Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has urged the club to drop Florian Wirtz from the starting lineup after the midfielder struggled in their 3-0 defeat to Manchester City at Anfield.
The Sky Sports pundit renewed his criticism of the Germany international, insisting that his performances have not been good enough after featuring in 50 to 60 games for Liverpool.
Manchester City secured the victory through goals from Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Rayan Cherki, while Liverpool’s challenge became more difficult after Ryan Gravenberch was sent off shortly after the hour mark.
Speaking on the Gary Neville podcast, Carragher said he had maintained his concerns about Wirtz since Liverpool’s previous match against Bournemouth.
Carragher said: “I’m going to go back to Florian Wirtz, because I was critical of him after the last game Liverpool played at Bournemouth.
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“I was then criticised a little bit by Liverpool supporters for putting a negative slant on it. But what I did say was it could be the last hope if Jurgen Klopp could get his arm around him when he was with Germany.
“He played really well for Germany under Jurgen Klopp. But he has come here today, I’m looking at the game with no [Alexander] Isak and no [Cody] Gakpo, our two best attackers this season.
“We need [Bradley] Barcola and we need Wirtz to step up and help [Victor] Munoz and [Lewis] Koumas at the top of the pitch. Koumas and Munoz were better than the two £100m players.
“That can’t be right. It’s not right. It wasn’t a decision for anyone in the stadium when Liverpool went down to 10 men. And the big bright spark was [Ryan] Gravenberch. He started badly and was taken out of the team.
“There is no way Wirtz should be playing ahead of Gravenberch. What Florian Wirtz is doing for Liverpool is not enough right now. He’s played 55, 60 games for Liverpool.
“If we were looking at Barcola, he has played four or five. You would want more but hold your horses. If you were critical of him, it would be over the top, but not the guy that has played 60 games.”
Carragher also questioned Wirtz’s attacking threat and insisted that the midfielder should no longer be guaranteed a place in Liverpool’s starting team.
“He shouldn’t be in the Liverpool team right now. I don’t want to hammer Liverpool players. But we’re not saying this after five-ten games, we’re saying this after 50-60 games,” he said.
The former Liverpool defender’s comments add to the scrutiny surrounding Wirtz following the club’s disappointing home defeat to Manchester City.
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