Florian Wirtz - Welcome to LFC

[RedReet]

That we are now somewhat unbalanced with Wirtz in the team was entirely predictable. I'm not saying we can't figure this out but it will take some figuring out before we see the best of him or of us with him in the team. FWIW, I thought he played well against Bournemouth but couldn't find his feet at all against Newcastle. I don't expect there to be many more games this season like the one we had last night but it is what it is. I remain fascinated to see what the coaching staff come up with.

It's impossible to draw any concrete conclusions at this stage.

So far we've had to contend with Konate playing like he's been drugged, Virg doing the same against Palace, Kerkez looking well off the pace, losing both RB's, not having our main DM for 2/3's of the games, MacAllister struggling for fitness and our best player (Mo) falling well short of his usual standards. There is a lot going on there to be able to conclude that playing Wirtz AM is teh reason we are conceding goals.

It's also worth nothing that Wirtz has been off the pitch when half our PL goals have been conceded and even if you factor in pre-season, the two main matches, Milan and Bilbao, Wirtz was off the pitch for 4 of those goals.

In terms of tactics, Slot has been pitch perfect since he arrived. He clearly has a plan for how he wants to set up with Wirtz playing AM, so let's have the opportunity to hit our stride before we decide what is and what isn't working.

[The_weatherman]

Wirtz will be fine, that Newcastle fight was probably the worst "football" match he's ever participated in.

[RedReet]

Wirtz will be fine, that Newcastle fight was probably the worst "football" match he's ever participated in.

He kept making runs, kept making himself available when he could easily have went hiding. Bodes well.

[vlahka]

He just needs to get used to the style of physical opponents in the league. Once that happens he'll be glorious.

[memzey]

It could be that he has yet to acclimatise to English football or that we are yet to figure out the best setup for him and us as a team. I don't know what it is and I'm not suggesting we won't crack it at some point. I do think it needs cracking though as we don't look as effective with him in the starting line up as we did for most of last season with our regular midfield three.
I'm tempted to say that, when Macca is back and back to his best, things will begin to click but then we would be talking about dropping Dom who is massive for us in many ways. I think he has to either show us something we haven't seen from him before or we have to play in a way we haven't played before in order for him and the team to be optimised and for us to therefore be better than we were last season. It will be very interesting to see how this plays out.

[BG1973]

Early days, but I dont think he quite fits the system. Klopp never used this kind of player. He always wanted a Wijnaldum/Dom type player, and i think we can see why. Wirtz probably needs to bulk up a bit. The alternative his plays in one if the front 3 roles (I thought he was going to play as false 9 whem we bought him). Otherwise I think he will have to be used to rotation and playing against less physical sides until he bulk up.

He certainly has the attributes to make it. I think the price tag comes with expectations, but Id rather have Dom start and bring him on with Rio and run the defence to death in the last quarter.

I think the game showed Jones isnt the man for high intensity games either

Klopp had Coutinho who was incredibly effective in that system.

[memzey]

Remind me, what exactly did we win with Coutinho in the team? Don't think it was much, unless I'm mistaken.

[RedReet]

Klopp had Coutinho who was incredibly effective in that system.

Tried to get Fakir too.

Funny, when Rafa played 2 holding players there was outrage. Never work, too defensive, not how things work in England.

Rodgers played two No. 10's. Madness, we'll get tore apart.

Klopp plays his midfield trio. No goals, most beige midfield ever, we're ****.

Slot tries play one AM with two defensive minded midfielders. Crazy man, what's he thinking, will never work.

Glad I'm not a manager.

[Catrin]

In fairness under Brendan we conceded 201 goals in 166 games so we were a tad iffy defensively. The Welsh Xavi bless him didn’t have the physique of a dominant defensive midfielder.

[rudedog]

Remind me, what exactly did we win with Coutinho in the team? Don't think it was much, unless I'm mistaken.

Why is that relevant? Klopp was here for 4 years before he won anything, don’t those 4 years count?

[peterbread]

Don’t forget we shouldn’t buy Isak because we’ve got Ekitike, how dare they have two players for one position.

[memzey]

Why is that relevant? Klopp was here for 4 years before he won anything, don’t those 4 years count?

Relevant to the point of "incredibly effective". If that formation/player combo was as described, you'd expect a club like Liverpool to win some major trophies with it. I think you've pointed out that neither Brendog nor Klopp managed to do that. It might have been incredibly effective at making Coutinho look good but it wasn't quite so good at putting trophies in the cabinet.

Anyway, that's neither here nor there tbh mate, Coutinho's list of medals can be found in the record books. Wirtz seems a very good player. I just can't see how we incorporate him into our team and pattern of play, in a way that actually makes us better, without some fairly significant changes or new information on player and/or team. That's not to say Arne and his team don't know how to, just that it isn't apparent to me, yet. As I keep saying, it will be fascinating to see how they crack that nut.

[rudedog]

You can have an effective player playing in a team that doesn’t win trophies. We were ****e defensively until VVD and Ali came, that’s probably the main reason we didn’t win anything

[BG1973]

⁰

Remind me, what exactly did we win with Coutinho in the team? Don't think it was much, unless I'm mistaken.

Because we were poor defensively until Ali and Virgil came in with coutinho money. We didn't win anything with salah, mane, Bobby in the team and then we did.. same would have happened with PC. He was an asset and so will be Wirtz.

[memzey]

I’m not saying Wirtz won’t be an asset. The collective needs some work though, surely that is obvious, unless you think this is as good as it’s going to get? The Coutinho thing, and it’s bizarre that we’re even discussing it, doesn’t make a compelling case for setting up with Wirtz as a No. 10. I just find it interesting that some would consider it “incredibly effective” despite the lack of silverware. I’d say our previous seasons’ midfield or the midfield with Gini, Hendo and Fab were incredibly effective. Not pretty, just effective, and I’d always take trophies over pretty play.