Carragher Says Liverpool Must Bench Florian Wirtz After Man City Display

Liverpool's Florian Wirtz has come under heavy criticism for several weeks now surrounding his performances in a Reds shirt so far this campaign.

Last season, many allowed Wirtz the time and space to adjust to a new league, a new country and a new system at LFC, but now people are beginning to grow frustrated with the German.

His most recent game against Manchester City was another one where fans and pundits alike expected him to step up, given promising signs of a resurgence under his national team boss, Jurgen Klopp, and in the absence of Liverpool's most in-form attacking duo this season, Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo.

But instead, it was another below-par game for Wirtz, failing to get a goal and an assist and was a passenger for large parts of the game, with calls for him to be dropped to the bench only getting louder. 

Former LFC player Jamie Carragher has been one of the most vocal critics of Florian Wirtz this season and has been calling on Liverpool's number seven to step up and start playing like the player he was at Bayer Leverkusen.

But after the Manchester City game, Carragher would again call for Andoni Iraola to do something about Wirtz and suggested that he needs to be dropped to the bench.

The stats that everyone will focus on will always be goals and assists, because ultimately those are the stats that win football matches, among other things.

Therefore, when you look at Florian Wirtz in that category, having just seven goals and nine assists for a £116 million player is not good enough.

But if you look a little deeper, Wirtz's underlying numbers are still just as impressive as they were in Germany.

According to OPTA, before the international break, Wirtz ranked top for runs in behind in the Premier League, was seventh for pressing numbers and eighth for defence-splitting passes.

So clearly, the playmaker is getting involved in the game, working hard both on and off the ball and is trying to make something happen for Liverpool.

The numbers indicate that Wirtz has been a cog in a machine for LFC rather than a stand-alone star, and that while he is not getting the goals and assists numbers that many expect of him, he still has an impact in the way Iraola's side wins the ball back and goes from defence to attack.

On social media, we asked Liverpool fans to tell us what they thought of Florian Wirtz's on-pitch displays for the club so far this season:

Comment Below: Do You Think That People Are Over-Criticising Florian Wirtz?