Florian Wirtz put a difficult start to his Liverpool career behind him with two excellent assists in his side's 5-1 thrashing of Eintracht Frankfurt midweek. The German attacker has come under heavy criticism for a disappointing spell, which saw Arne Slot drop him.
The 22-year-old arrived in the summer in a £116m deal and was regarded as one of the most exciting signings of the season. He'd starred at Bayer Leverkusen, a goal contribution machine who helped the Germans end Bayern Munich's Bundesliga dominance.
Wirtz struggled to immediately adapt to the Premier League, but his display against Frankfurt was a promising one. He has now suggested that it could be the catalyst for him to start hitting his stride.
Florian Wirtz feeling relieved after ending drought
It was inevitable that memes of 0-0-7 would arrive online once Wirtz reached his seventh game without a goal or assist to his name. This turned into a 10 in a 2-1 loss to Manchester United at Anfield last weekend.
But at the 11th time of trying, he got himself not one but two assists and showcased why the Reds paid the big bucks. He reflected on the Frankfurt game with enthusiasm:
“I know that I can do much, much more. I think the second half was really good. I’m satisfied that we’ve won, we did a great second half all together and that I finally have a goal involvement”.
Wirtz will be keen to kick on now and continue getting fans on board when Slot's men travel to Brentford on Saturday (October 25). It's important he builds confidence and his performance against Frankfurt merits a start at the Gtech.
Slot 'liked' what he saw from Wirtz vs Frankfurt
Slot has given his pre-match press conference ahead of Liverpool's encounter with Brentford and he delved into Wirtz' showing in Germany. The Dutch coach pointed out the role he played in Cody Gakpo's equaliser in the United loss (via the club's website):
"I find this always a bit funny because his second assist we call that an assist, and the one we scored against [Manchester] United, that's not a goal involvement for him, where I felt that was more difficult to do what he did against United than what he did for the 5-1 [against Eintracht], but the assist at 4-1 was good. I think his general game was something I - and I think the Liverpool fans - liked."
Slot has some important decisions to make for the game on Saturday including whether to continue with Wirtz in his frontline. Alexander Isak appears injured which should see Hugo Ekitike move centrally with perhaps the under-fire Mohamed Salah returning to the XI on the right.