According to Imna news agency and quoted by Goal, Liverpool did not start very well under Andoni Iraola and won only one of their first four games in the Premier League. The fans were in desperate need of some hope after a disappointing goalless draw against Fulham at Anfield, but they were put under pressure again in the third round of the League Cup; Where the Reds faced Tottenham.
Two goals from Alexis McAllister and Cody Khakpo gave Liverpool a 2-0 lead, but Conor Gelger pulled one back for Spurs in the 69th minute and the away team intensified their attacks to equalize. However, the Reds held on and eventually leveled in stoppage time with a breathtaking moment of genius from Dominik Soboslai.
Khakpo got the ball on the left side and sent it over the head of the defender towards Sobuslay. The Hungarian midfielder controlled the ball with his chest before unleashing a powerful shot that went past the outstretched arms of Tottenham goalkeeper Martin Dubravka and into the top corner. That 35-yard shot thrilled the home fans, but no one was surprised to see such a goal; Soboslay was already known as a long-range shot specialist.
Indeed, since Soboslai joined Liverpool from Leipzig in the summer of 2023, no player in the Premier League has scored more goals from outside the box in all competitions; Soboslay has scored 13 goals from this area during this period. This Hungarian national team player, in response to the question where he ranks his recent goal among the best goals of his career, said: I say it is in my top five goals. When you hit a good shot, you feel it yourself. I thought the ball was going to the middle, but I saw it went to the right. Everything was great.
For years there was widespread concern that Pep Guardiola's popular school of thought, which focused on complex patterns of play and getting the ball into the goal with the least possible risk, was destroying the art of spectacular shots. But Soboslay is almost single-handedly turning this style into a new fad.
Spectacular shots
Shooting from distance was an important part of football in the 1990s and early 2000s because defenses were not as compact as they are today. Many teams would sit back to protect the goal, giving opposing players plenty of space to prepare for a shot.
Fans and coaches also actively encouraged players to try their luck and test the goalkeeper. Although many shots went into the sky or out of bounds, spectacular goals were a common occurrence during that era. Many fans consider Matt Le Tissier's 35-yard strike for Southampton against Blackburn in 1994 or Tony Yebois' classic volley for Leeds United against Liverpool in August 1995 as the first true examples of spectacular shots in Premier League history. Yeboa was able to go even further almost a month later; After fooling the Wimbledon defender with a perfectly deceptive move, he smashed the ball into the post from near the edge of the box with a superb shot.
In 1996, Manchester United legend David Beckham famously scored a goal against the same team from inside their own half. Four years later, Beckham sent the ball to Paul Scholes in a practiced move from a corner, and United's red wizard curled a precise volley into the bottom corner.
In December 2006, Scholes won the BBC Match of the Day Goal of the Month award with a similar goal against Aston Villa, but all the nominees in that competition deserved the award. Portsmouth player Matt Taylor beat Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard from 55 yards. Michael Essien's chipped shot also leveled Chelsea against Arsenal, and Morten Gamest Pedersen put the ball into the roof of the net for Blackburn against Newcastle.
There were many more unforgettable examples; There are so many of them that it is not possible to review them all here, and that is the main point of the story. At that time, the fans were faced with a flood of such goals. Unfortunately, with the evolution of football in the 2010s, these events became rarer.
Data-driven tactics
According to Opta data released in December 2025, an average of 85.7% of Premier League goals since 2003-04 have been scored from inside the penalty area, and the average conversion rate of these chances was 15%. The introduction of soccer data changed everything; Not just in English football, but across Europe.
Careful and obsessive coaches like Guardiola prioritized creating more quality chances closer to goal. The expected goals index or xG became the main measure for measuring the quality of scoring opportunities and for each shot, a number between zero and one is considered to indicate the probability that it will turn into a goal. Analysts and data scientists found that a 30-yard shot typically had less than a three percent chance of hitting the net, and because of that, big teams considered such shots a waste of possession.
Deep defenses also became obsolete over time and gave way to the high defense line. Modern football is based on the intensity of pressing and hitting the opponent in transitions. When this system is executed correctly, forwards and attacking players are directly one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and as a result, there is much less need to shoot from distance.
where is the love
This development did not go well with former players who were popular for their ability to create miraculous shots; Including Jamie Redknapp, the former midfielder of Liverpool and the England national team, who spoke about this issue in 2024. In an interview with iPaper, Redknapp said: Today's players are trained almost down to the smallest possible detail. It's almost as if they don't think for themselves anymore.
He added: If we let academicians and statisticians manage football, where is the purity of football? where is the love Where are those great moments that go down in history? Tell Bobby Charlton not to shoot from 25 yards, because the xG of that position is 0.1. You are the best shooter in the world, but don't shoot from there because some coaches say the chances of scoring are less.
The former English midfielder emphasized: I practiced a lot on long shots. But now you see less of that, because players probably don't practice it enough. This is where you have to have a sense of yourself, you have to take some of the decision-making away from the academics, the coaches and the stats and say: You know what? I shoot right here. Statistics should never hinder intuition.
In the 2005-06 season, 48.2% of all Premier League shots were taken from outside the 18-yard box, which is still the highest figure in the history of this competition. By the 2011-12 season, this number had dropped to 44 percent, and the average in recorded data since the 2020s has been between 31.7 and 33.1 percent.
