Former Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr has criticized Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai for his performance in the UEFA Europa League quarter-final defeat to Atalanta. Kerr claimed the Hungarian “caused more problems than he fixed” after Jurgen Klopp brought him off the bench in the second half.
Liverpool Suffered Worst Defeat Of The Season Against Atalanta
Premier League aspirants Liverpool hosted Atalanta at Anfield for the first leg of their UEFA Europa League quarter-final on Thursday night (April 11). In a bid to keep his key players fresh for the business end of the 2023-24 season, Klopp dropped Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz, Andy Robertson, and Dominik Szoboszlai from the starting XI. The Merseysiders had a decent first half, but Atalanta proved to be more clinical, as they put their noses in front thanks to Gianluca Scamacca’s fine strike in the 38th minute.
To resume control, Klopp introduced Salah, Diaz, Robertson, and Szoboszlai in the second half, but, ultimately, to no avail. The visitors doubled their money through Scamacca in the 60th minute before Mario Pasalic put the game to bed with the third goal of the night in the 83rd minute. The Anfield outfit must win by a four-goal margin in next week’s return leg at Gewiss Stadium to progress to the Europa League semi-finals.
Brian Kerr Claims Dominik Szoboszlai Was Poor In Europa League Quarter-Final
On Virgin Media Sport, Kerr dissected the UEFA Europa League quarter-final first-leg between Liverpool and Atalanta. He claimed that none of the substitutions made the desired impact, calling Szoboszlai the worst of the lot.
Kerr said (via TheBootRoom):
“The subs didn’t have an impact on the game tonight. I was hoping we would be able to say look at what the subs did, but Salah didn’t have an impact, Robertson had a small impact with a few good passes and not much from Szoboszlai He caused more problems than he fixed if anything when he came on.”
The £60 million ($75.08 million) midfielder was at fault for Atalanta’s third goal of the night, as it was his poor flick to Ibrahima Konate that allowed Teun Koopmeiners to break into the opposition third. He then fed Ederson, who drew a save out of Caoimhin Kelleher, allowing Pasalic to put away the rebound. He also lost all four of his ground duels and misplaced three of his four attempted crosses.
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