Iraola Defends Wirtz Against Statistical Criticism

Andoni Iraola refuses to reduce Florian Wirtz to a spreadsheet.

Liverpool’s manager knows the numbers by heart – £116m fee, one assist, no Premier League goals – and he knows the criticism that has followed. But after watching Wirtz run the game in the midweek win over Atlético Madrid, Iraola is in no mood to let the debate be dictated by statistics alone.

Iraola backs Wirtz’s unseen work

Wirtz has been a lightning rod this season for one particular flaw: how often he gives the ball away. The accusation is simple – too many turnovers for a player signed to be Liverpool’s creative heartbeat. Iraola’s response is just as clear: watch the performances, not the columns on a data sheet.

“Flo played very well against Atlético Madrid and I also think he has been unlucky,” Iraola said, pointing back to the disallowed strike against Nottingham Forest. Wirtz thought he had his first league goal for Liverpool that day. The stadium did too. Only VAR intervened.

Moments like that colour perception. In another world, Wirtz has a goal, maybe another couple of assists if team-mates finish the chances he lays on, and the narrative looks very different. Iraola is not about to let those fine margins define his playmaker.

“That is why you cannot just play because of the numbers,” he argued. For Iraola, the question is blunt: does Wirtz make Liverpool play better? His answer is equally blunt. Yes.

If the team functions, he says, the goals and assists will come from somewhere – maybe the striker, maybe the wingers, maybe, as in midweek, the midfielders. The identity of the scorer is secondary. The collective is not.

New weapons, new relationships

The context matters. Liverpool’s attack has been rebuilt, the flanks in particular. Bradley Barcola and Victor Muñoz have changed the profile of Iraola’s forward line, and Wirtz is the one tasked with stitching it all together.

There were flashes of that future against Atlético. Wirtz carved out a superb chance for Barcola, a move that showcased exactly the sort of vision Liverpool paid for. It did not end in a goal, but it did underline why Iraola is so relaxed about the trajectory of his No 10.

“There is an argument to make that the wingers have changed more than anywhere else,” he said. Barcola and Muñoz give Liverpool “new weapons”, and Wirtz is the one expected to load and fire them.

The manager is confident the understanding will come quickly. He talks about Wirtz learning where Muñoz wants the ball, which spaces Barcola attacks, and you sense he sees this as an inevitability rather than a hope. Even in Barcola’s second game, Iraola noted, there were already signs of a strong connection.

So the concern in some quarters about Wirtz’s output finds no echo in the dugout. Iraola is not counting goals and assists; he is counting combinations, angles, options. The numbers brigade can wait. He believes the real story of Wirtz at Liverpool is only just beginning.