This statistic clearly shows that that love for long shots has waned and players are playing more mechanically and based on patterns than by feel. Of course, this is not the case for everyone. There will always be players who go against the accepted norms; Players like Soboslay. There are also coaches who not only agree with Redknapp's point of view, but are actively trying to bring back the good old days.
On Gerard's way
Liverpool have been without a long-range specialist since the departure of club legend Steven Gerrard. During his time in the Premier League, Gerrard scored 33 goals from outside the penalty area; A statistic that only Frank Lampard and Beckham are better than. From the moment he arrived at Anfield, Soboslai has been compared to Gerrard for wearing the number 8 shirt and has openly admitted to having a tattoo inspired by the former England star.
Whenever Gerrard got a chance to shoot, no matter how far from the goal, the Liverpool fans wanted him to shoot. He had an incredibly powerful right foot and his technique was impeccable. From his 30-yard shot against Manchester United in 2001 and his superb last-minute goal in the Champions League decider against Olympiakos that saved Liverpool, to his superb slashing strike against Middlesbrough from 40 yards and his spectacular volley in Liverpool's thrilling victory over West Ham in the 2006 FA Cup final; Gerrard has a series of incredible goals in his career.
Remarkably, Soboslai is already closing in on Gerrard in long-range shots, despite being in a completely different environment in the Premier League that rewards systematic players more than bold, out-of-the-box players. He can produce the same shooting power as Gerrard and direct the ball at will; At the same time, whenever he gets an opportunity from an unusual angle or distance, he works confidently to find the target.
In fact, 42% of Soboslai's 31 goals for Liverpool to date have come from distance. The former Leipzig star scored his first goal in Liverpool's red shirt with a superb volley from the edge of the penalty area against Aston Villa; A flower that was a sign of things to come. This former Leipzig player is not programmed to choose the safe and low-risk option; He knows that whenever the right opportunity presents itself, he can make the difference with a shot, which makes him a unique weapon for the Reds.
Free kick specialist
If it wasn't for Soboslai's incredible confidence, maybe Liverpool wouldn't be in the Champions League right now. The Reds narrowly missed out on the title in Arne Slott's final season on the bench, finishing fifth in the Premier League. Sobuslay also scored 13 important goals in the competition, eight of which were from outside the penalty area.
This was the season where he also established himself as a free kick specialist. Soboslay scored five goals from free kicks, four of which were in the Premier League, setting a new record for the club in a single season.
His first goal from a free-kick sealed a late 1-0 home win for Liverpool against eventual champions Arsenal. In that scene, Soboslay sent the ball to the top corner of the goal with a powerful and cutting shot from a distance of 32.5 yards; The shot that defeated David Raya completely and hit the post on the way to the goal. This goal was finally chosen as the goal of the season and ranks among the best goals in the history of the Premier League.
Soboslay also scored a beautiful header in Liverpool's 3-2 defeat against Bournemouth and challenged his performance against Arsenal with an unstoppable knuckleball in a 2-1 home defeat to Manchester City. He also scored his fourth goal from a free-kick in a 1-1 draw against Tottenham, although he was aided by a poor mistake by Spurs goalkeeper Wilhelm Vissario.
In a specialist free-kick training session with Redknapp for Sky Sports in May, Soboslai revealed that he only focuses on the ball and aims to make contact with the ball valve; The technique that Cristiano Ronaldo used in the first period of his presence in Manchester United brought it to the public's attention more than ever. Soboslay usually has a similar approach during the game when he finds a yard of space; He hits the exact center of the ball to minimize spin, and by keeping his foot forward short, creates a spiraling trajectory and redirection of the ball in the air.
There is always a place to express yourself
Iraola seems to want to make even more use of Soboslai's abilities this season, encouraging Liverpool to shoot more from distance. Speaking to Liverpool's official media after last week's win over Tottenham, McAllister said: “We train a lot on shooting. The second has this ability, it is natural for him.
Now it seems that other players in the Premier League are following the example of Liverpool's beloved number 8, at least to some extent. Only 13.9 percent of Premier League goals were scored from outside the penalty area last season, but after the first five weeks of the new season, this figure has reached 17.2 percent. Meanwhile, the share of goals scored from inside the penalty area has also decreased from 25.1% to 18.7%; Statistics published by The Guardian.
The surprise of this season, Brighton, has played a big role in this process. Lewis Dunk scored a superb 30-yard shot and Yassin Ayari opened the scoring from outside the box in a 5-0 win over Coventry City. Pascal Gross and Charalampos Kostoulas also both scored from outside the box during the Seagulls' stunning 3-0 win over Arsenal on Saturday. Meanwhile, Emiliano Buendia scored Aston Villa's third goal in a 3-2 win over Tottenham with a shot from 25 yards.
Shallow defenses and low defensive blocks will once again be used regularly, as the so-called smaller teams try to stop the big teams and the mid-table teams become bolder. As a result, the temptation to shoot from a distance is increasing once again; Especially now that Guardiola is no longer around to preach the importance of endless possession and turnover.
Soboslay deserves a lot of credit for this change in romantic approach. He has shown that there should always be a place for self-expression and real risk-taking in football. Pure instinct can still trump algorithms and remind people why they fell in love with the beautiful game in the first place.
