Dominik Szoboszlai is making scoring screamers cool again

Shooting from distance was a key part of the game in the 1990s and early 2000s because defences were not nearly as compact as they are today. Many teams dropped deep into the penalty area to protect their goal, leaving acres of space for opponents to wind up and have a crack.

Fans and managers actively encouraged a 'try your luck' or 'test the goalkeeper' mentality, and while plenty of shots ending up flying high or wide, spectacular goals were commonplace. Most fans will point to Matt Le Tissier's 35-yard special for Southampton against Blackburn in 1994, or Tony Yeboah's classic volley for Leeds United against Liverpool in August 1995 as the earliest examples of a true Premier League screamer. Yeboah almost topped it the following month, too, cracking the ball in off the crossbar from the edge of the box after deceiving a Wimbledon defender with a perfect dummy.

In 1996, Manchester United legend David Beckham famously scored from inside his own half against the same opponent. Four years later, Beckham set Paul Scholes up in a training-ground corner routine against Bradford City and United's ginger magician sent a crisp, first-time volley flying into the bottom corner.

Scholes won BBC Match of the Day's Goal of the Month contest in December 2006 for a similar effort against Aston Villa, but every single contender was worthy of the prize. Portsmouth's Matt Taylor beat Everton No.1 Tim Howard from 55 yards, Michael Essien's bending outside-of-the foot rocket earned Chelsea a draw against Arsenal, and Morten Gamst Pedersen hit the roof of the net for Blackburn against Newcastle with a sublime arrowed shot.

There were so many more unforgettable screamers - too many to recall in full here, and that's the point. We were spoiled with them. Sadly, as football evolved in the 2010s, they became a far rarer occurrence.

Per information from Opta provided in December 2025, on average, 85.7 percent of Premier League goals (since 2003-04) were scored from inside the box, at an average conversion rate of 15%. The introduction of football data changed everything, and not just in English football, but across the whole of Europe.

Meticulous coaches like Guardiola started to prioritise creating higher-value, close-range opportunities. Expected goals (xG) became the go-to-metric for measuring the quality of a scoring chance, with every shot assigned a value between 0 and 1 to represent the probability that it will result in a goal. Data analysts and scientists worked out that a shot from 30 yards typically has less than a 3% chance of going in, and so top teams viewed them as a waste of valuable possession.

Deep-lying defences became outdated, too, replaced by the high line. Modern football is about pressing intensity and hurting teams on the transition. When it works, forwards and strikers are put through directly on goal, with much less reason to pull the trigger from distance.

This evolution didn't sit well with former players who were beloved for their penchant for miraculous shooting feats, including ex-Liverpool and England midfielder Jamie Redknapp, who spoke out on the issue in 2024. "Players now are coached almost to within an inch of their lives. It’s almost like they don’t think for themselves," Redknapp told the iPaper.

"If we let academics and statisticians run the game, where is the pureness of it? Where’s the love? Where are the big moments that go down in history? Try telling Bobby Charlton, 'Don’t shoot from 25 yards because the xG is 0.1. You’re the best striker of the ball the world’s ever seen but don’t shoot from there because there are a couple of coaches that say you’ve got less chance.'

"I practised long shots a lot. But it’s something you see less now because players probably don’t do it enough. This is where you have to have a feel, you have to take things away from academics and coaches and stats and go, 'You know what, I’m going to have a shot here.' Stats should never get in the way of the feel of it."

In the 2005-06 campaign, 48.2% of all shots in the Premier League were taken from outside the 18-yard box, which remains an all-time high. By 2011-12, that figure had dipped to 44%, and the average sits between 31.7% and 33.1% from data collected in the 2020s so far.

That certainly proves that the "love" has diminished and players have been operating more mechanically than by "feel". It's not universal, though. There will always be those who go against the accepted norms, like Szoboszlai, and managers who not only share Redknapp's sentiments, but also play an active role in helping to facilitate a return to the 'good old days'.

Liverpool had lacked a long-range specialist since the departure of club icon Steven Gerrard, who scored 33 Premier League goals from outside the box during his career - a total only bettered by Frank Lampard and Beckham. Szoboszlai was compared to Gerrard from the moment he touched down at Anfield because he inherited his No.8 shirt, and he openly admitted to having a tattoo inspired by the England international.

