Andoni Iraola Defends Florian Wirtz Amid Criticism

Andoni Iraola is not interested in spreadsheets. Not when it comes to Florian Wirtz.

The Liverpool manager watched his £116m playmaker run the game against Atlético Madrid in midweek and has little time for the criticism that has followed a quieter start in the Premier League – one assist, no goals and plenty of chatter about lost possession.

For Iraola, the numbers miss the point.

“Flo played very well against Atlético Madrid and I also think he has been unlucky,” he said, recalling the disallowed strike at Nottingham Forest that briefly stood before VAR cut the celebrations short. That moment, and a handful of chances his teammates failed to finish, sit at the heart of Iraola’s argument: the performance is there, the final touch from others is not.

So he has drawn a line. This is not a season in which Wirtz will be judged by a goal column.

In Iraola’s eyes, the 23‑year‑old is the conductor, not the finisher. “Whether a striker scores a lot of goals or he doesn’t, you have to look at the performances. Does he help us to play well? Yes. Well, someone will score the goals and someone will give the assists.”

That is the mantra. The obsession with metrics – goals, assists, key passes – does not impress him. “Nowadays everything is about numbers, everyone tells players you have to assist, you have to score goals. For me, you have to help us play well. Someone will score the goals and I don’t care if it is the midfielders like it was the other day. Someone will score the goals if we are doing well collectively.”

The Atlético win gave a glimpse of what that collective might become. Wirtz slipped an excellent chance on a plate for Bradley Barcola, a move that summed up the new dynamic in Liverpool’s attack. The Germany international now operates at the heart of a reshaped forward line, with Barcola on one flank and fellow summer arrival Victor Muñoz offering another outlet.

There is still an element of feeling their way into it. Iraola knows it, and he welcomes it. The understanding, he argues, will only grow.

“There is an argument to make that the wingers have changed more than anywhere else,” he said. “Now we have new weapons we can use with Bradley and Victor. With Florian, he is key for us.”

The language is deliberate: “weapons”, “key”. This is how Iraola sees Wirtz – the player who unlocks the rest.

The coach is relaxed about the teething problems. Where others see turnovers and a lack of end product, he sees a player learning new patterns, new runs, new preferences. “I am not worried because he will quickly learn where Victor prefers the ball or where Bradley prefers the ball. And, also, Bradley in just his second game you could see they already had a good association. I am not very worried.”

The pressure around a £116m signing rarely softens. The debate will continue every week Wirtz leaves a Premier League pitch without a goal to his name. Iraola, though, has nailed his colours to a different mast.

For him, Wirtz will be measured by how Liverpool play, not by how often his name appears on the scoresheet. And if the chemistry with Barcola and Muñoz keeps building at the current rate, the numbers others crave may simply follow in their wake.