After Arsene Wenger claimed in the week that accommodating Florian Wirtz as a No. 10 had “destroyed” Liverpool’s midfield, Arne Slot has dismissed his analysis.
Speaking before the 1-0 victory over Real Madrid on Tuesday night, Wenger explained his belief around the issue with bringing Wirtz into the side as a No. 10.
“When Wirtz had the choice between going to Bayern Munich or Liverpool, he said to Liverpool, ‘I come to you if I play No. 10, I do not want to play wide’,” he said on beIN SPORTS.
“Liverpool, to get him, they say ‘OK’. So they start him [as a No. 10], but they destroy their midfield.”
But in his extended press conference ahead of the trip to Man City on Sunday, Slot told reporters including the Mail‘s Dominic King that “if I need open-heart surgery, I am not going to tell the surgeon what to do.”
“Everyone has a right to his own opinion and many of them have,” he began.
LONDON, ENGLAND - Sunday, August 10, 2025: Liverpool’s head coach Arne Slot shakes hands with Florian Wirtz after the FA Community Shield match between Crystal Palace FC and Liverpool FC at Wembley Stadium. Palace won 3-1 on penalties after a 2-2 draw. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
“That is the nice thing about football, that everyone has his opinion about it.
“If I need open-heart surgery, I am not going to tell the surgeon what he needs to do but about football everyone is telling you what the best thing is to do.
“But that that is also the nice thing about football because everyone knows it so we can talk about it.”
Given Liverpool’s struggles for fluency with Wirtz in his favoured role and the dominance they enjoyed when he was shifted to the left against Real, it is hard to argue with Wenger’s stance.
But Slot clearly feels he can eventually get the best out of his £116 million signing in a central role, perhaps with a more gradual evolution to a 4-2-3-1 system.
Slot adamant: ‘Wirtz will be great as a midfielder’
“I think we have five or six very good midfielders who can all play together but they need to play more together to get the best out of every single player,” the head coach continued.
“Florian, he needs time to adapt to his teammates, teammates need time to adapt to him.
“But he now played off the left. But I can tell you if it is not this season it is the other season or if it is not now it is tomorrow, he will have great performances as a midfielder for Liverpool as well.
“There has been a lot of focus on him individually and I’m more focused on team performance.”
With another high-profile clash to come on Sunday the likelihood is that Slot sticks with a more reliable 4-3-3 structure with Dominik Szoboszlai as his most advanced midfielder and either Wirtz or Cody Gakpo on the left.