Liverpool's Florian Wirtz challenge: Do nine chances created in 2-1 win outweigh being physically overmatched?

Liverpool's $135 million playmaker leads the Premier League in chances created, but ongoing physical struggles raise questions about whether he can ever truly dominate in England

Oct 17, 2026 at 2:22 pm ET • 6 min read

LONDON -- Florian Wirtz's critics probably have a point. For $135 million, you probably don't want a player who is so easily physically overwhelmed, who seems utterly out of step with the needs of the modern Premier League. You want a player who can grab a contest from the off and bend it to his will.

Wirtz is yet to do that. Given that the problems that plague him in year two are much the same as 12 months ago, it is valid to ask whether it is ever going to click for Liverpool and the man who was supposed to be the totem of his possession play. Whatever he changes, Wirtz isn't going to gain a couple of inches in height or tack on the half dozen kilos that would get him around league average weight for his position.

In the biggest, strongest and most athletic football league in the world, there is always going to be an opponent who can rag doll him like Brentford did today, where Wirtz put up an 11.1% success rate in duels. When he and his teammates were convinced he should have had a penalty in the first half, it was hard to shake the sense that a stronger player than Wirtz would have held Yehor Yarmolyuk on his shoulder, at least getting a cut back away before going to ground and appealing.

There are reasons why Wirtz is the joint-leader for fouls committed in the Premier League. Sasa Lukic has committed 14 because he is the defensive midfielder for an Ipswich side that generally finds itself on the back foot, needing to throw a boot in the way of danger. Liverpool's No.7 is level with him partly because he is an intense presser but also because when he catches up to the ball (or tries to retain control of it) he finds that the best way to win his possession battle is to go in harder than the other guy. Then again, there is another metric where Wirtz leads the league, the sort you might expect from an eight-figure creator. 

Wirtz's supporters probably have a point. After all, no one has laid on more shooting opportunities for his teammates than his 20, albeit that is a number that comes with an awful lot of caveats. Firstly, at this stage of the season it really helps if you have played one more game than a fair few others across the league. And of course, when one game accounts for nearly 15% of your dataset (and half of that match sees you playing with a man advantage), it can have a disproportionate impact on the aggregate.

And so Wirtz tops the creative chart with 20 chances created across the season because he laid on nine today, five in the second half after Yehor Yarmoliuk's headbutt on the impressive Jeremy Jacquet. Not since Bruno Fernandes laid on 10 against Aston Villa in 2021 has a player played more passes in the Premier League that directly result in a teammate taking a shot on goal.

You would think then that this was the day where Wirtz, so roundly chastised for his showing against Manchester City, did what Liverpool have been waiting for: grabbing hold of a game and affirming his status as one of the outstanding creators in the league. Well, not so much. Of those nine chances created, seven came from sideways or backwards passes. 

There is value to these and credit should go to a player who knows when his best bet is to move possession on. Just how much value you might ascribe rather depends on the prism you look through. The expected assists (xA) value of the 64 passes Wirtz attempted was just 0.19, less than Dominik Szoboszlai put up in the 32 minutes before he was substituted with an injury. The nine chances Wirtz created had a combined expected goal (xG) tally of around 0.53, nothing to be sniffed at at all. Opta's expected possession value model, which rates the value of every action on the field, said Wirtz was comfortably Liverpool's most effective player.

That initial hit of nine chances created screams "get carried away". The other metrics want you to hold your horses.

Even Andoni Iraola's praise for Wirtz came with the caveat that he had to share the spotlight with the sparky Rio Ngumoha and goalscorer Victor Munoz. "There are very few spaces, small pockets and [very little] time on the ball," he said. "You have to find delicate things because Brentford is a team that defends the box really, really well. You need players like Flo, Rio, Victor was lovely as a right back."

For the most part, this was not Leverkusen Wirtz, gliding into pockets of space, driving beyond the last man to attack the box and either play the final pass or score. Liverpool might never see Leverkusen Wirtz. The athletic standards in the league are too high. Under Iraola, they are not going to play the steady press and possess game with which Xabi Alonso shook the Bundesliga. Liverpool don't have a left back as tactically cute as Alejandro Grimaldo and don't play a back three system that affords quite the same security to their attackers.

A 0.37 xA, 0.31 non-penalty xG, nearly three shots per 90 Wirtz in the Premier League needs too much to change at Liverpool and in the competition as a whole. That doesn't mean that the Wirtz Liverpool have cannot bend a game in moments. Moments such as the fizzing through ball into the path of Munoz, one which the Spaniard took on in stride before chopping in and striking the equaliser on his left foot.

That got Wirtz his assist. He wouldn't have got much on a box score when, dropping off the front line, he flicked a perfect first-time ball over his left shoulder and into the path of Alexander Isak in behind. A smart cut back from the No.9 forced Dango Outtarra into a diving tackle on Alexis Mac Allister so unlikely to succeed that you could see why John Brooks' first instinct was penalty. That initial pass from Wirtz is one that only a handful of Premier League playmakers can deliver.

This might have been a performance of a few moments, but more than one of them could have decided the game in Liverpool's favor. GIven how they seemed to be progressing through treacle before Munoz's goal, making 11 men look like 10, it is fair to wonder whether Wirtz might have delivered the decisive moment.

Can Liverpool supporters demand more than flashes from a player who was, even if only for a matter of weeks, their record signing? Should $135 million get you a bar chart where the green pops a bit more in that chart above rather than the mossy, limey, sap greeny collage you see above? Absolutely. Is Liverpool's XI improved by a number 10 who offers 91st percentile chance creation, 83rd percentile shooting? Undoubtedly.

On the evidence both of today and his Liverpool career as a whole, Wirtz is neither a flop nor the man around whom a title winner might coalesce. He is not responsible for his price tag but instead for his performances. Today's, like that of Liverpool as a whole, was just about good enough. Just don't get carried away with the hype, for good or bad.