Arne Slot, Manager of Liverpool, applauds the fans following the team's victory during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Liverpool at London Stadium on November 30, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)placeholder image
Arne Slot, Manager of Liverpool, applauds the fans following the team's victory during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Liverpool at London Stadium on November 30, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images) | Liverpool FC via Getty Images
The Liverpool boss discussed the performance of Florian Wirtz following the 2-0 win over West Ham United.
Arne Slot insisted that the role of Florian Wirtz was pivotal to Liverpool arresting their insipid run of form.
The Reds travelled to West Ham United against the backdrop of nine defeats in their previous 12 matches in all competitions. Having already relinquished the Premier League title, Slot has come under pressure to turn around Liverpool’s fortunes.
After the chastening 4-1 defeat by PSV Eindhoven, the Anfield head coach opted to make four changes to his line-up to face West Ham at the London Stadium. With Wirtz recovering from an injury, ruling him out of PSV and the 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest, he was restored to the Reds’ team at the expense of Mo Salah.
Wirtz has endured a difficult start to his Liverpool career following a £100 million move from Bayer Leverkusen. However, he delivered a stylish performance in the 2-0 triumph. Wirtz provided the Reds another option in the engine room and ran amok in the first half. He then played a part in Alexander Isak’s maiden Premier League goal for Liverpool.
Speaking at his post-match press conference, Slot admitted that his medical staff told him it was a risk playing Wirtz for 75 minutes after his spell on the sidelines. But the Reds supremo saluted the Germany international’s performance.
“The team played a very good game,” said Slot. “Recently, I’ve been asked a lot about individuals when maybe they’ve played a game not of their usual standards and I’ve pointed out the team every single time.
“After a very positive performance from Florian, I can acknowledge that but I also want to emphasis the team performance was much better. We tried to create an extra midfielder and he was very important for us to find every time that extra midfielder.
“He was good when he made a dribble, he was good with his one-touch passes, he played one ball to Cody which then doesn’t lead to a shot but we had many of those moments and he was part of many of them.
“Performance staff were constantly telling me ‘he needs to go out’ because he’d be out for one-and-a-half weeks and had only trained once, so to a certain extent it was maybe a bit of a risk to keep him in the team but some situations ask for an exception, and today was one of them.”
Wirtz’s return came at the expense of Salah, whose form has jettisoned after plundering 34 goals in all competitions last season. However, Slot is adamant that Liverpool’s third all-time top goalscorer remains a key part of his plans.
Asked about dropping Salah to the bench, Slot replied: “Every time I don’t play Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitke or Mohamed Salah, it’s about that which is understandable was they are all outstanding players. Mo has had an unbelievable career at this club and will have a very good future at this club because he is such a special player.
“Four games in 10 days with only 14-15 outfield players available for us, then you have to decide once in a while to make a certain line-up and you try to pick the best line-up for every single game.
“Today, with the way West Ham set-up with a full-back that is constantly high and a winger who is constantly inside, I thought that this could help the team. But Mo has been so important for this club and will be important for this club in the future.”
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