Liverpool's performance against Nottingham Forest showed that Florian Wirtz's impact is being underrated this season, despite Arne Slot's side securing the three points late on.
Wirtz endured a difficult start to life in the Premier League, but that's hardly a surprise considering he was forced to get used to a new style of football, country, culture, and league. The hefty price tag will have certainly heaped more pressure on his shoulders, but it's not his fault how much Liverpool decided to pay for him.
The German international has improved in recent weeks, but he was forced to watch from the stands against Forest, despite being named in the starting XI initially.
Liverpool's Florian Wirtz rubs his head. Related
Florian Wirtz Expected Return Date After Liverpool Injury Confirmed
The Germany international was a late absentee for the Premier League game
Florian Wirtz Shows He's Underrated for Liverpool
Florian Wirtz
It's rare that a player comes out of a game looking better than they did previously, when they didn't even touch the pitch, but that's exactly what has happened with Wirtz.
With Wirtz not contributing immensely in terms of goals and assists, it's easy to suggest that he should be doing more in the final third, but it's often not been his fault.
Wirtz, described as 'elite', has created 44 chances in the Premier League this season, only bettered by Dominik Szoboszlai for Liverpool, and it was clear how much they missed him against Nottingham Forest.
The Merseyside club created just 0.06 expected goals in the first half, and only created 1.76 throughout the game. Their final xG needs a little context too, with 1.21 of that coming from just two shots, including Alexis Mac Allister's goal.
Wirtz being out injured might have been a bigger miss than Liverpool would have expected, even though they managed to grab three points out of nowhere.
Liverpool Need to Help Wirtz Now
florian wirtz liverpool
For Wirtz to create 44 chances in the Premier League this season, but only have two assists to his name, perhaps says more about Liverpool's other attacking options than it does the German international.
If Wirtz is going to get the respect that he deserves and start contributing more in terms of assists, then he's going to need a helping hand from his team-mates.
Liverpool have struggled to turn chances into goals regularly this season, and Wirtz has been at the heart of creating a lot of those opportunities. There's no doubt Wirtz could be doing more himself, but the game against Forest showed that they certainly miss him in the side.