Seven players tried, no answer found
Liverpool head to Ipswich on Friday night, and the Daily Mail has used the trip to drag an awkward old problem back into the spotlight at Anfield: right back.
One number tells the story. Since the start of last season, seven different players have been tried there, and not one of them has held the shirt long enough to make anybody forget the last. Jeremie Frimpong, brought in to lock down that flank, is still waiting for the spot to feel like his.
The role of first passer from the right, filled for so long by Trent Alexander-Arnold, has no obvious owner now. Set that against the rest of the summer and it looks stranger still. Liverpool spent 145 million euros on Bradley Barcola and tied down an 18-year-old goalkeeper on 1 September. The right side got nothing.
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A midfielder for a defender’s job
The paper’s suggestion looks odd at first glance. Dominik Szoboszlai, a midfielder by trade and by upbringing, is being tipped as the best fix available.
The case is built on the basics. High work rate, passing quality, the ability to carry the ball forward. Three traits that fit the brief. Jamie Carragher goes further and believes the Hungarian should take the role permanently.
There is logic to it. A midfielder turned full back usually offers more in the build-up than a pure defender does, and Liverpool have already lived that story once. Alexander-Arnold was a defender by trade who spent years being used as a wide playmaker.
Iraola loses an engine either way
There is a catch. Szoboszlai is one of the best players in this squad right now, and moving him out of midfield strips a major engine from the centre of the pitch.
The trade-off is not all bad. It would rebalance the midfield and free up Florian Wirtz, who needs space and licence before he can bend a game. Andoni Iraola has said nothing definitive in public. Ipswich may show how far he has taken the idea.
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