In recent seasons, Old Trafford has been Mo Salah’s playground. The Liverpool winger has seven goals and three assists in his last five outings at the Theatre of Dreams.
However, Liverpool will be without their talisman when they make the trip to face Manchester United this weekend. Salah came off in the 59th minute against Crystal Palace last time out due to a hamstring injury. The fear is that he’ll miss the remainder of the season, meaning his farewell tour has been prematurely brought to an end.
Someone needs to step up in his absence. With Salah’s departure confirmed, someone needs to make this Liverpool team their own and shoulder the attacking burden. Florian Wirtz was signed to be that player, but his debut season has been a mixed one after his £116million arrival from Bayer Leverkusen.
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Wirtz’s slow start
Liverpool’s use of Wirtz has been questionable.
Wirtz was named Player of the Season twice in Germany while playing as a left-sided attacker. For Liverpool, he’s played a bit of everywhere, as seen in the minutes played position graphic above. The majority of his minutes have come as an attacking midfielder. It took a while for Arne Slot to fix on a role for his new No.7 and this, no doubt, had an impact on his settling in period.
In Liverpool’s 3-1 win over Crystal Palace last time out, Wirtz scored his first goal since January. It was his fifth in the Premier League overall, taking his number of goal involvements for the Reds up to eight.
The numbers don’t tell the whole story, though.
For example, the 22-year-old has an Expected Assists total of 5.9 in the Premier League, meaning his teammates’ finishing has deprived him of some assists this season. Had the chances he’d carved out been converted, Wirtz’s maiden Premier League campaign might be viewed a little differently. Especially when you compare his output to that of Bruno Fernandes’ this season.
How does Wirtz compare to Fernandes?
Fernandes is on course to break the record for the most assists in a single Premier League season. He’s on 19 so far, with four games left to play. Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne hold the record with 20 assists.
The Man Utd midfielder has recorded assists in each of his last three Premier League games, and would likely love number more than to at least match the two-decade record set by Henry in a match against Liverpool.
Set-pieces have done a lot of heavy lifting for Fernandes. Remove them from his underlying numbers, and he’s on 7.8 xA. He’s still one of the best creators in the Premier League but, all of a sudden, Wirtz’s haul of 5.6 open-play xA doesn’t look so bad, does it?
Factor in the use of the German playmaker, the fact it’s his debut season in England and the squad overhaul at Anfield and Wirtz’s numbers are solid. It’s a good base for him to build on next season where things should be a little more settled.
Differing styles
Dig a little deeper, and Wirtz’s output this season doesn’t look bad at all. He doesn’t take as many chances as Fernandes when in possession, but that’s likely because the Liverpool team isn’t set up to facilitate that. Man Utd platform their captain and allow him to be a bit of a scattergun. They want him to make something happened.
That’s why Fernandes is creating almost four chances per 90 minutes and playing 1.5 through balls. His passing accuracy is closer to 80% than it is 85%. A good way to paint a picture of Fernandes is to look at his pasing numbers compared to his carrying numbers.
He doesn’t progress the ball with a dribble. He gets the ball and he looks to play a pass.
Wirtz, on the other hand, has more strings to his bow. He can pass, and he can carry the ball. However, unlike Fernandes at Man Utd, the team isn’t built around Wirtz. He’s fitting into the Liverpool way, rather than bending this team to his whim. He’s not put his stamp on things properly. We’ve seen glimpses but we’ve not seen him dominate a game like Fernandes does for the Red Devils.
The game at Old Trafford is a perfect opportunity for Wirtz. If he steals the spotlight away from Fernandes on enemy territory, in the absence of Salah, it’ll be hugely encouraging. It’ll show that in a post-Salah world, Liverpool have someone who can be the focal point of this attack. It’ll show that Fernandes has a rival to his crown as the most creative player in the Premier League. And it’ll also give the Reds a chance to claim a third-placed finish this season and end the campaign on a high.
There’s lots at stake on Sunday. A lot more than just three points and it hinges entirely on Wirtz from a Liverpool perspective.