Arne Slot recalled a Premier League match between Stoke City and Blackburn Rovers in 2010 to explain why Florian Wirtz struggled to make an impact against Newcastle United on Monday night.
Wirtz took only 41 touches of the ball at St James’ Park – ranking ninth among Liverpool players – as 10-man Newcastle gave the champions a torrid evening.
Liverpool still prevailed with a dramatic 3-2 win, but the lack of impact by Wirtz, playing in the No 10 role in their first two games of the season, has come under scrutiny. Reds great Steve Nicol even suggested Slot should move his £100m signing to the left wing to find more space and shore up the midfield.
“He may have to find a different spot for this guy,” Nicol told ESPN. “Right now, he isn’t getting on the ball, which is what he was brought in to do, but from a defensive point of view there is no question that Liverpool are struggling big time. So he may have to move him out wide and use [Dominik] Szoboszlai, [Alexis] Mac Allister and [Ryan] Gravenberch as the midfield three, because right now the back four cannot defend as a unit.”
Slot perhaps saw the question coming as he spoke to the media on Friday ahead of the weekend visit of Arsenal to Anfield. The manager blamed Newcastle’s “playing style” for a disjointed performance, pointing out that it had been 15 years since a Premier League game last saw the ball in play for such a low proportion of the match.
“There was only 40 per cent ball in play against Newcastle,” Slot said, when asked why Wirtz didn’t have more involvement. “To have a lot of touches it’s difficult when the ball is in the air, it was duel after duel after duel, set-pieces to defend, to attack, there was much football over the ground. The last time was 2010 when Stoke City played Sam Allardyce’s team, Blackburn.”
Slot also referred to last season’s shock FA Cup exit at the hands of Plymouth, in which he was criticised for picking a second-string team.
“I said last season after Plymouth, if I had played with the starters we wouldn’t have played a good game, and everybody was looking at me like, ‘What are you saying’? That playing style of every ball long, every set-piece thrown into your box, is a playing style where it’s not so easy to play your best game for Florian, for Mo, for Cody [Gakpo], for Hugo [Ekitike].
“Newcastle can play a different style, but this style suits them well, if you look at how tall their players are. The delivery and set-pieces from Trippier are high quality, it makes it more difficult. You constantly have to be ready for every single ball. But we can do better than we did at Newcastle, or Plymouth.”
