Speaking at a tour press conference in Chicago, Dominik Szoboszlai said Liverpool’s trademark intensity is back under new head coach Andoni Iraola.
“It’s very good. I think the intensity what we need, it’s here now. What we have been missing, it’s back from the coach side, from the players’ side as well,” said the midfielder, who was named the club’s 2025-26 Player of the Season.
Iraola has begun his tenure with two wins from two matches against Sunderland and Wrexham during the US tour, despite many senior players being absent after this summer’s World Cup. Szoboszlai impressed in the latest run-out against Wrexham in Nashville.
“So now we have to put this together with the quality of the players we have and I think it’s going to be quite nice. I think I can talk from everybody’s side that we want to be successful this season,” he added.
“It is long term. Obviously we have a new manager, the team has been changed and it’s maybe not in a couple of months, but in the long term I think it will work out.”
Iraola’s line-up vs Leeds
Iraola has fielded sides largely made up of fringe and younger players in his first two pre-season matches. He will be able to call upon Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Ryan Gravenberch against Leeds United at Soldier Field in Chicago on Sunday.
Contract latest
Earlier this month, Szoboszlai signed a new contract keeping him at Anfield until 2031. Fellow midfielder Gravenberch has also signed fresh terms, but the futures of Curtis Jones and Alexis Mac Allister are less certain.
Jones has entered the final 12 months of his current deal and is subject to transfer interest from Serie A champions Inter Milan. Mac Allister is still on vacation after appearing in the World Cup final for Argentina. He is under contract until 2028, but it remains to be seen whether his sale could raise funds for new talent.
