Lverpool handed Florian Wirtz verdict after £116m man's struggles

Carragher tore into the German's display in the 1-0 away victory over Bournemouth, describing it as "one of the poorest" performances he has shown since moving to Liverpool. It brought into question what Liverpool should do with him for the long-term.

After Carragher's firm criticism of the German international, the Liverpool ECHO's reporters came together to offer their verdict on his future.

Wirtz is going to become a tiresome discussion. The price-tag will undoubtedly be weighing heavy on him but he is still in a Liverpool team that is in transition. He entered the fray last season during a disruptive period, ending with the dismissal of the manager who brought him in.

There are fresh voices, new ideas and a new frontline to push forward with. Now, just because you’re a £116m player in a different country doesn’t make you immune to criticism but the Andoni Iraola era is just seven games old. The criticism is warranted but does border on being too harsh. Wirtz looks like the only creative player in forward areas at times for Liverpool and his role can unlock players around him to do special things.

The goals or assists output isn’t good enough, that is fair, but there is more to his game than what goes down in statistics. Liverpool need to unlock him and fast. The 'neat and tidy’ aspect to his game needs to remain but he needs to strike fear into opposition teams.

He has to start against City but against other teams, his deployment should be sporadic to become an impact in a bid to help his confidence. With Rayan Cherki, or even Kevin de Bruyne, the threat level was proven. Wirtz has to turn his nice-on-the-eye play into a punishing teams and providing for his teammates.

What Liverpool are going to do with Florian Wirtz in the short-term is quite simple - they are going to keep on playing him.

You don't spend that amount of money on a new-look forward partnership with Alexander Isak and not give it time to prosper. It's worth bearing in mind the duo have started only 10 Premier League games together and Liverpool have lost only one of them - which was the first one at Crystal Palace more than 12 months ago when Wirtz wasn't even playing as the number 10. All at a time when the Reds have been, well, mostly rubbish.

In the absence of Isak, Wirtz struck up a good partnership with Hugo Ekitike last season that was only curtailed first by a niggling injury for the German and then a very serious one for his French team-mate.

Nobody doubts he had a very poor first half at Bournemouth but it was him making a nuisance at the near post that allowed Isak to score the only goal.

If Wirtz had been bought for £60million there wouldn't be anywhere near the same level of discourse over him. And it's worth bearing in mind that nowadays players who could probably be considered good at best are going for near enough the same amount. Players don't decide their transfer value.

But clubs can't hang on forever, so Wirtz has until the end of this season to start producing more end product than potential. That's when his long-term future will be decided.

When a footballer's price tag goes north of £100m we expect them to be above the trivial things like settling into a new country and a new club. There's the ball, go on, go and do something with it if you're worth all that money.

And Florian Wirtz hasn't done the good things enough, that much is clear. We're still talking about a 23-year-old with his best years ahead of him though.

Liverpool are a team in transition, that is clear too. To go from being a side that relied on goals from the wings and creativity from full-back to one with a No.10 playing off a No.9 doesn't happen overnight. The issues throughout the team are testament to that, and that's before you take into account everything else that has gone on at the club this past year.

Wirtz, who continues to work just as hard as any of his team-mates, has become a lightning rod for all of this, and it is fair to suggest that he shouldn't be a shoo-in in the side for every match. There will be occasions where Dominik Szoboszlai makes more sense as the No.10, particularly when the midfield needs to be a bit more solid.

Man City at home might be one of those games, but if it is then it wouldn't be long before Wirtz was back in the XI. Liverpool have so many games coming up after all.

With so much change going on at the club and new faces emerging all the time, he might benefit from being treated as just one of the lads rather than a special case, even if that price tag makes it hard for people to do just that.

Any suggestion the Reds need to move on from him already is nonsense. Wirtz only recently turned 23 and given he's a player who does not rely on pace, he could have another 15 years ahead of him.

His end product has been lacking but he is Liverpool's most creative midfielder. Iraola needs to ensure he, Alexander Isak, Bradley Barcola, Cody Gakpo and Victor Munoz are telepathic in their understanding. When Wirtz is on the ball, they need to do one thing - run!

All creators need good finishers and while Wirtz needs to contribute more goals of his own, he has often not been helped by some disappointing movement from his forward colleagues. He can still be Liverpool's future, but all parties need to step-up and understand each other if this £116m gamble is going to yield fruit.

A lot of the criticism that Wirtz has faced has largely been unfair, in my opinion. But his performance against Bournemouth at the weekend showed that something needs to change. Wirtz has been at Liverpool long enough to have been able to adjust to the demands of the Premier League, but a change in manager, with a new style, doesn’t make that easy.

Liverpool’s next game is against Man City, and the Reds cannot afford to have anyone in the team who cannot look after the ball and make an impact in the final third. Wirtz has not done either of those things in the early weeks of the season, so dropping him to the bench - for this fixture - could be the right thing to do.

After that, Liverpool will face LASK in the Champions League, which could give Wirtz the chance to get his confidence back up ahead of a busy run of games.

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This international break will be big for Wirtz. While he has flattered to deceive for Liverpool, his form when representing Germany has remained at the same level as at Bayer Leverkusen. The winger recorded three assists during this summer's World Cup and managed three goals with two more assists during their pre-tournament friendlies.

Since making the move, he has four goals and seven assists internationally compared to seven and 11 for the Reds. That is to say, this appears to be a Liverpool problem rather than Wirtz becoming a worse player over the last 12 months. It will be intriguing to see how he fares under Jurgen Klopp over the next three weeks.

This period could prove instructive for Iraola in how to get the best from him. Wirtz is worth persisting with, especially in the absence of Hugo Ekitike, whose return will inevitably cause another selection headache.

Wirtz should be taken out of the firing line and dropped from Liverpool’s next game against Manchester City after the international break. He hasn’t done enough at the start of this season to warrant a spot in Iraola’s XI, having failed to register a single goal or assist.

While the extended three-week hiatus may have come at the perfect time for Wirtz, I believe Iraola should leave him out of the side to face City with Trey Nyoni getting rewarded for some impressive performances. That would see Dominik Szoboszlai move into the more advanced No.10 role with Mac Allister and Nyoni acting as the double pivot in the midfield.

This isn’t to say that Wirtz’s Liverpool career is finished. I think he still has a future at Anfield, and the international break with Germany might help him install confidence and get his mojo back, but for the time being I believe it would be best for him to be taken out of the firing line as the pressure is mounting on the £116m-man.

I would put him back in for the Champions League trip to LASK, however, and see if he can return to form ahead of an important period.

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