4 hours ago
1
Arne Slot didn't want to get bogged down in a debate over Florian Wirtz's best position, as he said it is more important for the German to arrive in the right areas of the field at the right times for him to influence games.
Wirtz lined up on the left side of Liverpool's attack against Real Madrid in midweek, as Cody Gakpo was dropped to the bench. On his previous appearances for the Reds, Wirtz had occupied a more central role, but in the last two games, Slot has reverted to a trio of Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai.
That has meant that Slot has had to find another area of the field to use Wirtz in, but the Liverpool head coach does not believe that will reduce his influence on the team.
"Florian can play in more than just one position," Slot said in a press conference on Friday. "He can play off the left which he did almost all the time in a 3-4-3 under Xabi at Leverkusen and before that as a number 10.
"It's about getting him in positions he is good at. We would like to have him in and around the 18-yard box centrally or a bit more off the wings for him to create the amount of chances he has."
Slot's comments come after Arsene Wenger claimed that Wirtz chose to join Liverpool over Bayern Munich during the summer transfer window after seeking assurances that he would be deployed in a central role.
"Wirtz had the chance between Munich and Liverpool," Wenger said on beIN Sports. "He said to Liverpool, 'I'll come to you if I play number 10 — I do not want to play wide.'
"To get him, Liverpool said OK [to Wirtz's request]. So they destroyed their midfield, because their midfield was Gravenberch, Mac Allister and Szoboszlai.
"To play Wirtz, they took Szoboszlai out, and then what did they do against Aston Villa? They went back to their normal midfield of last year. And tonight (against Real Madrid), they've brought Wirtz back but he will play on the side.
"Because the manager has said [to Wirtz], 'if you want to play a game, you have to play wide, because I don't want to disturb the midfield.' That will be interesting to see."
English (US) ·