[The Athletic] Florian Wirtz’s first season at Liverpool, following his £116m move from Bayer Leverkusen last summer, has been difficult to get a handle on.
by Lanedu123
![[The Athletic] Florian Wirtz's first season at Liverpool, following his £116m move from Bayer Leverkusen last summer, has been difficult to get a handle on.](https://www.eucup.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/iw2o0ps79srg1-999x1536.jpeg "[The Athletic] Florian Wirtz’s first season at Liverpool, following his £116m move from Bayer Leverkusen last summer, has been difficult to get a handle on.")
[The Athletic] Florian Wirtz’s first season at Liverpool, following his £116m move from Bayer Leverkusen last summer, has been difficult to get a handle on.
by Lanedu123
50 Comments
Manager doesn’t know how to use him or form any semblance of cohesion on the entire side.
Why would anyone ever label a player a “complete flop” off one season anyway…
Football discourse truly is dead
I don’t know how people are still at individual player criticism. I feel it’s a total waste of time. If a couple a students fail, then the student is a problem. If the whole class fails, then the teacher is the problem.
He’s the guy we build around, he’s our future. Sure not everything went his way but he is not a flop and shows great adaptation so far. He’s a superstar in the making.
It’s not difficult is it. Brendan Rodgers would get more out of this Liverpool team than the bald fraud.
“Definitive success” or “complete flop”. Like the vast majority of players he sits at neither extreme. New league, new team (that has had an awful year) and he’s clearly improving. Would imagine the vast majority of fans are happy with him up to this point, but I guess that doesn’t generate clicks.
It sure would be nice if there is a former Liverpool player-turned-manager that knows how to get the best out of Wirtz coaching the team.
There’s no doubt he’s got the potential to be a world class player. But we’ve also seen other players come from the German/Dutch/French league, whatever and just struggle with the physicality. I do think at times he could do better and is lacking confidence.
But I’ll judge him more when he has a great forward line ahead of him or under a manager that knows how to play attacking, front foot football consistently.
Why engage with such obviously bad faith, click- bait articles? Why guve it air? One more reason why the Athletic sucks.
Anyone who knows the first thing about football can see that there are other issues preventing him being a total success.
To begin, we need a manager who knows how to get the best out of his players.
He hasn’t adapted to PL football fully. A frankly average season for such a high profile signing. Hopefully he’s learned and comes out next season firing.
I think it’s more of a confidence issue with him. You see him drop an 8/10 performance or a 9/10 and you clearly see why our board spend £110 on him, his talent is undeniable, but then he fails to follow it up or build any momentum. He looked like he was starting to find his rhythm before that back injury, and after he came back, he just looked okay.
Now, for Germany, he looks like he’s playing with more arrogance and confidence. I don’t know why that is, but almost every time he touches the ball, he creates a chance. Every pass is crisp, his touches are clean, and he actively wants or even demands the ball more. Maybe it’s the level of opposition, I don’t know. But to me, at least, it definitely looks like a confidence issue
What a shit article
Ilkay Gundogan was a Man City flop until he suddenly wasn’t in 2018. Wirtz has come into a team upended by managerial incompetence. He is a baller and will thrive under Alonso
He’s been wasted with us this season. The system hasn’t helped him whatsoever, just look at him last night, 2 goals & 2 assists. Granted I didn’t watch the Germany game but it seems like he turns up big time everytime he’s representing Germany. I know the premier league is faster paced but he’s seriously the player that we need to build everything around, well him and Szobo
Flo is 6th in chances created for the league only behind guys like Fernandes, Rice, Szobo and Saka and only two weeks ago he created 8 chances in a Champions League game.
I don’t understand the narrative that he’s been poor or even the narrative that’s popped up on Twitter that Slot is holding him back. We’ve actually been pretty good at creating chances, but outside of Hugo, also incredibly poor when finishing.
“Definitive success” or “written off as a complete flop”
How about he’s had a decent first season? Why can’t it be that?
The thing that annoys me most about flo is his shot power. Just put your foot through it lad!
Keep in mind the entire team has been pretty disappointing this season.
I think he’s been good. I’ve enjoyed watching him play. A solid first season in a team struggling for form.
He’s 22 in a new country – why would anyone expect to him to be a superstar straight away. It’s only the silly price tag that generates all the noise.
Not fast enough on the flank and not strong enough in the middle, he is falling to the exact the same paradox as Elliott. Need to be stronger and quicker, I’ve never in doubt with his on ball ability.
Just look at Szobo first season. We sign players for at least 4years. He will be better next season trust me.
One of those players who doesn’t need tactical training just creates the game. No wonder he excels under Alonso and is stifled under slot
It’s so wild this is a 23 year old bloke who plays a way that would define a generation / style not just plug into one. Well documented team struggles at times alongside many other issues point to a player that’s shone moments, ALWAYS looked tidy and clearly has a temperament that we can and do love. Judge him when he’s has aslong as Sbloz has had in our team. Until then, we back him.
Some criticism yes – poor finishing, passing instead of feeling confident to take the shot, BUT I have a really hard time accepting criticism of him when the identity and tactics of the team are so off. Yes, this tweet is fairly light on the criticism but just tired of hearing it ha. What does anyone expect when we’ve been crap?
