Yeah, that stood out for me as well. He’s getting arguably the best service in the league and doing basically fuck all with it.
I want to believe in the lad, but he’s not making it easy.
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I think he deserves a lot of credit for making the ball be able to find him in those spaces. That is a skill in itself finding those pickets of spaces and the angles to receive the ball. And this is the bit Im not buying about Clearly’s analysis - I get his take that he’s coming deeper than he could, those are still spaces a player with cratered confidence isnt going to asking for the ball in, and not at that frequency. It’s just another part of how confounding the whole experience has been
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I love the guy but he’s definitely making it tough to think there’ll be a brilliant career for him here. You just know that he’ll tear it up elsewhere though.
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Id like to see him been given a run out as a false 9
Fuck knows where we’d play Isak though
Where we’ve mostly played him. On the physio table.
I’d hope Flo would be smart enough to take anything said on social media by a so-called “fan” with a large pinch of salt. Death threats for playing below expectations? So fucking unserious and no real supporter would stoop that low.
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People compare him to Cherki, yes he scored against us but does little else and puts in nowhere near the work rate of Flo or gets involved as much deeper.
Therefore, Cherki is fresher when he receives the ball and at this moment he has more runners and options for passes in the City setup.
Hate having to use anything to do with City!!!
He does look lacking in confidence, you never see him take a player on anymore.
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No self respecting Liverpool fan would do that.
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In fact any decent human would not even think of wishing death on someone just because of football. Criticise the players as much as possible but wishing harm is another level and hiding behind social media, this needs to be punished.
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That’s why he has to be smart in his decisions, when to come deeper and when to run etc, a world class player has that instinct. There are plenty of players who do shit but do the most important things. Shearer does shit the whole match but still end up one of top scorers in league history.
If it is was just a normal player, nobody would be so frustrated. But we all know Wirtz has it in him and wants him to succeed desperately but only he can want to have it. I am all for giving him this season to see whether he is showing any trajectory to succeed, if not just sell him for a good sum and move on. If no good money paid, just keep him and use him sparingly until his contract is up.
He seems to lack both fire and belief, he shirks away from challenges and lacks conviction in his ability on the ball.
Saying the above is weird, as he doesn’t shy away from wanting the ball.
If Wirtz scored a couple goals and assists this season… we wouldn’t be having this conversation about being weak in tackle etc. And selling and dropping him.
Its his 0-0 goal contributions will always be the problem.
He is an an expensive attacker. 0-0 stats are unacceptable
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In terms of output, he is no better than Elliott in 2023/2024. That’s really damning.
With his price tag, he is naturally expected to perform at least as well as Oezil at Arsenal.
The high number of progressive passes he receives is the most interesting part of Cleary’s video. His suggestion to drop Wirtz also makes sense. Both for his benefit and the team’s.
His conclusion though about the cause of Wirtz’s not taking advantage of his advanced positions seems simplified. He isolates on that particular incident, which was indeed bad, but he doesn’t take into account that on many occasions his support and the overall movement around him are still poor. Otherwise, I didn’t think that Cleary offered any great insights; most people could tell you that he’s playing scared and he is devoid of confidence.
In any case, I still think that Wirtz is far from a lost cause. To me he just doesn’t look comfortable on the pitch and off. I know that this purely speculation on my part but he cuts a distant figure in the club’s training videos as well. Maybe, if Iraola takes the pressure off and allows him to get his head straight, he’ll turn things around.
He is too good of a player to keep playing like this.
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Closer than you think. He only has less than one season left to turn things around, and so far he hasn’t done good enough. He will have more chances in a few upcoming weeks with Szobo’s injury, and it will be make or break for him.
Watched this last night, it’s hard to disagree with the points made. Wirtz needs a reset somehow.
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He is a major concern now.
Start him this week in the CL. Give him what should be an easier game. Opportunity to huild confidence.
Personally i saw a guy wanting to get involved on Sunday up to the sending off to me that’s far better than he has seemed at times. Maybe he dodges a tackle however the worst thing was when he shot instead of passing it on in one attack.
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