the space he doesn’t get in midfield. It also “solves” the issue of Frimpong being nowhere near good enough.
03 Sep 2026 13:02:21
Lowe, I can’t agree with that at all, but it’s a subjective topic so I understand your viewpoint. I am a big believer in playing people in their best positions unless you’re desperate. Last season we robbed Peter (midfield) to pay Paul (right back) repeatedly. Neither Szoboszlai nor Jones really performed at RB and we ended up just looking short in midfield at times. The worst part was that Frimpong and Ramsay were fit for most of these games where Dom and Jones played right back.
No matter how average Frimpong and Ramsay are, retaining balance in the team should’ve been more important.
I can understand Dom playing RB to close games out if Frimpong needs a rest, but in terms of them actually starting there? That’s a no from me. I’m not averse to Araujo playing RB as that doesn’t weaken the team in other areas, seeing as he appears to be back-up to Jacquet at CB. But please, not another year of midfielders in defence. We can’t behave that desperately again!
03 Sep 2026 13:05:05
You need positional discipline to play RB.
03 Sep 2026 13:09:54
No, no, no, no!! Wasn’t it unanimous that Dom shan’t play at RB? That only a fool would play him there?
03 Sep 2026 13:15:42
Would you expect him to say something else?
03 Sep 2026 13:43:23
MK, as a general principle, I agree that you play players in their positions - clearly we saw that in 2020/21 when we improved just by playing Nat Phillips etc instead of Henderson there. In my opinion, Szoboszlai isn’t a very good central midfielder even if he is an excellent overall player, and that would be my rationale for moving him.
Would he take Bradley’s place? No. Frimpong? I think it’s worth a try.
03 Sep 2026 12:36:31
Cannot believe you advocating Szobo to play at RB, absolutely battered Slot with your posts for an entire year on playing him out of postion and taking the engine out from the midfield. My Fecking fowler. At least slot got it right about Frimpong not good enough as a RB.
03 Sep 2026 14:02:49
So hang on a minute I’m confused.
Slot was crucified for playing Dom at RB, and in my opinion rightly so. I understand doing it for a game or 2 if we literally don’t have anyone else, but he constantly did it when we needed a goal at the end of a game. Take a defender off, put an attacker on and move Dom to RB, and it never worked. Not once, yet he still did it every time. It was as if he was just so beleaguered by the end of the season, he used it as a comfort blanket.
Now Iraola has just done the same thing.
Are we saying Slot was actually right all along?
I bet Slot was laughing his head off in his Ibiza apartment when he saw Iraola put Dom at RB on Saturday. It kind of gives him justification for something he got absolutely hammered for, don't you think?
Please, Andoni, if you read these pages (which I’m sure you do because you’re a Liverpool fan now), please no more Dom at RB. Please.
I don’t care who you play there, but please not Dom. I’ve still got PTSD from watching that last season.
03 Sep 2026 14:14:51
I’m sure this won’t be a popular post, but just my opinion. Iraola is playing 2 6/8 hybrids and a 10/9 hybrid. Dom is an 8/10 hybrid. There’s no natural position for him in this formation. Imo he can play any of these 3 positions, but won’t get his best attributes out of them. Under Slot, in a 433, it made sense not to play Dom at RB, but under Iraola, in this formation, I’m not so sure.
I’d like to see him as an RB with freedom to roam for a few games and someone with more defensive awareness (Nyoni/Macca) in midfield for a few games. Szoboszlai and Munoz on the right. I like the idea of that.
03 Sep 2026 14:44:08
Dom's absolute best position really is as the number 10 leading the press. Maybe you don't get as much creativity from him as Wirtz, but that's the best way to harness his best traits while minimizing the risk of his weaknesses in terms of lack of positional awareness. He is an excellent 8 in most respects and can also play in the double pivot, but he needs an ideal partner that can sit.
Right now we don't have one, which is why the suggestion that he plays right back is not a terrible one. When we do end up buying one, then sure, playing in the double pivot would be where he should be, unless Wirtz isn't playing the 10.
03 Sep 2026 14:57:48
This is the absolutely crazy thing about our midfield. Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Gravenberch, Nyoni and Wirtz's strength all get amplified playing alongside a proper physical, more defensive-minded midfielder.
