Carragher SAVAGES Wirtz, demands Liverpool axe £116m star and clashes with Sturridge over ‘excuses’

Jamie Carragher has demanded that Florian Wirtz be dropped from Liverpool’s starting line-up following Sunday’s 3-0 defeat to Manchester City, delivering a devastating assessment of the £116million midfielder’s performances before clashing with Daniel Sturridge over what he described as excuses for the German’s struggles.

The former Reds defender pulled no punches during Sky Sports’ post-match coverage at Anfield, questioning Wirtz’s lack of goals, creativity and physical presence, while insisting that Liverpool can no longer afford to keep selecting a player who has struggled to justify his enormous transfer fee.

Carragher has been increasingly critical of Wirtz in recent weeks, but his latest assessment was particularly damning after another disappointing performance in a match where Liverpool desperately needed their expensive attacking players to deliver.

With Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo unavailable, the expectation was that Wirtz and fellow big-money signing Bradley Barcola would assume greater responsibility against City. Instead, Carragher believed youngsters Lewis Koumas and Victor Munoz had offered considerably more.

He questioned how Liverpool could have invested so heavily in attacking reinforcements only to find their younger players making a greater impression. For Carragher, it was further evidence that the German’s continued automatic selection was becoming increasingly difficult to justify.

“Koumas and Munoz were better than the two £100m players,” he complained, before turning his attention to Ryan Gravenberch, whose performance before his dismissal had impressed the former Liverpool defender.

“There’s no way Florian Wirtz should be playing ahead of Gravenberch. Different positions, I get that. What Florian Wirtz is giving Liverpool right now is nowhere near enough.”

Carragher believes the Dutchman offers qualities Liverpool are currently missing, particularly his physical presence, ability to carry possession through midfield and proven experience of performing in the Premier League.

Although Gravenberch had endured a difficult start to the campaign under Andoni Iraola, Carragher argued that his previous achievements and performances against City demonstrated why he deserved to be restored to the starting eleven.

Wirtz, by contrast, has now had more than a season to establish himself at Anfield, and Carragher is no longer convinced that patience alone will produce the improvement Liverpool need.

The former defender also made an important distinction between Wirtz and Barcola. While the Frenchman has only recently arrived and deserves time to adapt, Carragher argued that Liverpool supporters were entitled to expect considerably more from a midfielder who has already played around 60 matches for the club.

“He shouldn’t be in the Liverpool team right now. We’re not saying this after five–ten games, we’re saying this after 50–60 games.”

Carragher’s criticism went beyond the midfielder’s recent performances. He questioned whether Wirtz had produced even one truly dominant display for Liverpool, despite arriving from Bayer Leverkusen with a reputation as one of European football’s outstanding attacking talents.

The former Liverpool defender admitted he had initially hoped the German could develop into a player capable of influencing Premier League matches in the manner Kevin De Bruyne so frequently did for Manchester City.

De Bruyne had an extraordinary ability to turn difficult matches in City’s favour through a decisive pass, goal or moment of inspiration. Carragher’s frustration is that he has rarely seen anything comparable from Wirtz, despite the midfielder being recruited to provide precisely that sort of attacking quality.

He believes Liverpool’s current difficulties creating and converting chances make the German’s disappointing contributions even more concerning.

Carragher acknowledged that Liverpool had competed reasonably well against City before Gravenberch’s dismissal, but pointed out that their attacking play had produced little genuine threat. For a team that invested so heavily in Wirtz’s creativity, he felt that represented a serious problem.

His assessment of the German’s attacking contribution was particularly brutal.

“Wirtz never looks like scoring a goal. You don’t come away thinking he missed chances or he worked the goalkeeper. There was absolutely nothing today where you thought he put someone through, or nearly scored. There’s absolutely no goal threat whatsoever.”

It is that apparent inability to influence matches in the final third which Carragher finds most troubling. His argument is not simply that Wirtz is failing to convert opportunities, but that he rarely looks capable of creating the decisive moments Liverpool signed him to produce.

Carragher also made an extraordinary comparison with several former Liverpool midfielders and attacking players, including Nicky Barmby, Vladimir Smicer, Yossi Benayoun, Maxi Rodriguez and Jari Litmanen.

Many of those players were not regarded as indispensable members of championship-winning sides, yet Carragher argued that they regularly delivered meaningful contributions in attacking positions. He believes Wirtz currently offers less than several players who were once considered short of the level Liverpool needed to compete for the biggest honours.

His conclusion was that Liverpool must stop waiting for the German to rediscover his Leverkusen form and instead restore greater balance, athleticism and attacking productivity to midfield.

Carragher and Sturridge clash over Wirtz’s position

The criticism became even more pointed when Carragher questioned Wirtz’s physical attributes during an animated exchange with former Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge.

