28 Aug 2026 18:53:11
Liverpool's problem is having 8 players who want to attack, this pushes other teams to go into a low block, if we lose the ball with a poor pass or blocked shot it's so easy for teams to counter.
This is the main reason Wirtz is failing because we don't allow him the space because our other midfielders are using it.
We got our fullback profiles all wrong last season, our average positions should resemble a 2-3-2-3 formation.
So in theory we need 2 full backs, a dm and a right winger.
28 Aug 2026 19:13:39
It's about getting players to recognize when it's their turn to cover. It needs some more coaching.
The squad could certainly do with a talented, more defence minded midfielder to compliment the group, because he would naturally look to be the cover, but it's not impossible the current selection put it together with more training and discipline either.
28 Aug 2026 19:41:07
Araujo will
own the RB spot so Kerkez can push on.
Camara should help with the missing bite. Our team of fancy fans seem to be more concerned with their hairdos and not getting injured. Lame.
28 Aug 2026 19:48:46
Kerkez, push on and do what?
28 Aug 2026 19:58:59
Wirtz "failing" is not because of
last season's excuse (Slot), nor this season's (our midfielders). He needs to step up, and seize a few games around the neck.
I really hope it happens for him, but so far he has looked totally lost, and the wrong player in the wrong league.
28 Aug 2026 20:13:10
"It's about getting players to recognize when it's their turn to cover. It needs some more coaching."
Spot on, Davey. This is the way Iraola plays and is currently undefeated in the PL in the last 18 games. In fact, in the last 17 games he coached at B'mouth last season, B'mouth were very good defensively, cos his midfielders worked hard off the ball whenever they lost it to protect the defence, hence why he does not use a typical no.
6.
As for Wirtz taking over games, that is not gonna happen cos he thrives within a system that gets the best out of him, something Alonso successfully did, and that Iraola is trying to do with his system. Even Bobbie, Salah, Mane, Coutinho, etc., worked within a system Klopp built. Neither of them were just free-lancing.
The whole "one player taking over games" and all that are no longer a thing, imo. It's all about systems now.
28 Aug 2026 20:13:51
Mark,
Hopefully he keeps running like Forest Gump and ends up in Scotland, which is about his level.
28 Aug 2026 20:26:24
The main problem hampering Wirtz to date is that he is not a No. 10. Never was. The only place he is a No. 10 is in video games.
I watched quite a bit of Wirtz when he was brilliant at Leverkusen. He played off the left, combining with an overlapping Alex Grimaldo to deadly effect. He was brilliant and his arrival softened the blow of Diaz leaving after our title win. We paid a fortune for him and all looked rosy...
Then, for some ridiculous reason Slot played him in central midfield positions, on the right and as what he called a "No. 10" - which Wirtz apparently wants to be - ripping up a title winning formation to do so.
The rare occasions Wirtz started on the left he looked a bit more comfortable - but was hamstrung by Slot's insistence that fullbacks stay deep and do not overlap (I will not miss his anti-football).
To recap. We signed the best young left-sided inside forward in world football for £120+, then seemingly promised him that he'd be a "No. 10" - in a title winning side that didn't play with a No. 10. The results speak for themselves. The stupidity was/is staggering.
Maybe Perhaps Wirtz can be a No. 10. Perhaps he personally thinks he'd be a great No. 10 - but there is zero evidence of that. Zero. It has never, even been a reality.
The crazy thing for me is that the pundits and "experts" never mention this in discussions about Wirtz. Obviously because they never watched him play at his best - so don't have a clue what he's supposed to be good at.
{Ed666's Note - Great post Lassic
28 Aug 2026 20:47:37
It was Edward's idea, not Slot's. He was calling the shots, not Slot.
Edward thought he could sort out Jurgens' problems. Talk about delusions of grandeur.
I can see a world Wirtz adapts to playing the Bobby role, but he needs a solid MF behind him. Alonso gets it.