Florian Wirtz’s record of seven Premier League games for Liverpool without a goal or assist has been defended by Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann using false statistics.
Wirtz has been nicknamed 007 for his record of seven Premier League games with no statistical impact after his £100m-plus move for Bayer Leverkusen.
And now Nagelsmann has said it’s “not his fault if his team-mates don’t convert” the chances being created by Wirtz.
“Even though he hasn’t scored any goals, he is still the player who creates the most chances in the Premier League,” said Nagelsmann ahead of Germany’s World Cup qualifying clash with Northern Ireland.
“It’s not his fault if his teammates don’t convert them, and the statistics don’t even tell the whole story. He hasn’t always had it easy – he’ll have to work hard now too.
“Wirtz needs to get used to the league. I saw him playing with total freedom. He knows what he’s capable of and how things work.”
The problem is that Nagelsmann is way off with his numbers, quoting an old tweet from Opta that referenced all games in all competitions.
In reality, Wirtz is joint-15th for chances created in the Premier League this season.
Who has created the most chances in the Premier League this season?
1) Bruno Fernandes (19)
2) Jack Grealish (17)
3=) Cody Gakpo, Anton Stach (14)
5=) Sean Longstaff, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Bryan Mbeumo, Mohammed Kudus (13)
9=) Jeremy Doku, James Ward-Prowse, Declan Rice, Sandro Tonali, Yankuba Minteh, Mo Salah (12)
14=) Kieran Trippier, Adam Wharton, Florian Wirtz, Sasa Lukic, Iliman Ndiaye, Lucas Paqueta (11)
So as you can see, Wirtz has created fewer chances than many brilliant Premier League players but also Anton Stach and Sean Longstaff of Leeds United, and two Everton players in Jack Grealish and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
Wirtz has been defended by former Liverpool boss (and German) Jurgen Klopp, who said on German TV: “His quality is so outstanding.
“The discussions are a bit exaggerated.
“Liverpool just lost three games in a row, which is unusual. But that’s also normal in life. And that’s why such things are discussed there.
“[Wirtz is] a once-in-a-century talent, and at some point he’ll show that in every game again, just as he did at Leverkusen.”
At least Klopp did not resort to two-week-old tweets from Opta for his defence of Wirtz.
In fact, Wirtz makes no appearances on any of the stats-leading lists in the Premier League, with Grealish and Kudus leading the assist charts and Grealish leading from Gakpo in the list of Premier League players with highest xAG.
