Florian Wirtz still needs 'things to fall into place' to show his best at Liverpool

Florian Wirtz's first season at Liverpool has shown plenty of signs of promise, but has also underwhelmed at various stages, and one ex-Red thinks he has identified the reason why

Glen Johnson has given his verdict on Florian Wirtz(Image: Getty Images)

Glen Johnson feels Florian Wirtz’s apparent struggles in the early stages of his Liverpool career were misrepresented, but claims the 22-year-old needs “things to fall into place” for him to play at his maximum.

Wirtz failed to make an immediate impact after joining the Reds from Bayer Leverkusen last summer for a fee of up to £116 million ($156M), and did not score in his first 21 outings. However, his form has improved dramatically since, with Wirtz producing five goals and three assists in a run of 10 matches over December and January.

Those numbers dipped slightly in February, before he sustained a back injury that prevented him from starting four successive matches. But Johnson, who played 200 times for Liverpool between 2009 and 2015, believes that when Wirtz is not producing goals or assists, it does not mean he is playing poorly.

“There were definitely more positive signs coming out of Florian Wirtz,” the former right-back told Boyle Sport.

“Even when he was under a lot of pressure at the beginning, I was still seeing things in games where you'd think, ‘No, this boy can play.’

“It just wasn't happening for him for whatever reason. So, yeah, it's great to see him living up to that potential, if you like.

Wirtz returned from injury on Friday night(Image: Lewis Storey/Getty Images)

“Hopefully, this momentum will see him through to a great pre-season and then, hopefully, he'll start the full season where he's finishing off now.

“You've seen some games where you can see his class. But then obviously, as we all saw, there were games where he was missing. So the fewer of those games we have, the better.

“And obviously, flair players like that have that, they can go missing for two or three games and then they look like a world-beater for the next three or four because the way they see certain things has to fall into place for them to be able to do that.

“So that's why they can look like they're playing terribly, but they're actually not. It's just the game squeezing them out or whatever it is.”

While Wirtz has not always sparkled this season, Dominik Szoboszlai has undoubtedly been the Reds’ star performer. He has reliably operated across several positions, including right-back, and only Hugo Ekitike has contributed more than his 18 goal involvements.

Szoboszlai played in the no.10 role during three of the four games Wirtz was unable to start, and Johnson feels he has the creative qualities needed to replace the German, if required.

“Dominik Szoboszlai is a proper footballer in the sense that he can play anywhere. He's got a fantastic football brain and he's good at adapting to different roles.

“He has his own style, but he's very good at focusing on the role he's being asked to do. He's a very good technical player.

“So, for someone like him, playing around a no.10, floating around, working in spaces, and doing what he feels is right at the time, I definitely think that role could suit him.”