Slot Backs Wirtz To Score More Goals For Liverpool

Liverpool coach Arne Slot has backed Florian Wirtz to score more goals for the club after opening his Premier League account against Wolves on Saturday.

The German international, who joined the club in summer in a deal worth £100m in the summer from Bayer Leverkusen.

He has struggled to live up to expectations which culminated in a long wait before his first goal for the club against Wolves.

Prior to the game against Wolves, he recorded his first Premier League assist against Tottenham.

Slot said his performances had been undervalued due to football’s obsession with statistics.

He said: “I’m quite sure it was a relief for him. This I could see after his reaction after he scored the goal – and the same I saw with his teammates. I think they were really happy for him.

“In football – rightly so, maybe – we mainly get judged on results, and individuals mainly get judged on goals and assists. Sometimes we tend to forget what else there is to do during a game.

Slot is confident that Wirtz will continue to show his quality for Liverpool by scoring many more goals for the club in the second half of the season.

He said: “He’s had multiple good games for us but I also feel he gets better and better every single game he is playing for us. He gets fitter and fitter and was getting closer and closer to his first goal.

“Then it was not a surprise to me that he scored one today, but he would probably be the first one to understand that one goal is not enough.

“He will score many more goals for us than only this one, but I also liked his performance during large parts of the game today. I think he was special in a lot of moments.”

The Dutch manager also expressed his disappointment at the team’s second half performance against Wolves.

Slot concluded: “I think if you go 2-0 up at half-time, you’re expecting a different second half than we had to face. But in football a goal can massively change momentum, and that’s why I was so, so, so annoyed when the goal at [Manchester] City was disallowed because we were struggling in that game probably just as much as Wolves were struggling, but then a goal can make a lot of difference. That’s what happened not that after the 2-1 we didn’t have ball possession anymore, but it was much more of an equal game.”

Liverpool will be back in Premier League action against Leeds United on January 1 at Anfield.

The Reds currently occupy the fourth position with 32 points from 18 matches.