Iraola Defends Wirtz Amid Stats Debate
Andoni Iraola is in no mood to reduce Florian Wirtz to a spreadsheet.
Liverpool’s £116m playmaker has just one Premier League assist and no goals to his name, and his tendency to give the ball away has drawn criticism. Yet his manager sees something very different – especially after Wirtz’s sharp display in the midweek win over Atlético Madrid, another reminder that his best work so far has often come under the Champions League lights.
“Flo played very well against Atlético Madrid and I also think he has been unlucky,” Iraola said, pointing straight to the fine margins that have shaped the early narrative.
He recalled the disallowed strike against Nottingham Forest, first given on the pitch before VAR intervened. Another day, that stands. Another day, a couple of half-chances are finished and the numbers look very different.
That is precisely Iraola’s point.
“That is why you cannot just play because of the numbers,” he said. For him, the argument is simple: judge the performances, not the output column. “Whether a striker scores a lot of goals or he doesn’t, you have to look at the performances. Does he help us to play well? Yes. Well, someone will score the goals and someone will give the assists.”
In other words, if the collective clicks, the statistics will follow – from somewhere. The Basque coach is refusing to pin that burden on one man, even a marquee signing.
“I am not too focused on numbers,” he continued. “Nowadays everything is about numbers, everyone tells players you have to assist, you have to score goals. For me, you have to help us play well. Someone will score the goals and I don’t care if it is the midfielders like it was the other day.”
Against Atlético, Wirtz underlined that influence without adding to his tally. He slipped in Bradley Barcola for a standout chance, the sort of disguised, angled pass Liverpool paid for. The move didn’t end in a goal, but it did offer a glimpse of what Iraola believes is coming as the new-look front line settles.
“There is an argument to make that the wingers have changed more than anywhere else,” Iraola said, pointing to the overhaul out wide. Bradley Barcola and Victor Muñoz give Liverpool very different “weapons”, as he put it, and Wirtz sits at the heart of that rebuild.
“With Florian, he is key for us,” the manager stressed. The understanding between the 23-year-old and his new wide forwards is still forming, but Iraola sounded relaxed about the process rather than anxious about the returns. “I am not worried because he will quickly learn where Victor prefers the ball or where Bradley prefers the ball.”
The signs are already there. Barcola has played only twice, yet Iraola has seen enough in those brief combinations to trust the trajectory. “Bradley in just his second game you could see they already had a good association,” he said. “I am not very worried.”
The numbers will come or they won’t. For Iraola, the real story is whether Wirtz becomes the player who makes everyone else’s look better. Liverpool’s season may end up answering that more loudly than any stat line.
