Liverpool 0-0 Leeds: Match Review
Liverpool were held to a 0-0 draw against Leeds United and Florian Wirtz struggled during the game.
Jason McAteer felt that Florian Wirtz was feeling the impact of fatigue during Liverpool’s stalemate against Leeds United.
However, Wirtz failed to deliver against Leeds and was substituted in the 66th minute. Speaking on The Official Liverpool FC Podcast, McAteer reckons that the Germany international played one too many games of late and ‘ran out of gas’.
What’s been said
The former Reds midfielder said: “A few players were off. I think we need to be fair, Wirtz didn't have one of his better games. We give him praise when he does but he didn't. Had Liverpool been top of the table and he's taken out, it would have made sense . But because where we are and he's having a bit of a purple patch, if you'd have taken him out of the team, we'd have all gone: 'Huh?'.
“But it was maybe just one too many. We know he's still playing catch up and trying to find his feet in the Premier League. We have highlighted the positives about getting bigger and stronger and his performances getting bigger. He is going to get to that point where he just ran out of gas and I think players like him, you notice it, was his decision-making. He had one where it fell to him and he hits it with his left foot and you're thinking: 'That's not Wirtz'. When you're tired, you make silly decisions and that's not him. That's down to the tiredness.”
Ex-Liverpool captain and assistant manager Phil Thompson agreed that Wirtz appeared to look tired. However, Thompson could see why Slot selected the attacking midfielder as putting him on the bench might have impacted his confidence.
Thompson said: “We seen the changes, ringing the changes with a few players but I think Wirtz had to play. He couldn't sort of go, because he has been such an influence in these last few games, certainly the Wolves game where he was absolutely top class, to take him out, it may dent his confidence.
“Although you'll bring him in and say this is why, he was having such [good performances] and it's not worked. It's not worked because he looked really tired and certainly didn't have that impact we were all hoping.”
Wirtz injury update
Liverpool head coach Slot admitted after the Leeds draw that Wirtz had missed training in the build-up because of a hamstring issue. Speaking to LFCTV, Slot said: “It's a lot to ask for the players who were fit. As you could see today, four players with hardly any playing minutes in the Premier League were on the bench. Florian only trained once this week because two days after the game, he felt his hamstring still a bit.
“You try to be as careful as you can without ruining your chances of winning the game as much as you can with the schedule coming up because missing out on another one would be an even bigger problem if that's going to take five, six or seven weeks or longer.”
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