Florian Wirtz - Welcome to LFC

[Irishnev]

I had started replying to this yesterday, but seeing as I'm not one of those people (I don't think), I didn't finish.

I'm not sure who has called for Szobo to be dropped, but seeing as I've already been quoted and I've no doubt will be quoted again if Wirtz does get moved from AM, I will clarify my point.

I'm fairly certain I've never said Dom should be dropped, I'm a huge fan of his. However, going by Slot's and Witrz comments (ie Wirtz was bought to play no.10), I made the assumption that Wirtz would play no.10.

In terms of dropping Szobo, I said that wouldn't necessarily be the case, he'll cover other positions as well as AM at times and because we only have 5 players covering 3 positions, he'll get plenty of game time. So far he's played every game.

My gut instinct though was that if Slot had everyone available for Charity Shield, then Szobo would be the one to miss out, based purely on the fact that the player coming in, plays in his position from last year. That wouldn't be the case every game, but for teh first game someone would have to miss out and my guess is it would have been him.

Despite Wirtz being a famous, world class player, I never once pretended to know much about him or how he plays. Reports suggested he put in a shift defensively, so I wasn't as concerned as others about losing that side of things if Dom doesn't play. Slot and the stats team know exactly what Dom brings to the table and should have a fairly good idea what we'll gain and what we'll lose replacing him with Wirtz, so who am I to argue? They may well be wrong, he might end up playing LW, he might play false 9 if Isak doesn't join, or it may not work out at all. There are plenty of examples of players not suiting the position they were signed for, Lucas being one, Didi and Gini changing style from box to box players, or Joelinton being sh*t as a forward for Newcastle. Likewise other quality players don't work out for one reason or another, Naby, Thiago, Veron, Poulsen, it can happen.

So I've no idea if Wirtz will be a success there, if he will be better or worse than Szobo. I just didn't think we'd be changing formation to accommodate him as some suggested, nor did I think we had planned on playing him LW or CF, on the evidence available. I also didn't think that Dom would lose out too much at his expense, I suspected we'd see a lot more rotation this year and game time shared fairly equally.

So far it's hard to tell what the plan was/is as we've been dealing with injuries and suspensions and as I've said in other replies, it's far to early for anyone to draw any accurate conclusions on what has and what hasn't worked at this stage.

This was aimed more at Twitter tbh, as Dom was never in the strongest 11 when randomers were picking teams

We need a big squad and there’ll be games for them all, if I do think if he had a fully fit squad and a CL final then Dom starts

[BG1973]

Good point, although Klopp imherrited him. Id say we were very effective atracking wise but a shambles defensively(no proper DM) under Rogers. Coutinho played very well, and there is no reason Wirtz cant get to those levels, but Klopp preferred and won stuff with a ****ing boring shade of beige. Thats not to say we cant make it work. Wirtz is clearly a fantastic footballer, but I think Dom.leading the press from midfield is more effective at the moment, especially with our defensive frailty

I just dont think he is quite ready, and considering Arsenal are next and that our team is a bit lightweight at the moment,Id pick Dom to start and bring Wirtz on when their defence is looking tired.

Ultimately we just need to be patient, as Im sure he will reach tbe heights. Took Henry a season to adapt to tbe Premier League from memory.

I think the worry is we persist with him and he fails to match the perceptions of his pricetag then he might start to feel that pressure.

Yep all fair.

Agree on Arsenal, if we have more RB options then I'd start Dom over Wirtz for this one.

[Corndog]

100% start him against Arsenal in the advanced midfield role.

Yes he isn’t going to have the same pressing intensity as Szobo but that’s not why he was bought. He’s been brought in because he’s a player who can make the difference very regularly, especially in tight spaces around the box.

It’s literally just a split second faster he needs to be making some decisions or getting rid of the ball a split second faster and it’s all in the head, not his body.

And that’s just because whilst there are a lot of fast players in the Bundesliga, almost everyone in the prem is fast, even the slow CMs.

He’ll tear it up when he does that and I’m sure he will soon.

[RedReet]

For all the talk of him being that second too slow, too weak, he only lost possession 7 times, less than everyone bar Konate. His pass success was 96% too. That being said, I do know where people are coming from, I do remember the ball getting knicked off him a couple of times. Maybe it's memorable because he's the type of player who is trying to make things happen, so it stands out more as quite often it nearly leads to a good chance. I'm honestly not sure, but I also don't think he's as far off the pace as it appears and IMO it won't take much for him to click into gear.