How can a creative player shine when there is little to no foundation? Maybe the assumption is he should be so good that he can still operate within this situation? Seems a bit unfair in my opinion.
If players knew their assignments, felt comfortable within the setup, and he’s still not right then I think scrutiny is very much warranted.
No in between any more is there, everything pushed to extremes. He had a decent season, probably doesn’t get enough clicks.
I’m convinced he comes back from the World Cup with an entirely different reputation. People are going to switch from questioning him to questioning why Liverpool weren’t able to get the best out of him.
Guy went to being the lynchpin of Leverkusen’s offense to a player on a confused system.
He’s an incredible player. Not sure what anyone is talking about and he’s adapting to the demands of the premier league.
Put him playing under a manager that knows what he’s doing.
You can see he is an ultra talented player. He just comes across as quite shy on the pitch. Needs to back himself more.
Whether he is a 100m player or not is yet to be seen. I think at that price you have to be transformative player. Unfortunately we spent 100+ on two players and both have had underwhelming first seasons for the price we paid.
He’s not been in great form but he’s also not been in bad form either, he’s young this isn’t the peak of his abilities and he will kick on and improve in seasons to come im sure, I don’t want our club to make the mistake Chelsea did regarding KDB writing him off so early at a young age.
You can see he is very talented but he still needs to adapt further to the physicality of the PL and needs to be more confident when shooting but I definitely wouldn’t say he has been a flop. Its a shame we have had the injuries we have had this season as him, Ekitike & Isak look like they could be a very exciting trio to watch
There has never been a a question that this kid is special by anyone who has watched him play. Even when he’s had “poor” performances, it is viewed through the lens of what he did in Germany and not the incremental adjustment that he has been making as it pertains to switching to the EPL, the toughest league on the planet right now. What we are seeing is him being played out of position a lot, having to played in crowded spaces that get clogged, and a system that is a lot slower than he was used to playing. Most Bundesliga teams play a more uptempo game than we do.
And don’t say “he’s a professional, so he should be able to adjust quickly.” We have a team full of guys who are professionals and seemed to have dropped off considerably from last season to this. If that many guys are out of synch at the same time, then on some level, objectively, it’s partially on the gaffer. Szobo, Wirtz and Hugo have been the bright spots for us this season, followed closely by Kerkez, Jeremy and Jones, when he plays. Even VDD seems out of sorts and Konate is just coming back (understandably, after losing his dad). Seemingly, a lot of these pundits have missed that and have isolated opinions based on players playing in a broken system.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that Flo plays better with his national team, even against a weaker opponent. Proper game day tactics also play a big part. And right now we lack consistency in that area.
Nick covers football….he’s not a dedicated Liverpool pundit. Wirtz has been named Liverpool’s man of the match 12 times so far in his inaugural season. Not bad for a 22 year old German adapting to PL football. Probably not a complete flop. Good call Nick.
Coaching + tactics + confidence. He never takes those shots on for Liverpool, thats a big issue imo.
This is a nonsense. He’s been great in an underperforming team.
These guys are quick to comment on Wirtz but haven’t got the balls to come out and really say what everyone thinks about Slot. These guys have been kissing Slots arse all season.
One of the things that still sticks in my mind is the recruitment bit about Slot showing him exactly how he’d be used and that being a large factor in his decision.
Has there been any discussion/whisper about the reality not matching those discussions from his team?
Every LFC game seems to be some version of Flo overcoming being a square peg in a round hole
EDIT : English and clarification in 2 sentence
He’s our most important player in attack IMO. One of the most talented players I’ve seen at Liverpool since maybe Thiago. Our strategy should be built around him. Fire slot bring in Xabi, let Florian cook.
It’s almost too obvious! lol
I mean.. the whole team switched off.. What could he do?
I think the key with Flo is that even he has recognized the rough start and has addressed part of the reasons behind it by hitting the gym. This most recent quiet patch (bar Galatasaray) has probably been a matter of him getting match sharpness again after being injured, but his January should be more than enough evidence that we have a great foundation to build on. Now to construct the team around him.
I’m not binning a single player this season. Not even Gakpo or Konate. They’re all good to elite players playing in a dogshit system, told to slow everything down for the sake of possession, and are exhausted at the 80th minute.
We all know why.
Xabi will find his best place
Wirtz has been very good this season, I think much of the ‘problems’ he has dealt with is the system and players not finishing great chances he has created. Wirtz is an incredible player and the team and system needs to be built around him.
TBH, the whole club’s working it out at club level… Premier League games have been a tough watch all season!
Not a flop but quite bad regardless given the expectations.
People probably won’t agree, but for me he plays better when Salah is not playing. Both want to be the main players in attack and it often looks like we don’t know who should be, when both play. In the past our main goal was often to get the ball to Salah and then good things happened. I have similar feeling with Wirtz and when Salah isn’t playing it often looks like this. But when both play it’d not as clear and then neither is involved enough.
Think this mostly falls on Arne for not being able to utilizing him to his potential since he just can’t figure out the players around him
He’s a top tier baller managed by a mid tier baldy