Barnsley manager Conor Hourihane says Dominic Szoboszlai was “disrespectful” to his side after the Liverpool midfielder made a bizarre and bizarre mistake that cost the League One side a goal.
Towards the end of the first half of Liverpool’s 4-1 win to advance to the fourth round of the FA Cup, Szoboszlai chased down a Barnsley attack and, while under pressure, flicked in from just three yards out.
This allowed Adam Phillips, who came through Liverpool’s academy, to score against his former club and put Barnsley back 2-1 up.
“To be honest, I was a little disappointed with their player,” Horihane said in the post-match press conference. “I thought it was a little rude.
“I don’t think they would do something like that against Chelsea or Arsenal in a Champions League game. There is obviously an incredible amount of emotion and fuss about Adam, but to be honest there is a bit of a lack of respect from their players.”
Asked what he thought of Szoboszlai’s decision, Liverpool manager Arne Slott responded to Hourihane’s comments: “I don’t think you should do something like that in a Premier League game, a League Cup game, a friendly or a training session.”
“It’s a strange choice and I have my opinion on it too, but I prefer to keep it to myself and talk to Dom about it.”
Szoboszlai admitted in an interview with TNT Sports after the game that he apologized to his teammates for his mistake. “I’m sorry once again to the team. I made a difficult mistake with what I would call an easy mistake.
Adam Phillips pulled one back for Barnsley after a mistake by Dominik Szoboszlai.
“But the football continues and we will advance to the next round.”
Slot later said at a press conference: “It’s not the first time we’ve conceded a sloppy or easy goal when we’re 2-0 up and there’s nothing wrong with the game, and I’m speaking generally, it’s definitely been noticeable for us as well.
“Usually when you’re up 2-0 the other team will almost accept defeat, especially if you can keep going forward and have so much of the ball that teams are usually not very aggressive and can score their third and fourth goals.
“But if you give away easy goals, which we have done too many times this season, it makes a big difference to the mentality of other teams.
“It certainly doesn’t help us. Tonight we saw a lot of the same things we’ve seen several times this season.
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Liverpool manager Arne Slott was unimpressed with Dominik Szoboszlai’s backheel mistake that led to Barnsley’s goal in their FA Cup third round tie.
“That’s not the only frustration I’ve had, but certainly we make it hard on ourselves in moments like this. “Not only for ourselves, but we also had 60,000 fans supporting us tonight.
“I would have liked it, and the players would have liked it too, if we hadn’t given up 2-1 until the 83rd minute before it was 3-1. That’s what happened and that’s what I want to see differently.”
Should Barnsley have also been awarded a penalty?
Barnsley were denied a hefty fine claim at Anfield.
Szoboszlai also almost conceded a penalty kick in the second half, scoring a big penalty kick to make it 2-2.
Barnsley winger Reyes Cleary, who impressed on the left wing all night, crossed Liverpool’s midfield and went under the Hungarian’s tackle.
Replays showed that Szoboszlai touched the ball but had a hand on the Barnsley winger’s back. Referee Farai Hallam dismissed the claim without VAR until the fifth round of the contest.
“At the time, I thought it was a stone wall penalty,” Hourihane said. “Looking back now, I think the player touched the ball a little bit after the game.
“But at the same time you could see he (Szoboszlai) was panicking and Reyes saw him pulling his shirt a little bit.
“It was a decision that could easily have gone our way, and it was an important moment in the game. When you’re down 2-1 in the 65th minute, you never know what’s going to happen after that. It was a big decision that didn’t work out for us.”
Regarding the incident, Slot felt it was not a penalty kick. Especially since Liverpool’s two big kick shouts against Arsenal on Thursday night went unplayed.
“If he made a mistake there was no possibility of correcting it because there was no VAR,” Slot said. “From what I heard it wasn’t a penalty and Dominic hit the ball, but I’ll have to see it again to give my opinion.”
“There were two things in Arsenal’s box on Thursday night that, when you saw them, not on video, were bigger penalties than this one.
“You can live without scoring a single goal against Arsenal. I can accept Arsenal and today’s result, although this season we have conceded a penalty after VAR intervention, which is less than the two incidents that happened at Arsenal.”
