Szoboszlai warns Liverpool's rivals 'no one can stop us' if intensity returns under Iraola

Dominik Szoboszlai has issued a blunt assessment of Liverpool’s collapse last season and a pointed warning to their Premier League rivals, declaring that “no one can stop” the Reds if they recapture the intensity that deserted them during Arne Slot’s ill-fated title defence.

The Hungarian midfielder, retained as one of Andoni Iraola’s vice-captains heading into the new campaign, spoke candidly to Steven Gerrard ahead of Liverpool’s first Champions League fixture of the season. Asked whether intensity would be the defining difference under the new head coach, Szoboszlai was unequivocal: “I think it has to change. This is what we missed last season. If we can bring this intensity back, that we want it more than the others, we have the quality, and this, together, no one can stop us.”

Liverpool finished 25 points behind champions Arsenal last term, a deficit that ultimately cost Slot his job. Szoboszlai, 24, was widely regarded as one of the few players to consistently perform to standard at Anfield throughout that disappointing campaign.

On Iraola’s appointment, Szoboszlai was enthusiastic: “I like him a lot. I know his playing style is really direct and intense, which I love, and I think that’s the most important.” The 25-year-old also revealed the new manager had already clarified his positional future with a degree of humour. “He made it clear one time that I’m not going to play right-back — which meant a lot to me,” Szoboszlai said, laughing, before adding that he would still be available there if the team needed him.

Reflecting on the various roles he was asked to fill last season, Szoboszlai identified the number 7 position as the one he found least suited to his strengths. His preference, he explained, is a box-to-box eight — collecting the ball from defenders, playing long passes, arriving late into the penalty area and shooting from distance.

Iraola, for his part, praised the squad’s collective flexibility. “I haven’t found any situation where a player has said he doesn’t want to play in a position,” the Spaniard said. “If we have to play Dom as a right winger, as a right-back or a midfielder, he wants to help the team first.”