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Florian Wirtz was denied a first Premier League goal for Liverpool because his shot was heading wide when it deflected in off Nordi Mukiele, but the German was still an impressive performer against Sunderland.
One of the few positives for Arne Slot on the night, with Alexander Isak anonymous and Cody Gakpo pulled at half-time in favor of a largely ineffective Mohamed Salah, Wirtz was a creative hub who saw a lot of the ball. His good footwork and bit of fortune saw Liverpool come from behind to pick up a point for the first time this season.
Now, with Liverpool having stopped the run of defeats, beating West Ham United and then drawing at Anfield, Wirtz believes it is only a matter of time before things start to look up.
"We have unbelievable quality in the changing room — personalities and great players," Wirtz told Liverpool's official website. "We just have still to find each other a bit more and to create a bit better momentum for us.
"Then I think everything will go in our direction soon. But we just have to work hard and stay together as a team and as a club, and hopefully we will be more successful.
"I'm just happy that things go a little bit more in my direction. I try always to work hard on the pitch, against the ball as well, but sometimes you need also a little bit of luck that you get the goal or assist.
"But in the end, it just matters that we win. Today we couldn’t but the next one, try again."
Wirtz played well at the London Stadium last weekend and he should be in the starting XI again for the trip to Leeds United on Saturday. Though the Liverpool attacking unit is not working cohesively together at the moment, that can only happen in time.
"I'm disappointed that we didn’t win [against Sunderland]," Wirtz said. "Of course, when you go 1-0 down it’s always better to get a point than zero but of course we wanted to win.
"The fans were there for us so [I am] a bit disappointed but also a bit proud that we came back like this after a setback. At the moment, it is not easy for us because not everything is going our way, so we have to be patient and keep the hard work up.
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"We didn’t have so many chances in the first half I think and we knew that we would get a few [in the second half]. We just had to be patient and to keep the pressure on, or even more than the first half.
"That’s what we tried and then the 1-0 was a bit unlucky — I think we could have won the duel before and then also the deflection was a bit unlucky.
"But in the end we get one point and that is better than nothing... we did a good job after the 1-0 and we have to keep going like this in the next games."
Liverpool.com says: Wirtz has real class but he just needs better quality around him to capitalize on the chances he is creating. In time, that will come. Isak won't struggle like this forever, but it will need patience.
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