What Jurgen Klopp has just privately told Florian Wirtz after difficult Liverpool start
Florian Wirtz has come under fire for his Liverpool form since his £116million transfer from Bayer Leverkusen.
Jason Cundy says Florian Wirtz can mimic Moises Caicedo and believes the German international would have received more criticism for his performances had Liverpool not made a perfect start to the season in all competitions.
Data already shows Wirtz is rubbing shoulders with Kylian Mbappe in terms of his playmaking numbers, but writing the former Leverkusen star off this early would be a mistake.
Meanwhile, Darren Bent noticed a major positive in Wirtz’s game and believes the 22-year-old was brilliant against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League season opener.
Jurgen Klopp offers advice to Florian Wirtz
Former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp gave a private message to Sky Sports reporter Sebastian Hellmann to give to Wirtz.
Hellmann told Florian Wirtz: “Jürgen Klopp’s first line is, “Stay cool, Florian.” Is it difficult to stay cool?“
Wirtz replied: “No, not for me. Yes, of course I would have liked to have scored a goal or collected a few points.
“But no matter what anyone says, I’m staying cool. I know what I’m capable of, and I also know that I’ll really bring it to the pitch at some point, so I’m just staying cool. That’s a good advice.”
Klopp had more advice as relayed by Hellmann: “The second is, “people give you time” – because he knows Liverpool so well. From the outside, you always assume: OK, you’ve spent so much money, you have to deliver right now. Do you feel like people give you time?”
In response, Wirtz said: “Yes, I hear it often. I don’t want to hear it all the time: “Give it time, give it time.” Instead, I simply try to do better each time than before. And sometimes there are phases where things might not go well for you; I haven’t had that very often in my career. Once I get through it—that’s perhaps harsh, because I’m not playing badly, I just haven’t got the points yet—it will come eventually, and then everything will be fine.”
The data that proves Wirtz will come good
Wirtz clearly has a strong mentality and is correct in saying he’s playing well even if he doesn’t yet have the goals or assists as evidence.
Against Atletico Madrid, Wirtz created five major chances – the same as Mbappe.
There is a lot more to Wirtz than just goal contributions, as this data from Fbref proves.
| Stat | Per 90 | Percentile |
| Progressive Passes | 6.24 | 92nd |
| Successful Take-Ons | 2.66 | 93rd |
| Total passes completed | 47.43 | 96th |
| Key passes | 2.22 | 87th |
| Goal-creating actions | 0.78 | 92nd |
Liverpool have signed Wirtz on a six-year contract, so there won’t be any major worries about his lack of goals or assists so far, especially when his overall quality of play is already high.
Additionally, there is less pressure on Wirtz to score or assist compared to his time at Leverkusen.