For $135 million, you probably don't want a player who is so easily physically overwhelmed, who seems utterly out of step with the needs of the modern Premier League. You want a player who can grab a contest from the off and bend it to his will. Given that the problems that plague him in year two are much the same as 12 months ago, it is valid to ask whether it is ever going to click for Liverpool and the man who was supposed to be the totem of his possession play.
Whatever he changes, Wirtz isn't going to gain a couple of inches in height or tack on the half dozen kilos that would get him around league average weight for his position. In the biggest, strongest and most athletic football league in the world, there is always going to be an opponent who can rag doll him like Brentford did today, where Wirtz put up an 11.1% success rate in duels. When he and his teammates were convinced he should have had a penalty in the first half, it was hard to shake the sense that a stronger player than Wirtz would have held Yehor Yarmolyuk on his shoulder, at least getting a cut back away before going to ground and appealing.
There are reasons why Wirtz is the joint-leader for fouls committed in the Premier League. Sasa Lukic has committed 14 because he is the defensive midfielder for an Ipswich side that generally finds itself on the back foot, needing to throw a boot in the way of danger. Liverpool's No.7 is level with him partly because he is an intense presser but also because when he catches up to the ball (or tries to retain control of it) he finds that the best way to win his possession battle is to go in harder than the other guy.
Then again, there is another metric where Wirtz leads the league, the sort you might expect from an eight-figure creator. Wirtz's supporters probably have a point. After all, no one has laid on more shooting opportunities for his teammates than his 20, albeit that is a number that comes with an awful lot of caveats.
Firstly, at this stage of the season it really helps if you have played one more game than a fair few others across the league. And of course, when one game accounts for nearly 15% of your dataset (and half of that match sees you playing with a man advantage), it can have a disproportionate impact on the aggregate. And so Wirtz tops the creative chart with 20 chances created across the season because he laid on nine today, five in the second half after Yehor Yarmoliuk's headbutt on the impressive Jeremy Jacquet.
Not since Bruno Fernandes laid on 10 against Aston Villa in 2021 has a player played more passes in the Premier League that directly result in a teammate taking a shot on goal. You would think then that this was the day where Wirtz, so roundly chastised for his showing against Manchester City, did what Liverpool have been waiting for: grabbing hold of a game and affirming his status as one of the outstanding creators in the league. Of those nine chances created, seven came from sideways or backwards passes.
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