Arne Slot spoke about a big moment for one of the marquee signings of the summer for Liverpool.
Florian Wirtz agreed to join the Reds in the transfer window for a fee that could reach £116 million, leaving his boyhood club Bayer Leverkusen as one of the most highly rated creators in Europe.
Along with the introductions of Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak to the group, Wirtz was supposed to take the team onwards in their defence of the Premier League crown. However, a disastrous spell of form across autumn seems to have scuppered that aspiration, piling the pressure on the German.
More recently, he seems to have a consistent streak of performances as Slot has switched his system. After an assist against Tottenham, Wirtz finally bagged his first goal for the club, netting at Anfield.
“I think I'm quite sure it was a relief for [Florian], this I could see after his reaction after he scored the goal – and the same I saw with his teammates. They were really happy for him scoring his first goal because in football – rightly so, maybe – we mainly get judged on results and individuals mainly get judged on goals and assists. Sometimes we tend to forget what else there is to do during a game.
“I think he's had multiple good games for us but I also feel he gets better and better every single game he is playing for us. He gets fitter and fitter and was getting closer and closer to his first goal. Then it was not a surprise to me that he scored today, but he would probably be the first one to understand that one goal is not enough.
"He will score many more goals for us than only this one, but I also liked his performance during large parts of the game today. I think he was special in a lot of moments.”