Liverpool´s FA Cup win over Barnsley too ´tight´, concedes Slot

Arne Slot was delighted that Liverpool were able to secure their place in the fourth round of the FA Cup, but admitted their win over Barnsley was a bit too tight for comfort.

Liverpool secured a 4-1 win over Barnsley and a place in the fourth round, in which they will play Brighton, but it was a nervous game until late goals from Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike.

Dominik Szoboszlai and Jeremie Frimpong scored stunning goals to put Liverpool 2-0 up, but the Hungarian then gifted a goal to Adam Phillips by attempting a backheel pass to Giorgi Mamardashvili inside his six-yard box.

Liverpool have now progressed from 14 of their last 15 FA Cup third-round ties – since 2011-12, that is the joint-most of any side, along with Chelsea and Manchester City.

And Wirtz became the Reds’ first German scorer in the FA Cup since Markus Babbel in February 2001 against Man City.

He also has now scored three goals in his five games for Liverpool, having failed to score in his first 22, and Slot was particularly impressed with his impact off the bench.

“I was happy with the goals we scored – they were nice goals,” Slot said.

“But I think it was a game that was tight for far too long because, at 2-0, and then giving a goal away like that made it difficult until 5-10 minutes before the end.

“So yeah, good goals but not enough chances from all the ball possession we had.

“If you come in for half an hour, and you have a goal and an assist and a few other good moments, you can definitely say he [Wirtz] brought something creative to the team and that we needed.”

Szoboszlai became the first Liverpool player to score and make an error leading to a goal in a match since Alexis Mac Allister against Tottenham in December 2024.

And his only touch in his own penalty area in the first half was the error leading to Barnsley’s goal.

“I don’t think you should do that in an FA Cup game or League Cup, a friendly game or even a training session,” Slot said of Szoboszlai’s mistake.

“It’s a weird choice, and I also have my opinion about it, but I prefer to keep that to myself and speak about that with Dom.”

Despite that, Szoboszlai also became the first Premier League player this season in all competitions to score a goal, complete 100+ passes (105) and win possession 10+ times (12) in a single match.

“Sorry to the team again – I made it hard for us,” Szoboszlai said. “It was an easy mistake, I would say. Football happens, and we move on.

“We wanted to show that we take the FA Cup seriously. We always take it seriously. We showed again, we need the whole squad.

“The new guys came in, who didn’t play as much as the others, and they showed lots of quality. We need everyone.”