Florian Wirtz's Struggles at Liverpool: Carragher's Concerns

Jamie Carragher did not bother dressing it up. For him, this was Florian Wirtz’s nadir in a Liverpool shirt.

Across Liverpool’s scrappy 1-0 win at Bournemouth, live on Sky Sports, the former defender watched a £100m-plus talent drift through another Premier League game and finally said out loud what he claims he has been thinking for a year.

“Wirtz has been really poor again,” he snapped on co-commentary at the Vitality Stadium. “It's just nothing. Nothing is happening there at all.”

After full-time, he doubled down.

“That was one of the poorest I've ever seen him in a Liverpool shirt,” Carragher said on the Jamie Carragher Podcast. The tone was not frustration over a bad day. It was doubt over the entire project.

‘What we’re seeing is what he is’

Carragher has long questioned Wirtz’s output. The numbers, he says, simply are not there. Goals, assists, decisive moments – the currency of a £100m playmaker – remain stubbornly low.

“I've been critical of the fact that he hasn't got the numbers,” he admitted. “But normally when you watch Wirtz, he's neat and tidy, he keeps possession, there's things that you like. He gets out of a tight situation where you're normally expecting your player to lose the ball.”

That used to be enough to buy patience. Not anymore.

“The reason I worry is, I don't think Wirtz is in poor form since he came to Liverpool. I actually think what we're seeing is what he is.”

Carragher revealed the alarm bells had been ringing in his head for 12 months, dating back to a narrow Liverpool win at Burnley, sealed late on by a Mo Salah penalty.

“I commentated on Liverpool away at Burnley and Liverpool won with a late penalty from Mo Salah. And when I was watching that game it was what I've seen for the last 12 months: I don't see how he's going to hurt you. It's just neat and tidy.

“In some way, the price tag for that type of player should be half of what Liverpool have paid.”

This is the crux of his concern: not just what Wirtz is, but what he was supposed to be.

“The worry for Wirtz now is that his performances so far, or what he's given Liverpool, is so low. Where we were expecting him was to take Liverpool to another league title, to take Liverpool to a Champions League.

The gap he's got to get to almost justify what people were expecting, I almost think is too big. You can't get there. Even if he improves a bit and gets there, it's still not what Liverpool thought they were getting.”

The knock-on effect on Liverpool’s midfield

Carragher’s criticism did not stop at Wirtz’s individual display. He argued that the German’s presence at No 10 is distorting the entire shape of Andoni Iraola’s side.

“And it's not just Wirtz, it's the knock-on effect,” he said. “So when he plays at No 10, it means Dominik Szoboszlai has to play central midfield. I don't think Szoboszlai is a central-midfield player, I don't.”

For Carragher, Liverpool are not just carrying an underperforming marquee signing; they are weakening another strength to accommodate him.

That is why, as a brutal run of fixtures looms after the three-week international break, he believes Iraola has to act.

‘He can’t be in the Man City team’

When Liverpool return, they walk straight into a storm.

Enzo Maresca’s Manchester City come to Anfield on October 11. Around that, Iraola’s side face Brentford and Brighton in the league, and a trip to Arsenal at the Emirates on October 1. LASK and Villarreal await in the Champions League. Chelsea lie in wait in the Carabao Cup fourth round.

Carragher is clear: this is not the stage to carry a passenger.

“I think going forward Iraola's got a decision to make here. Wirtz would not be in my Liverpool team,” he said.

He had circled Bournemouth away as a pivotal moment for the midfielder.

“I thought this Bournemouth game was a big game for Wirtz. Because if he doesn't produce [against Bournemouth], he's then going to have a three-week break. By the time we come back, we're into October. Before you know it, it'll be Christmas in six to eight weeks, or it'll feel like we're getting to Christmas. He has to do something!”

He then widened the lens, comparing Wirtz not to the Premier League’s elite, but to mid-table creators who, in his view, are offering far more bang for far less buck.

“If you go through the Premier League and think of players in his position - not just for the top teams, forget the top teams who we should be judging him against, I'm talking about normal Premier League players in the middle of the table - who have done more for their clubs.

“I think of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall at Everton. No one out there would say Dewsbury-Hall is a better player than Wirtz, or would go for more money than Wirtz, or would cost £120m. But every three or four weeks he scores a goal.

“I watched Morgan Gibbs-White for Nottingham Forest last week at Aston Villa, and in the second half he put in a performance in 45 minutes that Florian Wirtz has never done before for Liverpool.

“I've seen a goal Emiliano Buendia scored for Aston Villa at Tottenham. Again, these players aren't going to get over £100m, or £120m, but they're still giving their clubs bits every few weeks.”

His conclusion was blunt.

“Wirtz wouldn't be in my Liverpool team. Manchester City at home, for me, he can't be in the team.”

Iraola’s big calls – and the next one

Carragher actually praised Iraola’s willingness to be ruthless elsewhere in the squad. For him, that only sharpens the spotlight on Wirtz.

“The things I've liked so far about Iraola, he's had the courage to make big decisions,” he said. “Ryan Gravenberch has just signed a hefty contract on a five-year deal on massive money, because they thought him and Szoboszlai were going to be the future of the midfield going forward. He's not playing.

“Now, I can imagine the guys at the top of the club looking at that, thinking we've just given him a hefty contract. But no, he's not playing.

The full-back situation, he keeps changing the full-backs, he's dropped Jeremie Frimpong straight away. Milos Kerkez has been in and out. So he's made decisions.

“But sooner or later he's going to have to make a decision on Florian Wirtz, and, for me, I hope it's sooner. Not because I don't like Florian Wirtz, I'm desperate for the kid to do well. I just want Liverpool to win. That's it, basically.”

Klopp, Germany and a last hope

For all the criticism, Carragher does see one potential lifeline for Wirtz – and it comes away from Anfield.

Jurgen Klopp, now in charge of Germany, has called up the Liverpool midfielder for the upcoming Nations League fixtures. Wirtz has been named in one of two separate Germany squads, and will be managed by a coach who knows Anfield as well as anyone.

“The one hope for Liverpool supporters now is Jurgen Klopp is the Germany manager,” Carragher said.

“Wirtz goes away with the Germany team for three weeks, and he's obviously one of the best players in Germany, that's how they see him. Can Jurgen Klopp sprinkle a bit of stardust on him in that position?

“Jurgen is one of the greatest managers in the world, we know that. And what he gets out of players is probably more than most managers because of the nature of his personality, and fingers crossed something can happen for him.”

Carragher even painted the best-case scenario in vivid detail.

“There's a scenario there that Jurgen Klopp and Germany have a great international window, he gets loads of goals, assists and comes back on a high. Manchester City's the next game, he impacts that, all is forgotten, all is forgiven. There's a potential turnaround there.

“I would love that to happen, I'd love him to be the match-winner against Manchester City.”

Right now, that feels a long way from the version of Florian Wirtz who laboured through another 90 minutes at Bournemouth. The question for Liverpool is simple: does Iraola bet on the talent he was sold, or the player Carragher insists he is already watching?