Everyone can see it.
Madness.
03 Sep 2026 15:04:02
But then you're taking the mystical 'legs' out of MF. Grav and Macca aren't gonna cover the ground. No legs in MF has been one of the major gripes on here since last year.
03 Sep 2026 15:07:24
Szob should not play RB ever if he doesn't have positional discipline as suggested. He should either play in the middle, at 10, or at RW, the latter being where I think he should be personally.
03 Sep 2026 15:21:49
I think both things can be correct on this topic. Yes, Slot got slaughtered for playing Szobo RB and I did too and on a good day, I wouldn't want that either. And btw, he didn't sign a 5 year extension to play RB.
Now, that was then. This is now. And right now as @Lowel put it, Szobo lacks the defensive nous, awareness and decision-making in terms of his passing choices, to play the no. 8 the way we need him to play it. Grav is no better either right now.
The reality (this is also "now") is that Frimpong, who many of us wanted to get a chance this season, is massively struggling right now.
So what should Iraola do in the meantime cos, remember, he is there to find solutions to issues in the short/long term? Just keep things the same when they are not working? Of course not, and he won't do that, thankfully.
Therefore if Szobo has to play RB till things get better (not what we all want, of course) then, so be it. Again, both views can be correct at the same time here.
03 Sep 2026 15:33:15
Frimpong struggled last season at RB whenever Bradley was out too. And wasn’t Wirtz playing ahead of Dom and Grav last year whenever we had our best team available? Seems to me putting him at RB now would be pretty much identical to when he was out there last year.
03 Sep 2026 15:42:54
Slot was rightly criticised for playing Dom at RB. If Iraola also does so, he should be criticised too. Dom is a CM or an AM. At a push he could be a RW. He is nowhere near good enough defensively to play RB, though.
Frimpong might not be a great RB, but he at least defends the 1v1 situations to an average Premier League standard. Dom is clearly a front foot player though. He can power through challenges, he can press, he can run beyond players and he can score goals. As soon as he’s backing up towards his own goal and has to stand someone up, he gets found out. He has the wrong body shape/stance when defending 1v1, and that leaves him flat footed and relying on recovery pace after he’s beaten.
That’s fine in midfield when there are players behind you and you’ve got 30-40 yards to recover. At RB, though, if you get beaten, either a shot is going at goal or a cross is going into the box. There is nobody behind you, and it’s unlikely you’ll get back in.
Karma B and Flo Musiala are correct. Slot was absolutely battered for playing Dom at RB. He’s a last resort there in my opinion and whilst Bradley is injured, it makes sense that Dom might occasionally have to fill in to allow for tactical changes within a game. But I still do not want to see him start a single game at RB.
03 Sep 2026 15:53:51
You need a far higher degree of positional discipline to play in a pivot and Szoboszlai doesn’t have anywhere near the required level to play there, so Right Back suits a player who has a good engine and can run all day.
{Ed666's Note - I don’t even think it’s that much of a nuanced role Victor. I mean we’ve all played football how difficult can it be to stay back and keep your position when you sense danger or when you’ve made a forward run and you or the team have lost the ball to track back. It’s elementary stuff and these are meant to be proffesionals.
03 Sep 2026 15:30:00
this right position, please not Frimpong, he doesn't have a clue at right back, just find the right formation to get the best out of our midfield,
still can't believe that we didn't bring in a proper right back,
and a proper right winger,
feels like we don't have the right people in charge,
however, I do think that there will be a couple of changes come the winter transfer window, Minteh for one, and Macca going out and replaced with someone who can actually run and tackle.
03 Sep 2026 16:12:22
Frimpong has only played two games this season. He is struggling, so we want him replaced and that's giving him a chance?
And replace him with a player that is struggling in his more natural position? Hmmmm.
03 Sep 2026 16:32:51
People making out this playing in a pivot is rocket science. Should be a 30 second conversation between Andoni and the players to get across what he expects.
03 Sep 2026 17:29:14
Half of you plus szob have to realise doms best position is rb. Hes's a rb just like Trent was. People fought over putting him in midfield but like dom he was a useless prima donna there who just messed up the mf. We wanted a Trent replacement we got one in dom.