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LONDON — Paco Jémez, the manager Andoni Iraola succeeded at Rayo Vallecano, offered a memorable quip last year. "Statistics are like thongs," the Spanish coach reflected, "they reveal a lot, but conceal the most important thing."
Liverpool's 2–1 victory against Brentford on Saturday produced one of the campaign's most misleading statistics to date: Florian Wirtz generated an unmatched and extraordinary nine chances for his teammates.
It's been over five years since anyone accumulated so many scoring opportunities in a single Premier League fixture, while no Liverpool player has ever eclipsed that figure since Opta's detailed data tracking commenced in 2003–04, according to Michael Reid.
For those who missed the match—and that includes everyone across the United Kingdom, given it fell during the Saturday 3 p.m. broadcast blackout—it would be tempting to assume this was therefore a brilliant display from Wirtz. After 15 months of near-misses and almosts, Liverpool's $154 million (£116 million) man had finally delivered, unleashing a performance of such creative brilliance that the record books needed updating. Well, not quite.
Wirtz was solid but far from spectacular, adequate yet well short of exceptional. Much like Liverpool as a whole, it required Yehor Yarmoliuk's reckless red card just before halftime for the playmaker to truly influence the game, and even then, the source of the praise directed his way—that striking statistic—doesn't hold up under closer examination.
Breaking Down Florian Wirtz's Nine Chances Created
8th minute: Dominik Szoboszlai blazes over
This established the pattern for the bulk of the chances Wirtz generated: playing a sideways or backward pass for a teammate to fire well over the bar.
15th minute: Alexis Mac Allister's first pot shot
Liverpool's embattled No. 7 can't be held responsible for his teammates' poor decisions, but he equally shouldn't receive credit for setting up speculative long-range efforts.
37th minute: Square ball for Bradley Barcola
During a balanced opening 45 minutes, in which Brentford established a 1–0 lead, Wirtz was reduced to gently probing the tight defensive structure of the hosts. The dynamic midfielder thrives when given freedom to drift, moving laterally in search of vulnerabilities in the opposition's backline.
Early on Saturday, Wirtz was drawn toward the right halfspace, where he would typically roll a pass across the front of the box rather than attempting to penetrate Brentford's defensive shell.
45+8th minute: Ridiculous effort
The majority of the chances Wirtz generated were ambitious long-range attempts, but two were worryingly derived from corners. Liverpool remain one of just four clubs in the Premier League yet to score from a set piece this season. Despite Arne Slot's frustrations last term, the Reds still managed 18 goals from dead-ball situations, the fourth-highest total in the division.
If the best plan Iraola's coaching staff can devise is Wirtz rolling the ball back for Trey Nyoni to attempt a shot from 25 yards, then this could prove to be a very difficult season.
49th minute: Alexis Mac Allister's second pot shot
Iraola has been a strong supporter of Wirtz, yet even the Basque manager downplayed his inflated chance-creation tally. "In the second half, no?" Iraola noted, rightly highlighting that Yarmoliuk's sending-off came before most of Wirtz's questionable contributions.
56th minute: Finding space in the crowd
While this was no performance deserving of major statistical fanfare, it would be unjust to entirely overlook Wirtz's qualities. Confronted with the massed defensive ranks of 10 retreating Brentford players, Iraola could rely on his primary creative force.
"There are very few spaces, small pockets and [very little] time on the ball," Iraola said of that second half. "You have to find delicate things because Brentford is a team that defends the box really, really well. You need players like Flo."
You also need players capable of capitalizing when presented with the ball inside a congested penalty area. Nyoni, for all his promise, is not yet that player.
62nd minute: The assist
Even describing Wirtz's pass for Víctor Muñoz's equalizer as an "assist" is arguably generous. Liverpool's marauding right winger received the ball 35 yards from goal and had to cut past Keane Lewis-Potter to carve out the space to find the bottom corner with his weaker left foot.
That said, Wirtz demonstrated a superb lightness of touch to shift his weight away from Kristoffer Ajer with his first touch before swiftly threading the ball into Muñoz's path, who had the edge on Brentford's fullback for pace. At a moment when Liverpool were still behind and growing frustrated by the stop-start nature of a game their hosts were determined to grind out, it was a pivotal piece of play.
65th minute: A chance 'created' in the loosest sense
This is the most absurd example of a chance being logged as "created." Ajer headed the ball onto Wirtz's shoulder, deflecting it into the path of Barcola, who slashed wide.
69th minute: Another blocked shot
Another pass going anywhere but forward, and another shot that failed to trouble Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher.
What Next for Florian Wirtz?
In many respects, this was a performance entirely consistent with Wirtz's puzzling Liverpool tenure. It is almost universally acknowledged, even among the most ardent defenders of the former Bundesliga standout, that the 23-year-old has fallen short of expectations—even the more modest ones.
Yet, the assist credited to him for Muñoz's leveler on Saturday was his 11th since arriving at Liverpool last summer. Only Manchester City's Rayan Cherki can claim more open-play assists than Wirtz among Premier League players over the same timeframe.
Wirtz is a player who seems to defy headline statistics, operating in the grey areas between perception and data capture that exist in a sport as hard to measure as soccer. He also covered more ground than any other player against Brentford, adding yet another entirely hollow number to the pile that people enjoy tallying.
Statistics clearly serve a purpose, particularly when placed in the right context. But a player like Wirtz, especially with such a contradictory showing, makes Josh Hart's perspective on data entirely relatable. "They're lamp posts to a drunk person," the newly crowned NBA champion remarked this year. "You can lean on them, but it won't get you home."