Florian Wirtz - Welcome to LFC

[Charly]

He needs a solid base of two big strong midfielders behind if he ia playing midfield, imho. I dont think Him and Macca together is a great idea at the moment.

[Mark79]

Nah he’d be fine to take up positions on the edge of the box if the team has control of the game and is dominating the opponent.

Obviously that’s not currently happening.

If the running was such a key component to the team, I’ve no idea why they signed anyone and didn’t just like szobo keep his place as AM

We're unlikely to suddenly start having control of games by making the change that you're suggesting. If anything the imbalance would be even worse.

The legwork is vital, especially out of possession. It's why alot of people thought that Szoboszlai would remain in his role and Wirtz would take the place of one of the front 3 options.

[kingfunk]

He would have had assist of the year if Salah had burried that chance.

[Norbs]

Yep, it was sublime

[Buzzo]

Even in slow mo it’s hard to figure out how he did it.

[Kenneth]

I don't think I'm being overly picky, but why did he do that? I don't think it gave Salah the best chance to score, the defender was too close as he wasn't drawn to Wirtz, which he would have been if he'd controlled it. He could also have got a shot away himself maybe.

[danperkins]

It looked great and Salah should have scored but apart from that Wirtz did absolutely nothing again, same stuff slow on the ball, getting pushed off and the game passing him by. I just don't think Slot what to do with him & with us for that matter.

[Corndog]

We're unlikely to suddenly start having control of games by making the change that you're suggesting. If anything the imbalance would be even worse.

The legwork is vital, especially out of possession. It's why alot of people thought that Szoboszlai would remain in his role and Wirtz would take the place of one of the front 3 options.

Except he rarely plays out wide if you look at where he has played most of his games for Leverkusen.

The team is unlikely to start having control of the game for many reasons but last season, we’d regularly have control of games like that and people would criticise szobo for “not creating enough” so it’s really a trade off.

My point is simply specific to getting the best out of wirtz and not necessarily aligned to what the team needs right now. He may have to take a spell on the bench.

That being said, the team didn’t all of a sudden have more control vs Chelsea when szobo started there

[Mark79]

Except he rarely plays out wide if you look at where he has played most of his games for Leverkusen.

The team is unlikely to start having control of the game for many reasons but last season, we’d regularly have control of games like that and people would criticise szobo for “not creating enough” so it’s really a trade off.

My point is simply specific to getting the best out of wirtz and not necessarily aligned to what the team needs right now. He may have to take a spell on the bench.

That being said, the team didn’t all of a sudden have more control vs Chelsea when szobo started there

The team requires a balance in midfield. Having 2 midfielders doing the work while the 3rd walks around in the opposition's third isn't going to achieve that.

If you look at where he plays for Leverkusen and Germany, it's on the left of a front 3. That doesn't mean out wide or as a winger, but mostly left of centre of the pitch. 3 midfielders, Wirtz and 2 forwards. Not 2 midfielders, Wirtz and 3 forwards.

There's not much use trying to find a way to make Wirtz shine but ignoring the rest of the team. We need everyone functioning collectively and individually.

[kingfunk]

I’d like to see Wirtz playing more of a Thiago-type role, acting as the focal point in the middle of the pitch, always available to receive the ball easily and then provide the clever pass. I want our forwards positioned right on the edge of the opposition’s defensive line, ready to run in behind. Our full-backs need to show more discipline, and our centre-backs shouldn’t be losing possession around the halfway line. The spine of the team has to move forward and back as a unit, press more effectively, and be sharper in the final third. At the moment, the midfield looks lost between the lines, the forwards and defenders are being dragged out of shape, and the centre-backs are being forced into areas where they can’t influence the game. These are basic tactical issues, which is worrying, and the next five Premier League games will tell us a lot about what kind of season we’re going to have.

[Norbs]

Wirtz, Ekitike and Isak would be a really interesting set up but with Wirtz centrally so that Ekitike can play on his favoured left side. Trouble is that none specialise in playing on the right other than Salah, and swapping him for Frimpong isn't going to happen which means one of Ekitike or Isak sits it out

[labourRed]

Wirtz, Ekitike and Isak would be a really interesting set up but with Wirtz centrally so that Ekitike can play on his favoured left side. Trouble is that none specialise in playing on the right other than Salah, and swapping him for Frimpong isn't going to happen which means one of Ekitike or Isak sits it out

All three pull into that inside left channel. Isak perhaps the wider of the three.

It was the interesting conundrum i wasn't interested in seeing Slot address, but he hasn't yet.

[danperkins]

People twisting themselves in knots about how we should fit him into the side, play him central, play him out left, play him further forward, he's doing too much running, get him closer to goal etc. We are the premier league champions, we do not fit a team around one player. Him struggling with the pace, tempo and physicality of the league is one thing, sometimes players adapt, sometimes they do not adapt.... hopefully it's the former. I'm more worried about why we bought him in the first place, as it does seem like not only does Slot not quite know what his best team is at the moment, he doesn't seem to know what the most effective style/setup for us to play & where Wirtz fits into that.

[Paul12]

If only he had Kenny's arse.

How can you be sure...I was told Charly has had most arses.

[badpiggy]

People twisting themselves in knots about how we should fit him into the side, play him central, play him out left, play him further forward, he's doing too much running, get him closer to goal etc. We are the premier league champions, we do not fit a team around one player. Him struggling with the pace, tempo and physicality of the league is one thing, sometimes players adapt, sometimes they do not adapt.... hopefully it's the former. I'm more worried about why we bought him in the first place, as it does seem like not only does Slot not quite know what his best team is at the moment, he doesn't seem to know what the most effective style/setup for us to play & where Wirtz fits into that.

We probably won it because we did this with Salah? Maybe Slot's problem is that the guy he wants to reshape the team around hasn't hit the ground running in the way he'd hoped. Underestimating the pace and physicality of the EPL is a bit of a sin of omission in fairness but regarding Wirtz and from a non-stats/metrics pov, it's also not wholly surprising.

Was it fine margins in the analytics department or an actual shortcoming in then stats based model? Is anyone really that surprised that Wirtz is not yet imposing himself on games?