Liverpool will host Brighton in the fourth round of the FA Cup after dispatching a spirited Barnsley 4-1. Yet, it could all have been so different. The visitors struck the post with a header in the opening minute and were later denied a penalty shout at 2-1, after Szoboszlai had embarrassed himself just prior to half-time and given Barnsley the lifeline their performance deserved.
Picking a stronger eleven than many had perhaps expected, Arne Slot showed clear intent from the outset. Though Chiesa, Rio, and Mamardashvili all started, with Wirtz and Ekitike on the bench, it took a thunderbolt from Szoboszlai for Liverpool to take the lead. Having not been particularly progressive or shown much urgency, it was probably going to take such a strike to put Barnsley on their heels. Yet, the visitors displayed vigour and confidence throughout, even after Frimpong had doubled Liverpool’s lead.
Having gone two up, Dominik Szoboszlai then demonstrated a breathless level of disrespect to both Barnsley and his teammates. He inexplicably tried to back-heel the ball on his own six-yard line, gifting a goal to former Liverpool academy graduate Adam Phillips in front of the Kop. Szoboszlai was showboating, and the look of annoyance and bewilderment on Arne Slot’s face during the post-match interview betrayed real anger.
At 2-1 in the second half, Hourihane, the Barnsley manager, was convinced his side should have been awarded a penalty. Again, Szoboszlai was involved, this time probably just getting his foot to the ball ahead of an attacker whose shirt was being pulled as he bore down on goal. It may have been this incident that prompted Slot to make changes, taking off Chiesa, who was quite dreadful, along with Gomez, who was also poor, while Rio left the pitch holding his hamstring.
Barnsley, meanwhile, kept believing and playing well; they weren’t really out of the tie until a tidy finish from Wirtz in the 84th minute put the game beyond them. Just five minutes later, Wirtz provided an assist for Ekitike to give Liverpool a 4-1 victory—a scoreline their performance didn’t merit and one that certainly flattered them. Barnsley deserved better. Liverpool, for the most part, lacked fluency and created very little. As summed up by the extraordinarily absurd decision of Szoboszlai to showboat, they displayed alarming complacency.
