Wirtz breaks the curse

Arne Slot entered the London Stadium with two pressures: a heavy three-game losing streak and the need to find a solution for £115m signing Florian Wirtz.

Florian Wirtz is slowly adapting to English football culture.

In that context, Slot made his boldest decision since arriving at Anfield: dropping Mohamed Salah from the starting lineup and giving Wirtz the best space on the pitch. A choice that could easily be considered reckless, but ultimately resulted in Liverpool's most complete Premier League performance this season.

Turning point decision

The first notable point was the position. For the first time, Wirtz was playing in the proper No. 10 role, instead of being pulled into the central midfield trio that had unbalanced Liverpool like in previous matches. With Gravenberch, Mac Allister and especially Szoboszlai as a protective layer right behind him, Wirtz was no longer stifled by defensive responsibilities.

In contrast, the former Bayer Leverkusen man was allowed to play between the lines, where he excelled in the Bundesliga. This immediately had a knock-on effect: the attacking chains began to connect, Liverpool's rhythm became more coherent and the ball flowed more smoothly.

Of course, West Ham weren't the toughest opponents. They gave Wirtz plenty of space, but it was how he handled those moments that mattered.

Wirtz was confident in receiving the ball in all the hot spots, ready to turn in the middle of the box, and linking up with Kerkez, who was also playing his best game of the season. For the first time since arriving at Anfield, Wirtz looked like the version Liverpool paid over £100m for: a creative, versatile player who could dictate the tempo of any attack.

Wirtz has been under a lot of pressure lately.

In a pure No. 10 role, Wirtz's heatmap was practically glowing. He touched the ball 52 times, delivered 44 passes with a 95% accuracy rate. His only two errors were both final plays into the box, meaning he was only wrong in tactically risky situations.

Compared to his poor performances at Brentford and Crystal Palace, where he scored 76% and 84%, the difference was not in the underlying quality, but in the system around him. Slot had finally found the right shape for Wirtz to breathe, think and create.

More importantly, Wirtz showed the ability to attack the flanks of defences, something Liverpool have sorely lacked since Roberto Firmino left. His constant turning and changing of direction made it impossible for West Ham to predict.

And with the reasonable presence of Szoboszlai on the right, Wirtz can safely drift left to coordinate with Kerkez and Gakpo without leaving space behind.

Liverpool must make a trade-off

But to get that version of Wirtz, Slot had to accept a big trade-off: Mohamed Salah. Leaving the club's biggest star on the bench for 90 minutes, in the middle of a team crisis, was a decision that could have devastated the dressing room if it went wrong.

The question now is: is this an exception or a sign of the transition period that Liverpool are forced to face?

Salah had to be on the bench in the win against West Ham.

If Slot called it rotation, no one would believe it. If he continued to leave Salah on the bench against Sunderland, it would be an earthquake. For a year, Liverpool has been preparing for the transition to a new generation, but no one has touched Salah's position. Slot did, and at least on November 30, he was right.

The other is the ability to sustain. One good game doesn’t make a difference, but it can create belief. Wirtz has been criticised for being soft against aggressive teams, for losing the ball too much in his own half. But against a deep-lying defence, he showed the weapon Liverpool have been missing: the ability to unlock the smallest spaces, to give the whole system direction.

Slot has found the formula, but will it survive Salah’s return? That’s the biggest question. For now, the 2-0 win at the London Stadium is like the first pebble dropped into the pond: not creating a storm, but enough to send ripples of promise that Liverpool can still be built around its new creative centre, Florian Wirtz.

Source: https://znews.vn/wirtz-pha-vo-loi-nguyen-post1607613.html