
Originally Posted by
miller0863
🆕🗣 Former Liverpool striker Dean Saunders believes Florian Wirtz has become "a bit of an issue" for the Reds.
Wirtz was in impressive form for Germany over the international break with two goals and two assists in the 4-3 win in Switzerland and another starring role in the 2-1 home triumph over Ghana.
The 22-year-old experienced a slow start to his Anfield career after arriving in a Ł116million deal from Bayer Leverkusen last summer, but has since gone on to register six goals and nine assists.
But Saunders reckons that return is insufficient to make up for what he regards the attacking midfielder interrupting the balance of the Reds' engine room.
"I thought when he scored a couple of goals, he'll come good," said the ex-Wales international. "He's involved in a lot of intricate moves around the box.
"He still looks a bit lightweight on the pitch, and if you think back to Jurgen Klopp's era when (Philippe) Coutinho used to play as the third midfielder, Liverpool used to score more goals and let more in.
"He then got rid of Coutinho and played a midfield of (James) Milner, (Jordan) Henderson, Fabinho or (Gini) Wijnaldum. He had three aggressive, not creative, workers in midfield. They decreased the amount of goals they conceded and scored more.
"Wirtz, it's a problem because if you play him on the left, he's not going to run back. He tries, but he cannot stay with his man, when you're away from home and struggling.
"𝑰𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒂𝒕 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 10, 𝒉𝒆'𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒆𝒅. 𝑺𝒐 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒆. 𝑾𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆'𝒔 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏."