LONDON — Paco Jémez, the manager Andoni Iraola replaced at Rayo Vallecano, had a great line last year. “Statistics are like thongs,” the Spanish tactician mused, “they show a lot, but cover the most important thing.”
Liverpool’s 2–1 win over Brentford on Saturday threw up one of the season’s most deceptive statistics thus far this season: Florian Wirtz created an unrivaled and remarkable nine chances for his teammates.
It’s been more than half a decade since anyone racked up so many scoring opportunities in a single Premier League match, while no Liverpool player has ever surpassed that statistic since Opta’s advanced data collection began in 2003–04, per Michael Reid.
For those who didn’t watch the game—and that is everyone in the United Kingdom, to begin with, given it was televised during the Saturday, 3 p.m. blackout—it would be easy to conclude that this was therefore a sublime performance by Wirtz. After 15 months of nearly’s and not-quite’s, Liverpool’s $154 million (£116 million) had finally gone nuclear, exploding with a performance of such attacking creativity that the record books have to be rewritten. Well, no.
Wirtz was decent but by no means devastating, alright and quite a long way from awesome. Like Liverpool as a collective, it took Yehor Yarmoliuk’s bone-headed red card on the cusp of halftime for the playmaker to really get into the contest, and even then, the source of acclaim shifted his way, that eye-opening statistic, doesn’t stand up to any scrutiny.
Breaking Down Florian Wirtz’s Nine Chances Created
8th minute: Dominik Szoboszlai blazes over
This set the tone for the vast majority of the chances Wirtz created: rolling a sideways or backward pass for a teammate to blaze over.
15th minute: Alexis Mac Allister’s first pot shot
Liverpool’s beleaguered No. 7 shouldn’t be blamed for the poor choices of his colleagues, but he also shouldn’t be praised for teeing up hopeful pot shots.
37th minute: Square ball for Bradley Barcola
During an even opening 45 minutes, in which Brentford took a 1–0 lead, Wirtz was left to gently prod at the tight stitching of the hosts’ rearguard. The mobile midfielder is at his best when given license to roam, tiptoeing laterally in search of the weak spot in the opposition’s defense.
To begin with on Saturday, Wirtz was lured toward the right halfspace, where he would invariably roll a pass across the face of the box rather than trying to find a way through Brentford’s shell.
45+8th minute: Ridiculous effort
Most of the chances that Wirtz created were wild efforts from range, but two were concerningly from corners. Liverpool are one of only four sides in the Premier League yet to score from a set piece this season. For all Arne Slot’s complaining last term, the Reds still racked up 18 goals from this fruitful avenue, the fourth-most in the entire division.
If the best scheme that Iraola’s backroom staff can draw up is Wirtz rolling the ball back for Trey Nyoni to have a shot from 25 yards, then this could be a very long campaign.
49th minute: Alexis Mac Allister’s second pot shot
Iraola has been a fierce advocate of Wirtz, but even the Basque boss waved away his swollen tally of chances created. “In the second half, no?” Iraola clarified, correctly pointing out that Yarmoliuk’s dismissal preceded the majority of Wirtz’s questionable dexterity.
56th minute: Finding space in the crowd
While this was no performance worthy of an significant statistical celebration, it would be unfair to completely dismiss Wirtz’s virtues. Faced with the massed ranks of 10 Brentford players in retreat, Iraola could turn to his chief lock picker.
“There are very few spaces, small pockets and [very little] time on the ball,” Iraola said of that second half. “You have to find delicate things because Brentford is a team that defends the box really, really well. You need players like Flo.”
You also need players who can take advantage of being presented with the ball inside a crowded penalty area. Nyoni, for all his talent, isn’t yet one of them.
62nd minute: The assist
Even calling Wirtz’s pass for Víctor Muñoz’s equalizer an “assist” is somewhat overstating it. Liverpool’s flying right winger collected the ball 35 yards from goal and had to chop past Keane Lewis-Potter to create space to pick out the bottom corner with his weaker left foot.
Nevertheless, Wirtz showed an excellent deftness of touch to shift his weight away from Kristoffer Ajer with his first contact of the ball before quickly sliding it ahead of Muñoz, who had the beating of Brentford’s fullback for pace. At a time when Liverpool were still trailing and frustrated by the staccato nature of a contest their hosts were trying to see out any way they could, it was a crucial piece of play.
65th minute: A chance ‘created’ in the loosest sense
This is the most ridiculous case of a chance going down as “created.” Ajer headed the ball onto Wirtz’s shoulder, sending it ricocheting into the path for Barcola to slash wide.
69th minute: Another blocked shot
Another pass going any direction but forward and another shot failing to test Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher.
What Next for Florian Wirtz?
In many ways, this was a performance entirely befitting Wirtz’s bizarre Liverpool career. It’s almost universally accepted, even by the fiercest defenders of the former Bundesliga prodigy, that the 23-year-old has not lived up to any type of expectations, even the more realistic ones.
Yet, the assist he was credited with for Muñoz’s leveler on Saturday was his 11th since joining Liverpool last summer. Only Manchester City’s Rayan Cherki can boast more open play assists than Wirtz among Premier League players over the same period.
Wirtz is a player who would appear to defy top-line statistics, burrowing into those cracks between perception and data collection which exist in a sport as difficult to quantify as soccer. He also ran further than any other player against Brentford, racking up another entirely meaningless number which people like to count.
Statistics clearly serve a purpose, particularly when framed in the correct context. But a player like Wirtz, especially with such a contradictory performance, makes Josh Hart’s view on data entirely understandable. “They’re lamp posts to a drunk person,” the freshly crowned NBA champion said this year. “You can lean on them, but it won’t get you home.”
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