Having watched the German’s performances for Bayer Leverkusen, Carragher acknowledged his record of goals and assists in the Bundesliga but questioned whether he possessed the physical qualities required to reproduce those achievements in England.

“He looks really small and he is small on the football pitch,” Carragher observed, before questioning whether Wirtz ever appeared likely to score from outside the penalty area.

He even singled out the midfielder’s set-piece delivery against City, suggesting that Wirtz appeared to struggle to generate enough power to reach dangerous areas in the penalty box.

Sturridge, however, was reluctant to accept that the German’s difficulties were entirely his own making.

The former Liverpool striker argued that Wirtz had flourished at Leverkusen when operating in the left half-space, rather than playing as a conventional number ten. In that system, he could drift inside from wider positions, receive possession on the half-turn and exploit spaces between opposition defenders.

Sturridge felt Liverpool were asking him to perform a different role, often receiving the ball centrally with his back to goal, where he was less comfortable and had fewer opportunities to utilise his natural strengths.

Carragher immediately challenged that reasoning.

“I think you are making really big excuses for a player there,” he told Sturridge.

Although accepting that Wirtz had benefited from Leverkusen’s formation, Carragher argued that an intelligent attacking midfielder should still be capable of finding similar spaces when operating centrally.

His point was that the German was not permanently restricted to one small area of the pitch. He could move towards the left, receive possession at angles and combine with teammates without Liverpool having to completely reorganise their attacking system.

Sturridge continued to disagree, maintaining that there was an important difference between receiving possession while moving infield from the wing and collecting it centrally with defenders surrounding you.

He accepted that Wirtz had not delivered performances worthy of his transfer fee but believed his positioning was an important factor that could not simply be ignored.

Carragher refused to accept that the criticism was unfair.

“We are definitely not judging him harshly.”

The former Reds defender admitted that he had previously considered moving Wirtz towards the left as a possible solution, particularly after seeing him operate successfully in that position for Germany.

He had even regarded such a tactical switch as something of a last opportunity to unlock the midfielder’s potential, allowing him to occupy familiar spaces while an attacking full-back provided width on the outside.

However, Carragher acknowledged that Iraola’s preference for genuine wingers made that solution considerably less likely. Liverpool had also invested heavily in Barcola, creating another obstacle to accommodating Wirtz in the left-sided position Sturridge was advocating.

Carragher revealed that he had previously wondered whether Xabi Alonso might become Liverpool manager, believing the former Leverkusen coach could have been ideally placed to revive the German’s fortunes.

Alonso had enjoyed tremendous success working with Wirtz in the Bundesliga and understood how to maximise his influence. Carragher felt their established relationship might have helped Liverpool rediscover the player they thought they were signing.

But Liverpool ultimately went in a different direction by appointing Iraola, leaving Wirtz facing the challenge of adapting to a system that does not necessarily replicate the conditions in which he previously excelled.

Even so, Carragher remained adamant that tactical differences could not excuse the midfielder’s lack of meaningful attacking contributions.

He argued that Wirtz would inevitably find himself in his preferred areas during matches, regardless of whether he started centrally or from the left. The suggestion that playing slightly further inside could explain his failure to consistently score or create chances was, in Carragher’s opinion, taking the positional argument much too far.

He concluded that Wirtz “has got to do an awful lot more”, making it clear that he believes the German must accept responsibility for his own performances rather than relying on tactical explanations.

The pressure is now on Iraola

Wirtz’s disappointing afternoon against City came to an end following Gravenberch’s second-half dismissal, with the German withdrawn as Liverpool attempted to reorganise with ten men.

The visitors subsequently took control, with Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Rayan Cherki scoring to condemn Iraola to his first defeat as Liverpool manager.

Although the red card dramatically altered the contest, Carragher’s assessment was clearly not simply a reaction to Sunday’s result.

He has questioned Wirtz’s performances for several weeks and now believes the midfielder has enjoyed more than enough opportunities to justify his place in the team.

Liverpool’s immediate challenge is to recover from the City defeat, with a Champions League trip to LASK on Wednesday followed by a Premier League visit to Brentford on Saturday.

Those fixtures give Iraola an early opportunity to reconsider his selection and decide whether Wirtz would benefit from a spell out of the starting eleven.

Sturridge clearly believes there is still a way to unlock the German’s considerable talent, provided Liverpool can find a role that allows him to operate more naturally.

Carragher, however, has reached a very different conclusion. In his view, Liverpool cannot keep reorganising their midfield or overlooking other deserving players in the hope that Wirtz will eventually reproduce his Leverkusen form.

For the former Reds defender, the issue is no longer potential or reputation. It is what Wirtz contributes to Liverpool today, and whether that contribution is sufficient to justify keeping Gravenberch and others on the sidelines.

Carragher believes the answer is no — and wants Iraola to act.