Dominik Szoboszlai confronted a troubling evening after Liverpool surrendered a lead in a second-half collapse against Leeds United.

Arne Slot’s side had produced a composed showing through the opening 70 minutes and appeared on course to secure their third Premier League victory since October. Instead, the match unravelled in the final half hour and left the Hungary midfielder searching for answers.

“I don’t know what happened after 2–0, I think we thought the game was over,” Szoboszlai revealed. “We just made sure at the beginning of the game that this is the kind of game where you can never underestimate who you play against.

“Maybe after the penalty they just had their momentum, scored the 2-2. We came back, so it’s a good reaction from the team again. Just conceding again from a set-piece is not the nicest way.

“After the 2-2 we showed a good reaction, we showed our mentality. We wanted to come back because we knew we made a mistake in a way that we let them come back for 2-2 and we scored the 3-2. But nothing to say about the result.”

The defeat leaves Liverpool in a precarious league position. The club sit eighth on the table and are 10 points adrift of Premier League pace-setters Arsenal, a gap that Szoboszlai acknowledged while appearing uncertain of his side’s standing.

Szoboszlai also urged collective responsibility as the squad seeks a response. “Now we have to find solutions, we have to show reactions and everybody has to take responsibility, and not always the older guys or the guys who are here longer. ]

The result raises fresh questions about Liverpool’s ability to arrest a run of inconsistent results. After a promising start to this game, the manner of the collapse and the concessions from a penalty and a set-piece will dominate discussion as the team aims to regroup in the fixtures ahead.

Mohamed Salah was named among the substitutes for Liverpool’s Premier League trip to Leeds United on Saturday, marking the third successive match he has started on the bench.

Salah did not make an appearance from the bench in the 2–0 win over West Ham United last weekend as Liverpool ended a three-game losing run. Dominik Szoboszlai was deployed on the right wing as Slot shuffled his options.

The forward was again named among the substitutes against Sunderland midweek but was introduced at half-time for Cody Gakpo during a 1–1 draw. He failed to make a significant impact after coming on and his goal drought stretched to six games for club and country.

For the trip to Elland Road, Slot kept faith with Szoboszlai on the right flank ahead of Salah, a selection that will invite further scrutiny of the Dutch coach after another notable call.

Salah’s record against Leeds is a reminder of his threat. Only Alan Shearer (20) and Thierry Henry (10) have scored more Premier League goals against Leeds than Salah, who has nine and netted a brace on his last visit to Elland Road in 2023.

Liverpool approached the weekend in ninth place after a run of disappointing results and performances over the last two months. Pressure on Slot is rising and a positive result against Leeds is regarded as important to calm speculation over his future. Slot will also have the option to bring Salah off the bench should he need a game-changing influence.

Liverpool starting XI (4-2-3-1): Alisson; Bradley, Konaté, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Gravenberch, Jones; Szoboszlai, Wirtz, Gakpo; Ekitiké.

Chelsea slumped to a 3–1 defeat to Leeds United on Wednesday, a result Enzo Maresca accepted was deserved after a poor showing. Jaka Bijol opened the scoring with a header, Ao Tanaka added a second with a long-range effort before half-time, and a calamitous pass out from the back allowed Dominic Calvert-Lewin to finish with just under 20 minutes remaining. Pedro Neto reduced the deficit soon after the restart.

Maresca did not hide his disappointment. “A very poor night,” Maresca said bluntly. “[Leeds] deserved to win the game, they were better in all aspects.

“There is nothing that we can take from this game. The only thing we can do is try to understand the mistake we have done, try to reset, because in 48 hours we have one more game.

“I hope that we had a bad night because they were … on the ball, off the ball, second ball, they were much better than us in all the aspects.”

Neto, hailed by Maresca as one of very few positives after the final whistle, offered a thoroughly unimpressed reflection to Sky Sports. “They were better than us at everything,” he conceded. “It’s difficult to take, we have to learn from that but we have to clear our minds, it happens. We are already focused on Bournemouth.

“Sometimes it happens, we had a bad day, they had more intensity, attitude, won the second balls and had more desire than us. We cannot take games for granted. Of course it hurts, it’s the worst part in football, Sometimes you can lose and say you gave everything on the pitch, but today we have to take some responsibility, all of us. Sometimes it happens, we are human.

“We had a really good month, it’s just a bad day. We don’t have explanation for that. Everyone wants to win.”

With Chelsea chasing the game at the interval, Maresca made the surprise call to withdraw 18-year-old Estêvão after the youngster picked up a yellow card following a petulant swipe at Gabriel Gudmundsson. “I think the feeling with Estêvão was, you know, a little bit ‘welcome to Leeds,’” Maresca said. “Sometimes aged 18, you struggle to manage emotion, so it was better to change him and to avoid any red card.”

Maresca also highlighted the absence of Moisés Caicedo. “We missed Moi tonight,” he said. “We’re going to miss Moi in the next game. He’s an important player.

“Moi is a player that for us is an important player for any team in the world, because he’s top.”