“You don’t do that” – Steve McManaman was raging at one Liverpool player in first half v Barnsley
Steve McManaman was infuriated by a horrendous error from one Liverpool player in the first half of the FA Cup clash against Barnsley at Anfield.
Dominik Szoboszlai opened the scoring in style after just nine minutes with a sensational 30-yard piledriver, but the Hungarian inadvertently gifted the visitors a route back into the contest shortly after Jeremie Frimpong had doubled the Reds’ lead.
The 25-year-old appeared to have cut out an attempted through ball from the visitors, but he inexplicably decided to backheel the ball on the edge of the six-yard box, gifting Adam Phillips with the easiest of finishes in front of the Kop.
McManaman rages at Szoboszlai over penalty box error
Speaking on punditry duty for TNT Sports (via BBC Sport), McManaman was scathing of Liverpool’s number 8 for his costly moment of nonchalance to present the former Reds academy youngster with a simple goal.
The ex-LFC winger fumed: “I don’t like it at all from Szoboszlai. You’d never do that against Arsenal or Manchester City. Why he is doing that against Barnsley, I’ll never know.
“Something must be going on in his mind…because he was flicking the ball around in the first half and looking comfortable, but you don’t do that in those areas. I didn’t like it.”
Also on TNT Sports (via Daily Star), Ally McCoist was equally incredulous at the Hungarian as he remarked: “What is he thinking? That is incredible. Absolutely incredible. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player of that quality do something like that in an area where you shouldn’t even be thinking about it. I’m stunned.”
An uncharacteristic lapse from Szoboszlai
Szoboszlai has been perhaps Liverpool’s most consistent player this season, and his early goal was nothing short of sensational, but he’ll have nightmares over the error which gifted Barnsley a way back into the match five minutes before half-time.
He had done the hard bit by tracking back to cut out the through ball, but rather than taking the sensible option of clearing his lines, he decided to be too clever and was duly punished.
Any manager would be livid if a player tried that at 4-0 up in the final few minutes, and Arne Slot’s face when the midfielder tried it at 2-0 before half-time told a story.
Szoboszlai is an excellent footballer and has been brilliant all season, but we don’t doubt for a second that his head coach will have reprimanded him quite strongly behind closed doors over the horrific lapse which allowed Phillips to score.
It’s also a lesson to his teammates not to do anything quite so senseless if they find themsleves in a similar situation in their own penalty area, and we trust that Liverpool’s number 8 will learn from it.
You can view Szoboszlai’s error for the Barnsley goal below, via TNT Sports on X:
What was he thinking there
A Dominik Szoboszlai blunder sees Barnsley pull one back before half-time
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— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 12, 2026
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