National Team Boss Points Finger at Liverpool for Florian Wirtz's Disappointing Form
Regarding Florian Wirtz's slow adaptation at Liverpool, Germany's head coach Julian Nagelsmann placed responsibility on the player's struggling teammates.
Wirtz joined Liverpool in June as the club's record transfer. Though Alexander Isak later surpassed that fee, both high-profile acquisitions have struggled to make an immediate impact at Anfield.
In contrast to Isak, Wirtz has yet to find the net for his new club. The ex-Bundesliga Player of the Year is still awaiting his maiden Premier League assist. Nevertheless, Nagelsmann emphasized that Wirtz requires his colleagues to convert the opportunities he provides to register his first assist.
"Perhaps Liverpool could assist him by converting some of the opportunities he generates," Nagelsmann remarked this week. "That would be one solution because he does produce several chances. It's simply that they appear reluctant to put the ball in the net from those situations. That's part of the reality."
Wirtz has generated 16 opportunities across 11 Premier League matches this campaign. Arsenal's Bukayo Saka remains the sole player in England's premier division to have accumulated more key passes (17) while failing to record an assist this term.
Liverpool's Arne Slot has echoed Nagelsmann's sentiment, particularly highlighting multiple instances where Wirtz has created openings for Salah only to watch the Egyptian striker hit the woodwork.
However, this reasoning overlooks the caliber of chances Wirtz produces. Expected assists (xA) calculates the xG of shots a player creates to estimate how many goals an average finisher would score from these specific opportunities. According to this measure, Wirtz should realistically have only one assist, indicating he's a high-volume rather than high-quality creator.
When examining a player's average xA generated this season, Wirtz trails four of his own teammates. Throughout the broader Premier League, Liverpool's £116 million ($152.4 million) summer signing is producing lower-quality chances than Brentford defender Kristoffer Ajer.
Nagelsmann: Liverpool Lacks Stability
Apart from his criticism of Liverpool's attack, Nagelsmann questioned the entire framework at Merseyside. "The general circumstances don't help Flo either," he lamented.
"The entire organization isn't as solid this season as it was previously. It's much more challenging to integrate into the squad now. Looking at the match against [Manchester] City, they were actually inferior over 90 minutes. So it's also tough for Flo to create any significant influence.
"Ultimately, the general circumstances mean he simply requires additional time, which is natural and you observe this with other players who transfer to the English Premier League too. We all understand his capabilities and it's completely normal for a player his age to experience a temporary decline in performance. We can't expect him to maintain the same standard for three consecutive years.
"Rather we all must provide him some support so he can refocus mentally."