Jamie Carragher's Harsh Critique of Florian Wirtz's Performance

Jamie Carragher did not bother dressing it up. At the Vitality Stadium, as Liverpool edged past Bournemouth 1-0, his verdict on Florian Wirtz cut straight through the south-coast drizzle.

“Wirtz has been really poor again,” he said on Sky Sports co-commentary. “It's just nothing. Nothing is happening there at all.”

By full-time, his stance had hardened. This, he argued, was not a blip. This was the problem.

‘One of the poorest I’ve ever seen him’

On the Jamie Carragher Podcast after the game, the former Liverpool defender went even further, describing Wirtz’s display as “one of the poorest I’ve ever seen him in a Liverpool shirt.”

Carragher has questioned the German’s output before, but usually with a caveat. Wirtz, he has often said, at least looked “neat and tidy”, kept the ball, wriggled out of tight areas, did the basic midfield work that coaches value even when the numbers are missing.

This time, that safety net disappeared.

“The reason I worry is, I don't think Wirtz is in poor form since he came to Liverpool,” Carragher said. “I actually think what we're seeing is what he is.”

He admitted the doubts had been lurking for a while. A year ago, he commentated on Liverpool’s win away at Burnley, settled late by a Mo Salah penalty, and the same thought nagged at him: where is the damage? Where is the player who hurts teams?

“I don't see how he's going to hurt you,” Carragher recalled. “It's just neat and tidy. And in some way, the price tag for that type of player should be half of what Liverpool have paid.”

The fee, and the expectations that came with it, sit at the heart of his concern. Wirtz was supposed to be one of the pillars of a new Liverpool, a player to drag them towards another Premier League title and deep into the Champions League.

Instead, Carragher sees a chasm.

“The gap he's got to get to almost justify what people were expecting, I almost think is too big. You can't get there. Even if he improves a bit and gets there, it's still not what Liverpool thought they were getting.”

A selection problem for Iraola

The criticism does not stop with Wirtz’s individual form. Carragher believes his inclusion warps the rest of Andoni Iraola’s side.

When Wirtz plays as a No 10, Dominik Szoboszlai is pushed back into central midfield. Carragher does not like that trade-off.

“I don't think Szoboszlai is a central-midfield player, I don't,” he said. The implication is clear: to accommodate Wirtz, Liverpool are weakening another area of the pitch.

That is why, as Liverpool stare down a brutal run of fixtures after a three-week international break, Carragher is adamant the German should not start their first game back.

Manchester City come to Anfield on October 11. Before that, Iraola’s team face Brentford and Brighton in the league, then Arsenal at the Emirates on October 1. LASK and Villarreal await in the Champions League, Chelsea in the Carabao Cup.

In that context, Bournemouth away was not just another game. For Carragher, it was a test Wirtz had to pass.

“I thought this Bournemouth game was a big game for Wirtz,” he said. “Because if he doesn't produce, he's then going to have a three-week break. By the time we come back, we're into October. Before you know it, it'll be Christmas in six to eight weeks, or it'll feel like we're getting to Christmas. He has to do something!”

He then delivered the line that will echo around the debate until City arrive on Merseyside.

“Wirtz would not be in my Liverpool team. Manchester City at home, for me, he can't be in the team.”

‘Normal’ Premier League players doing more

To underline his point, Carragher did something that will sting Wirtz’s camp: he compared him not with Europe’s elite, but with players from mid-table clubs.

“If you go through the Premier League and think of players in his position – not just for the top teams, forget the top teams who we should be judging him against – I'm talking about normal Premier League players in the middle of the table – who have done more for their clubs.”

He name-checked Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall at Everton. No one, Carragher said, would claim Dewsbury-Hall is a superior talent to Wirtz or worth more on the market. But the Everton midfielder, he pointed out, “every three or four weeks… scores a goal.”

He moved on to Morgan Gibbs-White, impressed by a second-half performance for Nottingham Forest at Aston Villa that he felt Wirtz has “never done before for Liverpool.”

Emiliano Buendia’s strike for Aston Villa at Tottenham was another example. These are not players commanding £100m-plus fees, Carragher argued, but they “still give their clubs bits every few weeks.”

That, in his eyes, is the damning contrast: others in similar roles, on smaller stages and smaller wages, are leaving clearer fingerprints on matches.

Iraola’s big calls – and the next one

Carragher does at least trust Iraola to confront the issue. He likes what he has seen from the Spaniard in terms of selection bravery.

Ryan Gravenberch, handed a major contract and billed as part of Liverpool’s midfield future alongside Szoboszlai, has been left out. “He's not playing,” Carragher noted, despite the financial and reputational weight behind him.

At full-back, Iraola has been similarly ruthless, rotating and dropping. Jeremie Frimpong has been taken out, Milos Kerkez has drifted in and out. No one has been safe.

“So he's made decisions,” Carragher said. “But sooner or later he's going to have to make a decision on Florian Wirtz, and, for me, I hope it's sooner.”

He was careful to stress this is not personal. “Not because I don't like Florian Wirtz, I'm desperate for the kid to do well. I just want Liverpool to win. That's it, basically.”

The message is blunt: sentiment and sunk costs cannot dictate the team sheet when Manchester City are walking out at Anfield.

Klopp, Germany and a possible lifeline

For all the criticism, Carragher does see one route back for Wirtz – and it comes away from Liverpool.

Jurgen Klopp, now in charge of Germany, has called the midfielder up for the upcoming Nations League fixtures. Wirtz has been named in one of two squads selected by the former Liverpool manager and will be rested before potentially featuring in Germany’s final two games against Serbia and Greece.

“The one hope for Liverpool supporters now is Jurgen Klopp is the Germany manager,” Carragher said.

“Wirtz goes away with the Germany team for three weeks, and he's obviously one of the best players in Germany, that's how they see him. Can Jurgen Klopp sprinkle a bit of stardust on him in that position?”

Carragher leaned on Klopp’s track record. “Jurgen is one of the greatest managers in the world, we know that. And what he gets out of players is probably more than most managers because of the nature of his personality, and fingers crossed something can happen for him.”

The scenario he painted will sound familiar to anyone who has seen a talented player rediscover himself on international duty. Wirtz catches fire with Germany, piles up goals and assists, returns to Merseyside brimming with confidence. City are next. He seizes the occasion. The narrative flips.

“There's a scenario there that Jurgen Klopp and Germany have a great international window, he gets loads of goals, assists and comes back on a high. Manchester City's the next game, he impacts that, all is forgotten, all is forgiven. There's a potential turnaround there.

“I would love that to happen, I'd love him to be the match-winner against Manchester City.”

For now, though, Carragher’s verdict is stark. In his eyes, Florian Wirtz is no longer a project waiting to explode. He is a problem Liverpool must solve before the champions walk out under the Anfield lights.