Florian Wirtz: Analysing his first 7 Premier League games at Liverpool

Florian Wirtz has not had an ideal start to life at Liverpool – but has he been as bad as some of his harshest critics are suggesting?

That’s the question we’ll look to answer today. We will look at Florian Wirtz’s first seven Premier League games and evaluate his overall performance. Additionally, we’ll also give our verdict as to whether he can be a long-term success in England’s top flight or not.

With an enormous price tag of £116 million, Wirtz arrived at Liverpool amid a tidal wave of hype – but we’ve seen little more than a light drizzle since he made his debut for the Reds. Let’s view the damage report of his first septet of Premier League matches.

Florian Wirtz vs other top Premier League attacking midfielders

	Games	Goals	Assists
Florian Wirtz	7	0	0
Eberechi Eze	6	2	0
Morgan Rogers	7	2	0
Phil Foden	5	1	0
Bruno Fernandes	7	2	0
Xavi Simons	4	0	1

Liverpool 4-2 Bournemouth

A steady, if unspectacular Premier League debut for the German international. While he failed to score a goal or register an assist against Bournemouth, he still managed to do what he does best – playing sharp, incisive passes into dangerous areas.

He made three key passes and nine passes into the final third, making him the Reds’ most active creative player, though he ended up with little to show for his efforts.

Newcastle United 2-3 Liverpool

Wirtz was far less effective against Newcastle United, failing to have any sort of influence over the game. He made errors, on the ball and fell short of standards defensively, but his passing compeletion rate was impressive at 96%.

Liverpool may have won this one, but it was nonetheless one to forget for Wirtz. He simply couldn’t deal with the press exacted upon him by Newcastle’s midfield three of Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali and Joelinton.

Liverpool 1-0 Arsenal

This was a better game for Wirtz – he was able to assert himself more effectively against Arsenal, even if he would come away empty handed after he was substituted in the 89th minute for Wataru Endo.

His dribbling came into play in this one, as he gave Arsenal problems while running at their defence. He couldn’t unlock their backline, but it wasn’t for lack of effort.

Burnley 0-1 Liverpool

Liverpool’s game against Burnley at Turf Moor was a very difficult one for Wirtz to operate him. Burnley set up a very robust low block from the off and prevented him from having any influence over the proceedings.

Liverpool would scrape a win in this one, but only thanks to a Mohamed Salah penalty. This certainly wasn’t Wirtz at his best by any stretch, but credit must be given to the Clarets for keeping him quiet.

Liverpool 2-1 Everton

Wirtz was not named in the starting XI for the Merseyside Derby against Everton, instead being relegated to a substitute appearance on the hour mark when he replaced Cody Gakpo.

Even still, Wirtz’s involvement in this one was minimal. He made just eight passes during his time on the pitch, all of which either went sideways or backwards. Concerning.

Crystal Palace 2-1 Liverpool

Wirtz was shunted out wide in this game as Dominik Szoboszlai took the number ten position. He fared little better here and neither did Liverpool, as they succumbed to their first Premier League defeat of the season against Crystal Palace.

Once again, Wirtz was quiet. He played just one key pass throughout the whole game, once again failing to score a goal or register an assist.

Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool

When Liverpool took on Chelsea, once again, Wirtz failed to make the starting XI. He was introduced at the beginning of the second half as Conor Bradley was brought off.

During this 45 minutes, Wirtz would make just 12 passes and completed zero progressive carries. Worryingly, Wirtz does not seem to be improving – if anything, his performances are regressing.

What’s the verdict so far on the German starlet?

Wirtz certainly hasn’t taken to the Premier League like a duck to water. He seems to lack the necessary physical attributes to be truly effective in England’s top flight and also struggles to meet the tempo of a fast-paced Premier League encounter.

The techincal attributes are certainly there, but he is often too far behind the game to have an impact. In many ways, he is resembling Joao Felix during his Chelsea stint – another highly-skilled operator who simply could not cope with the speed of which the game is played in England.

He, too, was branded an overly-expensive flop – but he didn’t cost £116 million. Wirtz will need to start finding his feet at Liverpool – or he runs the risk of being the greatest waste of money in football history.