Playing centrally and smarter running - has Wirtz turned a corner?

Adrian Clarke identifies the key players, team tactics and where matches could be won and lost in Matchweek 14.

Player analysis: Florian Wirtz (Liverpool)

When Liverpool signed Wirtz for a reported £116million from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer, they would have expected plenty of goals and assists by now from their summer signing.

Yet here we are in early December, still waiting for the Germany international to deliver his first direct-goal contribution in the Premier League.  

Despite this underwhelming start to life at Anfield, there is hope that last weekend’s player of the match display against West Ham United will kickstart the 22-year-old’s campaign.  

It was his brightest domestic performance so far under Arne Slot, where he was at the heart of almost all the Reds’ best play inside the final third.

Back in his best position

Liverpool reverted to Slot’s preferred 4-2-3-1 against the Hammers, deploying Wirtz in his favourite central No 10 position.  

It was the first time he had started a Premier League contest in that role since a 3-2 defeat at Brentford in late October.  

Over the course of this campaign, with his head coach searching for a way to unlock his potential, Wirtz has been used as a false nine, left winger and as a deeper midfield player.  

So, he will have been determined to impress in the role he tends to revel in most.  

Wirtz's minutes and positions played, PL 25/26

After moving away from the 4-3-3 that failed to function well enough in a 3-0 loss at home to Nottingham Forest, Slot said that “we tried to create an extra midfielder and he [Wirtz] was very important for us to find that extra midfielder every time." 

“He was good when he made a dribble, he was good with his one-touch passes, he played one ball to Cody [Gakpo] which then doesn’t lead to a shot, but we had many of those moments and he was part of many of them.” 

Liverpool's line-ups and formations v Forest and West Ham

The key change saw Wirtz come in for Curtis Jones to play as Liverpool’s chief central attacking midfielder, rather than using Alexis Mac Allister and Jones as box-to-box players either side of Ryan Gravenberch.  

Down the right side we also saw sweeping changes, with Joe Gomez selected at right-back, and Dominik Szoboszlai pushing up to occupy the right-wing position.  

That decision led to Mohamed Salah being left out of the starting line-up.  

It was the first time under Slot the Egyptian has not started a Premier League match, and Salah's first omission since April 2024, ending a run of 53 successive league starts. 

Will he get back into the team for Sunderland’s visit to Anfield on Wednesday evening? 

How did Wirtz impress?

Right from the off, Wirtz looked sharp and bubbly, performing with renewed enthusiasm.  

Wirtz constantly demanded the ball and moved it in an impressive manner to his team-mates, as he completed 42 of 45 passes.  

That 93.30 per cent pass accuracy was way in advance of his season average of 81.77 per cent.  

He knitted a lot of slick Liverpool moves together against West Ham and was heavily involved in keeping things simpler.  

Wirtz's passing stats, season average v against West Ham

*Per 90 minutes

Wirtz only had one shot, and created just a single chance, but the way he floated around between the lines, picking out team-mates with crisp passes, was impressive.  

This is how his successful pass map looked on Sunday.  

What made him stand out? 

There was a positive energy about Liverpool’s No 7 in east London.  

He seemed to enjoy being the spare man, dropping into midfield to create overloads that helped his side play through West Ham, just like this one-two shared with Gravenberch, as you can see below.

He set up a chance for fellow summer signing Alexander Isak too, picking him out after one of several driving runs he made towards goal.

And from another stellar run down the spine of the pitch, Wirtz released Gakpo with a terrific through-ball.

Perhaps his most important contribution in this 2-0 win was his precise and incisive pre-assist pass ahead of Isak’s crucial opening goal.  

Confident and playing with his head up, Wirtz slipped an intelligent pass down the side of the box for Gakpo, who cut the ball back for the striker to convert.  

Watch: Wirtz's involvement for Isak's goal v West Ham

Did Wirtz do anything different?

The statistics tell us that Wirtz stripped back his physical output against West Ham.  

He covered less distance than usual and was on course to finish the match around one kilometre (km) down on his season average of 11.8km when substituted with 15 minutes left.  

Wirtz's average speed was a sprightly 7.43km/h, the highest of any Liverpool player, but he chose to conserve his energy for key moments rather than making runs for the sake of it.  

This potentially helped him to look sharper when the ball was at his feet.  

Watch: Wirtz's showreel v West Ham

Signs he can be Liverpool’s De Bruyne?

Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher was very impressed by Wirtz’s display.  

“I think it was the first sign of seeing, not just a player for Liverpool, but I said when he came in he could be a replacement for Kevin De Bruyne in terms of the Premier League - getting on the ball, causing problems for the opposition,” he told Sky Sports.  

“He didn't lose possession often, he was very clever with the ball, but he also had penetrating passes - 42 out of 45, which is a lot for a player who is supposed to make key passes to try and put people in, so at times you take chances. 

“This is exactly where they want him on the pitch, this is where he's at his best and that's why today was his best Liverpool performance so far in the Premier League.” 

Will Slot keep him at No 10 against Sunderland? 

Leaving Salah out of the side for a second successive match would be a big surprise, so Wirtz may be competing with Szoboszlai for a starting berth in No 10 role against Sunderland.  

His outstanding performance makes him very hard to drop, so he should start once again, but Slot did hint that the German is being nursed back to full fitness after a minor injury layoff.  

Speaking on Sunday, Slot confessed that he ignored the advice of the club’s sports scientists. “The performance staff were constantly telling me, 'He needs to go out, he needs to go out' because he's been out for one-and-a-half, two weeks and he only trained once, so to a certain extent maybe it was a bit of risk to keep him in the team, but some situations ask for an exception and I think today was one of them.”

With this quote in mind, we may not see Wirtz play the full 90 minutes against Sunderland.

Yet, given how well he played at the weekend and how confident he looked, it will not be easy to leave him out of the team.