Arne Slot was delighted that Dominik Szoboszlai made it goals in back-to-back games with his effort against Newcastle, but more so that he “runs for two.”
Szoboszlai earned the Man of the Match award after opening the scoring in a 2-0 victory which sent Liverpool 13 points clear at the top of the Premier League.
But in truth his goal was the decoration for another gut-busting display in the middle of the park that saw the No. 8 combined relentless work rate with technical prowess on the ball.
Nevertheless, having now exceeded his tally of goal contributions for the entirety of last season with at least 13 games left to play, it was certainly a significant strike.
Speaking to TNT Sports after the game, Slot acknowledged the value of Szoboszlai scoring but was more impressed with the energy he brings to the side.
Liverpool 2-0 Newcastle
“I think he’s been very, very important for us the whole season,” he explained.
“Again today maybe people talk about his goal, which they should because it was an important goal and a good goal.
“But I think what helped the team even more than him scoring a goal was the amount of times he wins the second ball, he wins the ball back for us.
“He runs for two players, so that probably deserves more credit than him scoring a goal.
“But it’s nice that he starts scoring goals as well, because that in the end is also what you need to do if you are an attacking midfielder that wears the Liverpool shirt.”
With Arsenal dropping points in their last two games and Liverpool sealing resounding victories over both Man City and Newcastle, it is widely expected that the Reds will win the title.
That comes after a mini-crisis in the eyes of the media after 2-2 draws with Everton and Aston Villa, though Slot was proud that his players did not rest on their laurels after returning to form at the weekend.
“After Everton, after Villa – and the Wolves game wasn’t an easy win as well – people started to doubt some things about our game,” he said.
“But we reacted so well against City and all of a sudden everybody was very positive again.
“And sometimes what you then see is that players are like ‘oh, all of a sudden again I’m really good’ and they don’t do the same effort as they did before.
“So for all the mental challenges that we had, people questioning us and then everybody really positive, players just kept calm and did the things they have to do and that is making things as hard as possible for the other team to play against us.
“Then eventually, normally or most of the time, our quality makes the difference.”
