Liverpool have a Florian Wirtz problem.
There’s now no escaping this elephant in the room. The Germany international was given a platform to impress against Manchester City and to say he failed miserably would be a bit of an understatement.
Yes, Andoni Iraola‘s side were without Alexander Isak, Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai. But the Spaniard’s starting lineup should have, at least in theory, suited Wirtz.
Liverpool had pace on either flank in Bradley Barcola and Victor Munoz. Alongside him, he had the raw but energetic Lewis Koumas. A complaint often levelled at Isak is that he doesn’t do enough work without the ball and this puts even more pressure on Wirtz. Koumas, however, is the complete opposite. He never stops.
Behind him, Iraola went with Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch. That duo is made up of a passer and a ball-carrier. Both create space for Wirtz. It should’ve been the perfect storm for the £116million signing. His most memorable moment was when he picked up a pass from Gravenberch, ignored Milos Kerkez and Barcola before firing an effort from distance wide, much to the visible annoyance of his teammates.
With players injured and Barcola still finding his feet in this team, the pressure was on Wirtz to deliver something. He didn’t. And now the pressure has increased tenfold.
Liverpool’s Florian Wirtz problem
The weight of expectation
Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher hasn’t shied away from singling our Writz this season. And he once again honed in on the German after the defeat to Man City.
“He played really well for Germany under Jurgen Klopp. But he has come here today, I’m looking at the game with no Isak and no Gakpo, our two best attackers this season. We need Barcola and we need Wirtz to step up and help Munoz and Koumas at the top of the pitch. Koumas and Munoz were better than the two £100m players.
“There was absolutely nothing today where you thought he put someone through, or nearly scored. There’s absolutely no goal threat whatsoever.”
Wirtz had two shots against Man City before being replaced as Liverpool went down to 10 men. Both efforts were low value, combining for 0.2 Expected Goals. Both were speculative at best.
For so long, the narrative around Wirtz was him not having the right environment to flourish. He had it against Man City. The German had pace around him and willing runners. He had the atmosphere. The expectation was he’d do something to remind everyone why Liverpool wanted to build their attack around him. Yet you come away from the game with more questions than answers.
It wasn’t a performance of a player who wanted to be the main man in this team.
Lack of output
With Isak, the team’s top scorer, and Gakpo, the team’s greatest creative threat this term, both out injured, the pressure was on Wirtz to step up, one way or another.
While in Germany playing for Bayer Leverkusen, he was a goalscorer and a creative threat. Liverpool weren’t asking him to be both at Anfield against Premier League leaders Man City. He just needed to be one of those things. Spearhead the attack, either as a genuine threat or someone pulling the strings.
He couldn’t do that though. Wirtz had low-value shots and created low-value chances. He failed to complete a single take-on and lost the ball 17 times. The worst part of it all? Simple passes looked difficult.
This was a Man City side who had been giving up chances and didn’t look at all resolute, resilient or set defensively. Wirtz was signed to be the main man in attack, it’s why Mo Salah was sacrificed in a lot of ways, and if this was an audition, he would’ve failed miserably. Salah used to dominate these games, even when he wasn’t playing well.
Shoehoring Wirtz into the team
During his time in Germany, Wirtz thrived as an inverted left-sided attacker in Xabi Alonso’s 3-4-2-1 shape. He was given the freedom to drift inside from the left but he wasn’t tasked with shoring things up centrally. He also had a solid set-up behind him with three centre-backs and two sitting midfielders.
At Liverpool, he’s responsible for the defensive side of things, especially as part of a high press. Yet he’ll naturally drift to the left and this forces one of the midfielders to step up and fill in on the right for balance.
The Reds are accommodating Wirtz right now. He’s a luxury but there’s no luxury returns. It’s a problem. He’s a problem. Perhaps better suited to a left-sided role, his lack of pace means it’s unlikely Iraola will ever entertain that idea. For now, he’s being shoehorned into a role he’s never really impressed in.