Florian Wirtz is being judged in the wrong environment.
Wirtz has joined arguably Liverpool’s most difficult period in the last eight or nine years. Very little is working as it should, the team struggles to control the tempo, and their play is often too direct. That is not an environment in which Wirtz will naturally thrive.
His best season came under Xabi Alonso at Bayer Leverkusen, where the team’s ability to control games and dictate the tempo was exceptional. Wirtz could operate between the lines, in the left half-space or centrally, with teammates close enough to combine with consistently.
At Liverpool, he has to connect the entire attack, link both sides, drop deeper to help build play and then try to carry the team forward. That takes him away from the areas where he is most dangerous.
The players around him aren’t helping either. The quality on the wings has been underwhelming, with Gakpo one of the few exceptions, while Isak has clearly struggled with fitness.
There is also a tactical question: Wirtz is not necessarily the profile of No. 10 Iraola would naturally favour.
For me, Wirtz is being judged too harshly. His performances deserve scrutiny, but so does the environment he has walked into. The lack of control, the limited combinations around him and the team’s broader problems make it much harder for him to produce his best football.
You can question his performances without ignoring the context.