Andoni Iraola has said Florian Wirtz should be judged by his influence on Liverpool rather than statistics and believes the playmaker’s impact will increase as his rapport with a new-look attack develops.
Wirtz impressed in Liverpool’s defeat of Atlético Madrid on Wednesday, having also produced some of his best performances last season in the Champions League. But he has also come in for criticism this term for the amount of times he has conceded possession. The £116 million Germany international has one assist and no goals in the Premier League so far but Iraola insists Wirtz’s contribution should not be measured by numbers.
The Liverpool head coach explained: “Flo played very well against Atlético Madrid and I also think he has been unlucky. I remember the ‘goal’ he scored against Nottingham Forest: they gave it live and then VAR disallowed it. He could have had very good assists but we haven’t finished them. That is why you cannot just play because of the numbers.
“Whether a striker scores a lot of goals or he doesn’t, you have to look at the performances. Does he help us to play well? Yes. Well, someone will score the goals and someone will give the assists. I am not too focused on numbers.
“Nowadays everything is about numbers, everyone tells players you have to assist, you have to score goals. For me, you have to help us play well. Someone will score the goals and I don’t care if it is the midfielders like it was the other day. Someone will score the goals if we are doing well collectively.”
Wirtz created an excellent chance for Bradley Barcola against Atlético and Iraola believes his “number 10″ will exert a greater influence as his understanding with the France international, fellow new signing Victor Munoz, Rio Ngumoha and Alexander Isak improves.
“There is an argument to make that the wingers have changed more than anywhere else,” Iraola added. “Now we have new weapons we can use with Bradley and Victor. With Florian, he is key for us.
“I am not worried because he will quickly learn where Victor prefers the ball or where Bradley prefers the ball. And, also, Bradley in just his second game you could see they already had a good association. I am not very worried.” – Guardian