Andoni Iraola on Florian Wirtz's Impact at Liverpool
Andoni Iraola isn’t interested in spreadsheets or social-media scorecards. When it comes to Florian Wirtz, the Liverpool manager is looking at something far less measurable and far more important: how his £116m playmaker makes the team breathe.
Wirtz lit up Liverpool’s midweek win over Atlético Madrid, just as he did on some of the club’s biggest Champions League nights last season. The numbers, though, tell a harsher story. One assist. No Premier League goals. Too many turnovers for some critics’ liking.
Iraola is unmoved.
“Flo played very well against Atlético Madrid and I also think he has been unlucky,” he said, pointing back to the disallowed strike against Nottingham Forest that briefly stood before VAR intervened. The margins have been thin. A toe offside here, a missed finish from a teammate there, and the narrative around Wirtz looks very different.
That, for Iraola, is exactly the point.
In an era when every touch is clipped, coded and judged, he is pushing back against the idea that a creative’s worth lives only in end-product columns. “That is why you cannot just play because of the numbers,” he said. The question he keeps coming back to is simple: does Wirtz help Liverpool play well?
The manager’s answer is unequivocal. Yes.
If the collective functions, he argues, the goals will find someone – even if that someone is a midfielder arriving late rather than the headline attacker. Liverpool’s recent win offered proof of concept, with others stepping up on the scoresheet while Wirtz knitted attacks together and dragged Atlético’s back line into awkward spaces.
The German’s influence was clear in one moment in particular, when he carved open Diego Simeone’s side with a precise pass that left Bradley Barcola staring at a gilt-edged chance. It went begging, but Iraola saw exactly what he wanted: his new No 10 spotting the angle, trusting the run, breaking the game open.
The manager is convinced that understanding will only deepen. Liverpool’s front line has been remodelled, and Wirtz is learning on the job with Barcola on one flank and fellow new signing Victor Muñoz offering a different kind of target.
“There is an argument to make that the wingers have changed more than anywhere else,” Iraola said. New faces, new tendencies, new runs. For a player who thrives on connections between the lines, that matters.
Now, Liverpool have “new weapons” in Barcola and Muñoz. Wirtz sits at the heart of that armoury. Iraola sees him as the key – the player who will learn where Muñoz wants the ball, when Barcola prefers it early into space or to feet, and how to draw defenders away to free both.
Already, in just Barcola’s second appearance, the manager could see a partnership starting to form. Little give-and-gos. Angles repeated, then sharpened. Movements mirrored from the training ground.
The turnovers that have fuelled criticism are, in Iraola’s eyes, part of the bargain. Liverpool have asked Wirtz to take risks in tight areas, to attempt the passes that change games rather than merely keep them ticking over. You cannot demand daring and then complain when the odd ball goes astray.
So the manager is not counting goals and assists. He is watching patterns, tempo, the way Liverpool move when Wirtz drops into a pocket and turns. He is watching defenders backpedal.
“I am not very worried,” Iraola said, and he sounded like he meant it.
If the relationships around Wirtz continue to grow at this pace, the numbers that currently fuel the debate may soon struggle to keep up with the performances driving it.
