West Ham 0-2 Liverpool
The Italian legend is confident about Florian Wirtz being a Liverpool success after completing a £100 million transfer.
Gianfranco Zola has no doubts about Florian Wirtz’s quality despite the soft launch to his Liverpool career.
Wirtz has not been as prolific in the final third as he was at Leverkusen - where he recorded 57 goals and 63 assists in 193 appearances. The Germany international is still waiting to open his goal account for Liverpool bur delivered a fine performance against West Ham to ease the pressure on head coach Arne Slot. Wirtz tormented the Hammers throughout and played a part in Alexander Isak’s opening goal.
Speaking on Premier League Productions, Zola believes that Wirtz’s arrival at a team struggling for form is why he’s come in for so much criticism. The former Italy international says that he experienced similar during his career.
Zola and Wright agree
Zola said: “The quality of the player is not in doubt. We all know what he can do and seen his ability. I don't think it's a problem for the player, it is Liverpool who have had a moment of unsettlement.
“It happens. It happened to me when I moved from Naples to Parma. I go to Parma, they were doing fantastically well, I got into the team and I was scoring but the team was doing bad and all the responsibility was with me because I was the new player. It's a similar situation.
“Liverpool is going through a difficult situation. When everything settles, he is going to show his value. He is not responsible. They scored two goals, which was very important but it was [more] important they didn't concede. With Klopp, Liverpool scored many goals but what isn't there is they're conceding too much. Not even Liverpool, with all this ability and strength going forward, can afford.”
Ex-Arsenal striker Ian Wright also reckons that Wirtz has been unfortunate to join a Liverpool side whose form jettisoned after winning the Premier League title last season. Wright said: “It's unfortunate for him at the minute. For him to come to the Premier League, it's massive and has come for a lot of money. His ability is not in doubt but you come in and have to try to find your feet. If it was the Liverpool of last season, he comes in and slips in brilliantly. Ideally, you want him to come into a winning team, they are, and unfortunately, they can't get themselves going.”
Slot on Wirtz performance
On Wirtz’s display against West Ham, Liverpool boss Slot said: Recently I've been asked a lot about individuals when they've played maybe not a game of their usual standards and I've pointed out the team every single time. Now after a very positive performance from Florian, I can acknowledge that, but I also want to emphasise on the performance that was much better than some others.
We tried to create an extra midfielder and he was very important for us to find every time the extra midfielder. He was good when he made a dribble, he was really good in his one-touch balls, I even remember a moment when he played the ball diagonally in the 18-yard box to Cody Gakpo, which then didn't lead to a shot so no xG value. We had many of those moments and he was part of many of those moments, I think.
“A good game. 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.”
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