Jamie Carragher Critiques Florian Wirtz's Liverpool Performance

Jamie Carragher has never been shy about calling it as he sees it. At the Vitality Stadium, as Liverpool scraped past Bournemouth 1-0, his verdict on Florian Wirtz cut straight through the polite noise that has surrounded the midfielder since his arrival at Anfield.

“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 dip. This was the reality.

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

On the bonus Jamie Carragher Podcast, recorded after the game, the former Liverpool defender did not soften his assessment.

“That was one of the poorest I've ever seen him in a Liverpool shirt,” he said.

Carragher has long flagged one particular concern: the lack of end product. The numbers have not matched the price tag. Yet even that, he suggested, wasn’t the biggest issue on the south coast.

“I've been critical of the fact that he hasn't got the numbers. But normally when you watch Wirtz, he's neat and tidy, he keeps possession, there's things that you like. He gets out of a tight situation where you're normally expecting your player to lose the ball.

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

That line matters. Carragher isn’t talking about a star out of rhythm. He’s questioning the ceiling.

He admitted the doubts have been simmering for a while.

“I was worried for Wirtz probably 12 months ago. And maybe that was a little bit early to say that, but I didn't say it. It was just in the back of my head.

“I commentated on Liverpool away at Burnley and Liverpool won with a late penalty from Mo Salah. And when I was watching that game it was what I've seen for the last 12 months: I don't see how he's going to hurt you. 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.”

Neat. Tidy. Safe. For a £100m-plus attacking midfielder, that’s not a compliment. It’s a warning.

The weight of a price tag – and a promise

Liverpool did not sign Wirtz to be a cog. They signed him to be a catalyst.

“The worry for Wirtz now is that his performances so far, or what he's given Liverpool, is so low,” Carragher said. “Where we were expecting him was to take Liverpool to another league title, to take Liverpool to a Champions League.

“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.”

That is a brutal assessment of both player and recruitment. And Carragher didn’t stop at Wirtz himself. He pointed to the structural knock-on effect of forcing him into the team.

“When he plays at No 10, it means Dominik Szoboszlai has to play central midfield. I don't think Szoboszlai is a central-midfield player, I don't.”

The implication is clear: Liverpool are bending their system around a player who isn’t delivering, and in doing so they are weakening others.

‘He can’t be in the Man City team’

All of this lands at a critical moment in Liverpool’s season.

After a three-week international break, Andoni Iraola’s side return with a heavyweight clash: Manchester City at Anfield on October 11. Around that game lies a punishing run – Brentford, Brighton, Arsenal at the Emirates, plus Champions League ties against LASK and Villarreal, and a Carabao Cup fourth-round meeting with Chelsea.

For Carragher, the idea of Wirtz starting that first game back is a non-starter.

“I think going forward Iraola's got a decision to make here. Wirtz would not be in my Liverpool team,” he said.

“I thought this Bournemouth game was a big game for Wirtz. Because if he doesn't produce [against Bournemouth], 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!”

Then came the comparison that will sting Wirtz and those who sanctioned his fee.

“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.

“I think of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall at Everton. No one out there would say Dewsbury-Hall is a better player than Wirtz, or would go for more money than Wirtz, or would cost £120m. But every three or four weeks he scores a goal.

“I watched Morgan Gibbs-White for Nottingham Forest last week at Aston Villa, and in the second half he put in a performance in 45 minutes that Florian Wirtz has never done before for Liverpool.

“I've seen a goal Emiliano Buendia scored for Aston Villa at Tottenham. Again, these players aren't going to get over £100m, or £120m, but they're still giving their clubs bits every few weeks.”

Carragher’s conclusion was blunt.

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

Iraola’s courage – and the next big call

If there is one thing Carragher does like about Iraola’s early months, it is the manager’s willingness to make uncomfortable decisions.

“The things I've liked so far about Iraola, he's had the courage to make big decisions,” he said. “Ryan Gravenberch has just signed a hefty contract on a five-year deal on massive money, because they thought him and Szoboszlai were going to be the future of the midfield going forward. He's not playing.

“Now, I can imagine the guys at the top of the club looking at that, thinking we've just given him a hefty contract. But no, he's not playing.

“The full-back situation, he keeps changing the full-backs, he's dropped Jeremie Frimpong straight away. Milos Kerkez has been in and out. So he's made decisions.”

The message is obvious: if Iraola can sideline a big-money midfielder and rotate his full-backs without blinking, he can also take Wirtz out of the firing line.

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

That line strips away any suggestion of agenda. Carragher wants Wirtz to succeed. He just doesn’t see it happening in the current set-up, at the current level.

Klopp, Germany and a possible lifeline

Amid the criticism, Carragher did identify one potential escape route for Wirtz – and it lies away from Anfield.

Jurgen Klopp, now in charge of Germany, has called up the Liverpool midfielder for the upcoming Nations League games. Wirtz has been named in one of two separate Germany squads and will get a short rest before being in contention for Die Mannschaft’s final two fixtures against Serbia and Greece.

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

“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?

“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.”

That’s the optimistic scenario. Wirtz reconnects with the version of himself that made him one of Europe’s most coveted young playmakers, Klopp unlocks something that Iraola has yet to find, and the midfielder returns to Merseyside transformed.

“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.”

That is the fork in the road now facing Florian Wirtz. Either the international break becomes the reset that justifies a colossal investment, or it simply pauses a narrative that is turning increasingly hostile.

When Manchester City walk out at Anfield next month, everyone will see which way Iraola believes this story is heading.