Jamie Carragher's Stinging Critique of Florian Wirtz Ahead of Man City Clash
Jamie Carragher has delivered his fiercest verdict yet on Florian Wirtz in a Liverpool shirt, branding the German’s display at Bournemouth “one of the poorest” of his Anfield career and insisting he should be nowhere near the XI when Manchester City visit after the international break.
Wirtz started Liverpool’s scrappy 1-0 win at the Vitality Stadium, but while Andoni Iraola’s side left with three points, the £100m-plus playmaker left Carragher exasperated on Sky Sports co-commentary.
“Wirtz has been really poor again,” Carragher said during the first half. “It’s just nothing. Nothing is happening there at all.”
The performance didn’t grow on him. If anything, it hardened a view he admits has been simmering for a year.
“That was one of the poorest I’ve ever seen him in a Liverpool shirt,” Carragher said on his Jamie Carragher Podcast after full-time. “I’ve been critical of the fact that he hasn’t got the numbers. But normally when you watch Wirtz, he’s neat and tidy, he keeps possession, there’s things that you like. He gets out of a tight situation where you’re normally expecting your player to lose the ball.
“But the reason I worry is, I don’t think Wirtz is in poor form since he came to Liverpool. I actually think what we’re seeing is what he is.”
A year of doubts
Carragher revealed this isn’t a snap judgement born out of one flat afternoon on the south coast. His doubts, he says, go back 12 months.
“I was worried for Wirtz probably 12 months ago,” he admitted. “And maybe that was a little bit early to say that, but I didn’t say it. It was just in the back of my head.
“I commentated on Liverpool away at Burnley and Liverpool won with a late penalty from Mo Salah. And when I was watching that game it was what I’ve seen for the last 12 months: I don’t see how he’s going to hurt you. It’s just neat and tidy. And in some way, the price tag for that type of player should be half of what Liverpool have paid.”
That price tag is the shadow hanging over every Wirtz touch. Liverpool didn’t sign him to be tidy. They signed him to tilt title races.
“The worry for Wirtz now is that his performances so far, or what he’s given Liverpool, is so low,” Carragher said. “Where we were expecting him was to take Liverpool to another league title, to take Liverpool to a Champions League.
“The gap he’s got to get to almost justify what people were expecting, I almost think is too big. You can’t get there. Even if he improves a bit and gets there, it’s still not what Liverpool thought they were getting.”
The knock-on effect
For Carragher, the issue isn’t just Wirtz’s own output. It’s the way his presence at No 10 reshapes the rest of Iraola’s side.
“And it’s not just Wirtz, it’s the knock-on effect,” he explained. “So when he plays at No 10, it means Dominik Szoboszlai has to play central midfield. I don’t think Szoboszlai is a central-midfield player, I don’t.”
That positional domino effect, in Carragher’s eyes, is weakening Liverpool in two areas at once: a misfiring creator and a dynamic attacker pushed deeper than he should be.
Iraola’s big call before City
The schedule gives Iraola no room for sentiment. After a three-week international break, Liverpool walk straight back into a storm: Enzo Maresca’s Manchester City at Anfield on October 11, live on Sky Sports, then Brentford, Brighton and a trip to Arsenal at the Emirates on October 1. Around those league tests sit Champions League dates with LASK and Villarreal, plus a Carabao Cup tie with Chelsea.
Carragher is adamant Wirtz cannot be part of the first of those assignments.
“I think going forward Iraola’s got a decision to make here. Wirtz would not be in my Liverpool team,” he said.
“I thought this Bournemouth game was a big game for Wirtz. Because if he doesn’t produce [against Bournemouth], he’s then going to have a three-week break. By the time we come back, we’re into October. Before you know it, it’ll be Christmas in six to eight weeks, or it’ll feel like we’re getting to Christmas. He has to do something!”
The problem, as Carragher sees it, is that players with far less hype and far smaller fees are delivering more for their clubs.
“If you go through the Premier League and think of players in his position – not just for the top teams, forget the top teams who we should be judging him against, I’m talking about normal Premier League players in the middle of the table – who have done more for their clubs.
“I think of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall at Everton. No one out there would say Dewsbury-Hall is a better player than Wirtz, or would go for more money than Wirtz, or would cost £120m. But every three or four weeks he scores a goal.
“I watched Morgan Gibbs-White for Nottingham Forest last week at Aston Villa, and in the second half he put in a performance in 45 minutes that Florian Wirtz has never done before for Liverpool.
“I’ve seen a goal Emiliano Buendia scored for Aston Villa at Tottenham. Again, these players aren’t going to get over £100m, or £120m, but they’re still giving their clubs bits every few weeks.”
That, for Carragher, is the crux. Wirtz isn’t giving Liverpool “bits”. Not goals. Not assists. Not decisive moments.
“Wirtz wouldn’t be in my Liverpool team. Manchester City at home, for me, he can’t be in the team.”
Backing Iraola’s ruthlessness
Carragher does, however, see one reason for optimism: Iraola has already shown he will not be dictated to by transfer fees or contracts.
“The things I’ve liked so far about Iraola, he’s had the courage to make big decisions,” Carragher said. “Ryan Gravenberch has just signed a hefty contract on a five-year deal on massive money, because they thought him and Szoboszlai were going to be the future of the midfield going forward. He’s not playing.
“Now, I can imagine the guys at the top of the club looking at that, thinking we’ve just given him a hefty contract. But no, he’s not playing.
The full-back situation, he keeps changing the full-backs, he’s dropped Jeremie Frimpong straight away. Milos Kerkez has been in and out. So he’s made decisions.
“But sooner or later he’s going to have to make a decision on Florian Wirtz, and, for me, I hope it’s sooner. Not because I don’t like Florian Wirtz, I’m desperate for the kid to do well. I just want Liverpool to win. That’s it, basically.”
Klopp, Germany and one last hope
If there is a lifeline for Wirtz, Carragher believes it might come far from Merseyside, under a familiar face.
“Jurgen Klopp, now in charge of Germany, has called Wirtz into one of his two Nations League squads. The Liverpool midfielder will be rested initially, then in contention for Germany’s final two games of the window against Serbia and Greece.
“The one hope for Liverpool supporters now is Jurgen Klopp is the Germany manager,” Carragher said. “Wirtz goes away with the Germany team for three weeks, and he’s obviously one of the best players in Germany, that’s how they see him. Can Jurgen Klopp sprinkle a bit of stardust on him in that position?
“Jurgen is one of the greatest managers in the world, we know that. And what he gets out of players is probably more than most managers because of the nature of his personality, and fingers crossed something can happen for him.”
Carragher can see the redemption arc clearly enough.
“There’s a scenario there that Jurgen Klopp and Germany have a great international window, he gets loads of goals, assists and comes back on a high. Manchester City’s the next game, he impacts that, all is forgotten, all is forgiven. There’s a potential turnaround there.
“I would love that to happen, I’d love him to be the match-winner against Manchester City.”
For now, though, the reality is starker. A marquee signing is drifting, a club legend is openly questioning his place, and a new manager is being pushed towards a defining selection call before the champions roll into Anfield.
