We haven’t tried what would probably make a difference and that’s giving him the ball early, a lot earlier than we do.
Despite the relatively good performance yesterday we could clearly see that all our forward players suffered from delayed passes. These delayed passes are a constant in our tactics Grav and Szoboszlai are criminal at it.
Still a lot of Wirtz’s weaknesses were exposed yesterday. Even in possession his body position and protection of the ball was generally poor when challenged and his first touch was at times crazy poor.
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I think a loan would be a step too far and can’t see the club doing that. It can only ever be a direct sale for a £100m plus player imo. The damage it would do to his value, imo, would be too big.
It might not work out for him and us - this is the conundrum for Andoni to sort, and probably one of his bigger tests he faces.
It’s a real shame he’s not yet performing. He has some decent moments in every game, but it seems he’s lacking major confidence, which can be turned around.
I still have confidence he’ll find form and get comfortable here at Liverpool, but there is a ticking clock on that happening, otherwise we will have to cut ties with him.
After having read that, I’m glad that you aren’t in charge of this club. 
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No way I would loan him, that would drastically devalue a player who might have a lot of talent but just not working out here so far. A sale would have to be attractive enough for us to take a loss but not so much. I think if a top team offers somewhere in the region of 75mil, the club might take a pause and think whether there is case to answer to take that money and put it into a player that Iraola might be able to work with better, but until that happens, any loans or cheapskate bidding from other teams, they can get lost.
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I am still holding out hope that he is a slow burner like Roberto Firmino was. Remember, we didn’t really know how to use Bobby until Jurgen figured it out. So hopefully Andoni can unlock him so to speak.
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I certainly hope so. Its always more satisfying when a player comes good in Liverpool rather than seeing him leave without any impact.
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This is what I said about him in the match thread..
Annoyingly given who its coming from, i think this sums up really well the challenge I have with Wirtz now and why its been a struggle to evaluate him.
https://x.com/HenryJackson87/status/2109624464782631353?s=20
You can very clearly see his talent and you can see his enthusiasm to play. He definitely isn’t hiding, but far too much of his good work is in the wrong areas and there is too little killer instinct in the areas you need your 100m creative lynchpin to be operating in.
Its definitely not a talent issue, but he very much plays right now like he’s got a mental block.
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I’d say the spaces where he receives the ball at the moment are too crowded and he doesn’t have the time to create nor to start a dribbling.
Klopp on Wirtz:
“We have to look at where he is most valuable for us, and that is definitely in the half-spaces. There’s no question about that.
“He can also play out wide, but as soon as we have the ball, he should move back into the half-spaces. That’s definitely where he feels most comfortable.
“For Flo, the left half-space would be the perfect position. For his goal, he moved into the centre, and that’s exactly where he needs to be as well.”
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Hm.
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My faith that Flo will come good has started to dissipate, but it isn’t entirely gone.
Still, I’m bracing myself for legitimate rumors linking him with an exit next summer, and if he doesn’t improve, I think we might have to consider it.
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I feel the very same. And I’m afraid Barcola may be something similar.
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I have to say, I think Neville is spot on about the “rondo” bit with Flo. I get that sometimes, too, when I’m watching him. I don’t agree that Flo doesn’t recognize the value of goals and assists - he creates lots of chances that don’t get finished. But I also think he could be more assertive in the final third.
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It’s far too soon with Barcola to know. He’s barely getting started here. I was skeptical of him before we signed him - for the fee and the fact that he wasn’t even a nailed on starter at PSG. But we needed wingers with pace and he was the best available, and I believe Iraola will make it work.
Flo is more concerning because he was signed under a different manager who wanted an AM that could unlock packed defenses. I’m not sure if he is as suited to Iraola.
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Point proven the lad nice as he may be isn’t good enough or isn’t physically strong enough.
I still have faith in him as a player, but my faith that it will come good here is now very shaky. Lots of players have made a huge money move and underwhelmed their first season before eventually coming good. We are not that deep into this season but there has been no real progress and I would put my cards on the table to say there has never been a signing this high profile who underwhelmed this much for this long before eventually coming good. Maybe Bergkamp at Arsenal who didnt really quieten the doubters until his third season, and second season (first full) under Wenger.
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Van Persie? Hazard? Firmino?
They each needed at least a season iirc.
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https://x.com/ITKSpace/status/2109638428140708174
We have now reached the absolute lowest of lows: the young man and his family are receiving death threats—and this is happening to a club that has just gone through such a tragedy. And if that alone isn’t enough to find it disgusting and repulsive, the thousands of likes these posts receive certainly are. (Just search Wirtz death and you will see couple of disgusting tweets)
I want nothing more to do with a fanbase like that. (That post above is just one example of what is happening right now.)
the fact that Space seen this, means Wirtz (his friends and family) has seen these types of messages too.
We expect our players to perform, when fans are wishing death on them.
I won’t repost these posts here; I won’t say anything at all anymore. I’ve had enough.
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Van Persie was an unknown 19 year old. Hazard took a few season to find his peak, but he was named in the PFA team of the season in his first year. For Bobby I think it might have taken time for some fans to figure out what he was about, but he seemed to click from the moment Klopp came in just a couple of months into his first season.
More importantly though only Hazard arrived as a much hyped expensive player for whom there was a lot of competition for their signature…players where every under whelming performance is measured against their price tag. We’ve seen the data on how bad a hit rate there is with signings of this sort of price tag, but the ones that work out none have needed this long to get going.
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A good vid. I know I can overdo the body language interpretation stuff so I’ve kept quiet about the incident that AC starts his video analyzing and the widespread animated responses to how badly Wirtz played that one, but it jumped off the screen at me on Sunday watching it live.
I think the big important part of the analysis is the section on “progressive passes received.” That really kicks in the nuts the arguments that it’s the midfield’s fault for not getting him the ball.
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