Dominik Szoboszlai is Liverpool's best player but his physicality also highlights what Arne Slot's side are missing

Liverpool supporters were urging Dominik Szoboszlai to fling the ball into the box. They were anxious. Maybe even his manager was too. "It felt to me it was the last moment," said Arne Slot. "To stay so cool when everyone was expecting the ball to come in…"

It took the swagger of Szoboszlai to take responsibility, ignore the easy passes, shifting left and then right before producing the cross that led to Liverpool's 97th-minute winner at Nottingham Forest. Jamie Carragher called it football arrogance on Sky Sports.

"I think now he has got the arrogance of, 'I am the best player in this team. I am one of the best players in the Premier League and European football and I am going to make something happen here.' That comes from confidence, arrogance," Carragher explained.

How Liverpool could do with more like him because this was a victory that came with many red flags. Slot's side appeared utterly unable to cope with Forest's intensity during the first half, passing the ball slowly and pressing even slower. They looked so lethargic.

Szoboszlai is the exception, as he has been all season. Mohamed Salah acknowledged recently that Liverpool rely on the Hungarian so much and the difficulty for Slot is that despite the energy that he brings to match the class, there is still only one of him to pick.

He is having to fill in at right-back because of injuries, leading to the peculiar spectacle of Liverpool's standout player of the season being asked to spend much of it out of position. He is better than the other options there. But he is better than them elsewhere as well.

Slot had to move him into midfield because Curtis Jones was struggling badly to cover in there following Florian Wirtz's injury on the eve of kick-off. "He takes too long on the ball," said Carragher of Jones, somewhat ironically given Szoboszlai's composure late on.

"It was about having more control over their midfield," revealed Slot. Szoboszlai's quality in possession has been important too. He created five chances against Forest. The rest of his teammates mustered three between them. But it is this physicality that is key.

The outrageous free-kicks against Arsenal and Manchester City deservedly garnered headlines and there have been many more key contributions in the Champions League. But while others have produced moments none compare in terms of running power.

He ranks top for Liverpool in terms of distance covered and sprints. More worryingly, he seems to be playing at a different pace to his colleagues. "We face players of … different physicality," recognised Slot in his press conference after the game at the City Ground.

Liverpool know it is an issue, an imbalance. They are experiencing it too often in the Premier League. And in Szoboszlai they have an example right there on their own training ground of the standards that the rest of the squad will need to reach if they are to address it.