He’s got no goals and no assists in three Premier League games, has had four shots, created four chances, completed three successful dribbles and has had just ten touches in the opposition box, and there was no let up in the criticism of Liverpool’s new playmaker while international duty. ‘What’s wrong with Florian Wirtz?’ asked BILD.
Having described Germany’s 2-0 loss to Slovakia as a ‘brutal embarrassment’, much of the focus of their report on the defeat – which amusingly leaves Julian Nagelsmann’s side bottom of Group A below Luxembourg after the opening game – was on the contribution, or rather lack of it, from Wirtz.
Nagelsmann claimed his team lacked “emotionality” on the field, threatening to select players in future based on desire rather than skill.
“Maybe we really do need to rely less on quality and instead on players who just give everything, because that would have led to better results today than if the best players played,” he said.
It’s not clear whether the barb was in any way aimed in Wirtz’s direction, but the image of him squaring up to Ondrej Duda rather than chasing back to retain possession having lost the ball himself in the build-up to Solvakia’s opener will be a hard one to shake and won’t endear him to the German boss, who was counting on him to lead the attack in the absence of Jamal Musiala.
Other than one moment of promise when he showed a tidy bit of footwork before forcing Martin Dubravka into a decent save in the first half, he was ‘almost invisible’ according to BILD.
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A pass accuracy of 70%, a game-high eight duels lost and a 20 per cent dribble success rate suggests Sport1‘s claim that he went ‘completely under the radar’ is reasonable, while the revelation that he ‘couldn’t live up to the demands placed on him’ is equally applicable to to the start of his Premier League career.
Liverpool have won all three of their games to start the season, but Wirtz’s impact has been negligible. His best display came last time out against Arsenal, but it felt significant that the crucial blow was struck by one of his rivals for a spot in the team, Dominik Szoboszlai.
And Slot suggested after Wirtz was forced off late on as he closed in on his first full 90 minutes in a Reds shirt, that there remains a gap between where the 22-year-old is and where he needs to be to succeed in the Premier League.
“It wasn’t an injury. It was a welcome to the Premier League,” Slot said. “It was after 85 minutes and I don’t think he knew he could have cramp in so many different places. That’s what happened.”
Maybe Wirtz’s form following his £100m transfer represents no more than a struggle to adapt to the increase in intensity, with that fatigue carried over into the international games. But in a league where there is such a high value placed on that physicality, while Arne Slot searches for reasons why his team looks so much more fallible this season compared to last, the cause may be the talented but already knackered £100m summer signing staring him in the face.