[RedReet]

This was aimed more at Twitter tbh, as Dom was never in the strongest 11 when randomers were picking teams

We need a big squad and there’ll be games for them all, if I do think if he had a fully fit squad and a CL final then Dom starts

likewise, I was probably replying to my brother in my head, more than you.

I had the same conversations with him about Wirtz position, so he was sending messages like 'that's you can't drop Szobo', during preseason, suggesting I want him dropped, which wasn't the case.

[Paul12]

For all the talk of him being that second too slow, too weak, he only lost possession 7 times, less than everyone bar Konate. ...

??? Konate lost the ball the least number of times? To my eyes he never found it.

[little dave hedgehog]

for me it's watching him try and win the ball back that's disheartening. i'm sure he'll improve but i watched him bounce off about 4 different newcastle players trying to make up for having it knicked off of him and it was sad.

fine player obviously i'm sure he'll get it ironed out.

on the other hand, when dom tries to win the ball back, the other team gets clattered off the ball.

[Norbs]

Is the Bundasliga soft in comparison?

[BootRoom]

for me it's watching him try and win the ball back that's disheartening. i'm sure he'll improve but iwatched him bounce ogg about 4 different newcastle players trying to make up for having it knicked off of him and it was sad.

fine player obviously i'm sure he'll get it ironed out.

on the other hand, when dom tries to win the ball back, the other team gets clattered off the ball.

Alarm bells started ringing loud and clear when he got pancaked by Bernardo Silva vs. Portugal in the summer.

[Corndog]

Is the Bundasliga soft in comparison?

I don’t think it is, maybe marginally slower but not by much. Physically there are some big boys knocking around over there and plenty of sides who play direct

[Corndog]

For all the talk of him being that second too slow, too weak, he only lost possession 7 times, less than everyone bar Konate. His pass success was 96% too. That being said, I do know where people are coming from, I do remember the ball getting knicked off him a couple of times. Maybe it's memorable because he's the type of player who is trying to make things happen, so it stands out more as quite often it nearly leads to a good chance. I'm honestly not sure, but I also don't think he's as far off the pace as it appears and IMO it won't take much for him to click into gear.

Yea probably more memorable because it was avoidable. The ones that stick in my mind from the last game are he beats two players but then just gets caught at the last fraction of a second by a third before laying the ball off.

But this is all relative to the extremely high bar he sets, not off his transfer fee but off of what he regularly did for Leverkusen.

It’s not like we are talking about an incredibly weak, slow player or one with a terrible touch or decision making generally

[Harv]

OK

So Salah is the new whipping boy


got it

Clearly not new.

nice try though weirdo

[Harv]

For all the talk of him being that second too slow, too weak, he only lost possession 7 times, less than everyone bar Konate. His pass success was 96% too. That being said, I do know where people are coming from, I do remember the ball getting knicked off him a couple of times. Maybe it's memorable because he's the type of player who is trying to make things happen, so it stands out more as quite often it nearly leads to a good chance. I'm honestly not sure, but I also don't think he's as far off the pace as it appears and IMO it won't take much for him to click into gear.

I don't think that Newcastle game is a good one to judge anyone on tbh. Especially a player like him. It was hectic and very little football was being played and lots of his teammates couldn't keep the ball either.

All the bedwetters on twitter etc - thinking he's a massive flop after 2 games because he hasn't got a goal or assist are laughable really.

Im more worried about Konate and Mo playing like ass than Kerkez and Wirtz not setting the league alight after 2 games.

[ronanm]

You can see him making runs but players don't seem to be on same wavelength as yet

[memzey]

Yeah I think that’s fair enough. Definitely not the time for bed wetting on either player’s prospects and the Newcastle game was not typical of what to expect. Apart from the first goal, I thought Kerkez did pretty well tbh but I expect it will take him some time to adjust to our play and really show his quality.

I’m not too worried about Mo yet. Goals and assists are his stock in trade and they still seem to be flowing as usual. Ibou on the other hand is a bit of a worry. He seems to be playing like a less decisive, more uncertain version of himself, at the moment. Say what you like about them but Arsenal have all the tools to expose any weaknesses he brings in to the game on Sunday so he needs to sort his head out PDQ.