Florian Wirtz is a problem for Liverpool and “looked like a little boy” in the 3-0 defeat at Manchester City, according to Gary Neville.
Wirtz, a £100m summer signing from Bayer Leverkusen – whose fee could rise to £116m – has struggled to adapt to the Premier League and is yet to register a single goal or assist after 11 games in the competition.
Neville says patience is running thin for the 22-year-old to deliver on his promise after Wirtz had “a really bad day” in the heavy loss at City, which leaves the champions eighth after 11 games.
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Highlights of the Premier League match between Manchester City and Liverpool
“Wirtz is a problem,” the Sky Sports pundit said on the Gary Neville Podcast.
“Let’s just call it as it is. It’s an issue. He’s £100m+, and to be fair, I said a few weeks ago [Milos] Kerkez looked like a little boy out there. Today I thought Wirtz looked like a little boy. That can’t be the case.”
He added: “We’ve been tiptoeing around him for a few months, around the fact that he’s young, he’s coming to a new country, but he’s £100m+, you’re going to have to stand up soon.
“He’s obviously got something, he’s a really good player, he’s technically fantastic, but he’s been mauled out there today by Matheus Nunes and by others.
“He’s been chucked around the pitch, and didn’t deliver on the quality side of things as well, so his performance was a real worry.”
Wirtz has not settled in quickly at Liverpool
Neville says Liverpool have to find a way to bring the best out of Wirtz, who has looked more at home in the Champions League since moving to Anfield.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot, who started using Wirtz centrally, has restored him to his favoured left-wing position over the last two games. He impressed against Real Madrid but went back into his shell at City.
“He’s a Germany international of great standing, and he looks well short in respect of what you’d expect in a top physical Premier League match,” added Neville.
“They’ve got to get him up to speed, they’ve got to get that little bit of tenacity into him, and that little bit of something that means he’ll start to get into form, because what they have to do is stick with him and persist.”
Neville damning of Liverpool performance at City
Liverpool are eight points off leaders Arsenal after 11 games
Liverpool were blown away by City on Sunday as goals from Erling Haaland, Nico Gonzalez and Jeremy Doku inflicted the defending champions’ fifth defeat in 11 Premier League games.
League leaders Arsenal are now eight points clear of Liverpool, who are also below fierce rivals Manchester United on goal difference.
“I thought it was a really, really poor performance. It was one of the worst that I’ve seen from a Liverpool team for a long time,” said Neville.
“It was a bit like they didn’t know what to do. I think it was a worry.
“They need to basically go and have a good look at themselves, because they’ve hit high standards, and they’re a group of players who know how to win things, and they’ll know that they’re nowhere near at the moment.”
It was another disappointing day for Liverpool
Liverpool, like Wirtz, have saved their best performances for the Champions League, with the physicality of the domestic game proving too much for them, and Neville says that will be a big concern for Slot.
“Their tempo in the game was nothing,” said Neville. “They looked physically really, really well short in the game, they looked physically short in terms of their running, physically short in terms of actually just getting out-muscled.
“Physically I’d be worried if I was Arne Slot looking at that team, a few of them look like they can’t run, and I always think that when you go on a losing streak you start to doubt everything.
“That’s wrong, because obviously there are some excellent players out there with great attitudes, so it’s not a time to throw the baby out with the bath water here, but Slot’s going to need this next week to reflect and think about how he fixes the problems, both going forward and in defence.
“They looked terrible at the back. I thought they got messed around today, I thought it looked like City could score lots of goals. They weren’t good enough up front, the combinations weren’t there.”
