Florian Wirtz has insisted the Liverpool team still believe in head coach Arne Slot, despite their struggles this season and the sense many supporters want the Dutchman sacked.
Liverpool have lost 15 games in all competitions, are 21 points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal and crashed out of the FA Cup 4-0 to Manchester City on Saturday when captain Virgil van Dijk admitted he thought the side gave up.
But Wirtz feels they are still playing for Slot and said his achievement in winning the Premier League last year and a series of major matches in the current campaign proves they ought to have confidence in him.
“Yes, of course we are believing in the manager,” said the £100m signing. “The team should believe in the manager because they won the league last season. We had a lot of good games this season and we wanted it to be better. We still have things to play for and everything I can see is we believe in the manager and try to get our best on the pitch tomorrow.”
Wirtz disagreed with Van Dijk’s assessment of the game at the Etihad, insisting he did not give up.
He added: “I didn’t know about this that he said this but I think I would not agree directly because we still tried to create chances to turn the game around, of course when the game gets longer and in the 80th minute or something and you are 3-0 back it is mentally also difficult to go and go and go and we just try to give our best in the game, when it was 3-0 or 4-0 we had still a few chances.”
Wirtz will play in his first Champions League quarter-final when Liverpool face Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, realising an ambition he has long had.
And he said: “Of course these kind of games you want to play as a player and I dreamt of when I came to the club so I try everything to do a good game tomorrow and next week at Anfield.”
