Slot rejects Wenger claim that Wirtz at No 10 has 'destroyed Liverpool’s midfield'
Florian Wirtz is still waiting to score or assist for Arne Slot’s Liverpool in the Premier League. Pic: Peter Byrne/PA
Arne Slot has rejected Arsène Wenger’s theory that playing Florian Wirtz as a No 10 has “destroyed Liverpool’s midfield” and insisted the £116m signing will prove a special talent wherever he operates for the Premier League champions.
Wirtz impressed when playing off the left in the Champions League defeat of Real Madrid on Tuesday, having previously struggled to make an impact in a central attacking role. The Germany international’s difficult start in the Premier League – where he is yet to score or assist before Sunday’s visit to Manchester City – prompted a withering assessment by Wenger before the visit of Real.
Wenger claimed on beIN Sports: “When Wirtz had the choice between going to Bayern Munich or Liverpool, he said to Liverpool: ‘I come to you if I play No 10. I do not want to play wide.’ Liverpool, to get him, they say OK. They started him and they destroyed their midfield, which was [Ryan] Gravenberch, [Alexis] Mac Allister, [Dominik] Szoboszlai. To play Wirtz, they took Szoboszlai out. What have they done? They have gone back to their midfield of last year.”
Wenger’s last point is correct, with last season’s title-winning midfield restored for victories over Aston Villa and the current leaders of La Liga. Liverpool’s performances were markedly improved and they kept a clean sheet in both games, after failing to keep one in the previous 10 matches. Slot, however, believes a better understanding between teammates is key to the overall development and not simply the position that Wirtz plays.
“Everyone has a right to his own opinion,” said the Liverpool head coach on Wenger. “We have five or six very good midfielders who can all play together but they need to play more together to get the best out of every single player. Florian needs time to adapt to his teammates and teammates need time to adapt to him. Now he played off the left but I can tell you, if it is not now it is tomorrow, he will have great performances as a midfielder for Liverpool as well.”
City were keen on signing Wirtz at the start of the summer transfer window but claim to have been put off by the financial package involved to bring him from Bayer Leverkusen. Wirtz’s camp, meanwhile, suggested he cooled on City owing to doubts over Pep Guardiola’s long-term future at the club. Slot, who hopes to have Alexander Isak available after almost three weeks out with a groin problem, insists Wirtz can become a dominant figure in the Premier League, as a No 10 or an inverted winger.
“He definitely has the talent for it, but it’s not only about one player,” Slot added. “It’s also about the team you are playing in. What I can say about Florian is that since Xabi Alonso came in [at Leverkusen] he was mainly used in a 3-4-3 system as an inverted winger, where before that he mainly played as a 10. In the national team he plays as an inverted winger as well.
“For me the only challenge I have is making sure he gets in those positions, as an inverted winger or as a 10, in and around the 18-yard box where his teammates need to find him with the right timing, because then he will always produce special things. He does this for the national team, he did it for Leverkusen and he’s already done that for us as well.”
Slot admits he has changed the Liverpool team more than he would have wished this season and, unusually for him, became agitated when explaining how injuries to Mac Allister, Conor Bradley, Jeremie Frimpong and Isak gave him no alternative.
“There have been obvious reasons why we’ve had to change more than I would like,” he said. “Mac Allister as an example – if you miss out on pre-season then you’re not ready to play three games in seven days. If you do, you will get injuries.
“I can show multiple examples to you – Alex [Isak] is one, by the way. It’s so obvious for me and I’m a bit like, you can maybe feel it: ‘Jesus, why don’t you see these things? Why are you talking about me changing?’ when it’s so obvious why.
“I’m known as being a manager who prefers not to change, but I couldn’t do anything different to what I did. Then, of course, we brought new players in and they have to adapt. You know what I want to say now? I want to talk about the last game when I saw a dive which 100% should have been a second yellow [for Vinícius Júnior]. I never hear about how many referee decisions have gone against us in the last six or seven weeks.”
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