Whenever Gerrard had a sight of goal, no matter how far out he was, Liverpool fans urged him to shoot. He possessed a cannon for a right foot and his technique was flawless. From his 30-yard blast against Manchester United in 2001 and last-minute belter to bail Liverpool out in their Champions League decider against Olympiacos, to a tremendous dipping strike against Middlesbrough from 40 yards and his exquisite half-volley in Liverpool's thrilling 2006 FA Cup win over West Ham, Gerrard has a vault full of goals that defy belief.

Remarkably, Szoboszlai is already rivalling Gerrard in that department, despite featuring in a very different Premier League environment designed to reward system players rather than mavericks. He can generate the same shot power as Gerrard and manipulate the ball to his will, while he always backs himself to find the target from audacious angles and distances.

Indeed, 42% of his 31 Liverpool goals to date have come from long range. Szoboszlai opened his account in the famous red shirt with a brilliant half-volley from the edge of the box against Aston Villa, which was a sign of what was to come. The former Leipzig star isn't programmed to take the safe option; he knows he can be the ultimate difference-maker when the opportunity arises, making him a unique weapon for the Reds.

Liverpool probably wouldn't be in the Champions League now if not for Szoboszlai's unerring self-confidence. They meekly surrendered the title while scraping to a fifth-placed Premier League finish in Arne Slot's final year at the helm, and Szoboszlai contributed 13 important goals across all competitions, with eight of them coming from outside the penalty area.

This was also the year that he established himself as a set-piece expert. Szoboszlai scored five free-kicks, including four in the Premier League to set a new single-season club record.

His first gave Liverpool a late 1-0 home win over eventual champions Arsenal, as he found the top corner from 32.5 yards with a venomous whipped shot that beat David Raya all ends up, nicking the post on its way in. That was eventually named Goal of the Season, and it's right up there with the best in the Premier League's entire history.

Szoboszlai also produced a lovely curler in Liverpool's 3-2 defeat at Bournemouth, and rivalled his effort against Arsenal with an unstoppable 'knuckleball' effort as the Reds lost 2-1 at home to Man City. He completed his quartet in the 1-1 draw with Spurs, though in that instance, he was helped by some awful goalkeeping from Guglielmo Vicario.

In a free-kick masterclass session with Redknapp for Sky Sports in May, Szoboszlai revealed that he "only focuses on the ball" and aims to connect with the valve - a technique initially brought into the public eye by Cristiano Ronaldo during his first spell at Manchester United. Szoboszlai usually takes the same approach when he gets a yard of space in open play, striking the dead centre of the ball to minimise rotational spin and keeping his follow-through short to create the mid-air swerving motion.

It would seem that Iraola is eager to capitalise even further on Szoboszlai's gifts this term as he pushes for Liverpool to let fly from range more often. "We are practising a lot of shooting," Mac Allister said to Liverpool's media channel after last week's win against Spurs. "Dom has it, it's natural for him."

Now, others are starting to follow the example set by Liverpool's talismanic No.8, certainly in the Premier League. Just 13.9% of goals scored in the competition last season came from outside the penalty box, but we're up to 17.2% after the first five rounds of the new campaign, while goals from inside the area have dropped from 25.1% to 18.7% - per The Guardian.

Surprise package Brighton have played a huge part, with Lewis Dunk smashing in a 30-yard corker and Yasin Ayari also finding the net from outside the box in a 5-0 thrashing of Coventry City. Pascal Gross and Charalampos Kostoulas both managed to do the same as the Seagulls took down Arsenal in a stunning 3-0 win on Saturday, while Emiliano Buendia slammed in Aston Villa's third goal from 25 yards in their 3-2 win against Tottenham.

Low defensive blocks are being deployed regularly again as the so-called lesser clubs attempt to stifle the elite, while the mid-tier sides have grown more bold. The temptation to have a pop from distance is growing again as a result, with Guardiola no longer around to preach the importance of endlessly recycling the ball.

Szoboszlai deserves a lot of credit for the romantic shift. He has shown there should always be room for self-expression and proper risk-taking. Pure instinct can still triumph over algorithms, and remind people of why they fell in love with the beautiful game in the first place.