Liverpool FC suffers a crushing defeat in the League Cup and sinks deeper into crisis. An expert analyzes the situation surrounding Florian Wirtz.
Crystal Palace remains something of a bogey team for Liverpool FC. Even in their third attempt, the Reds couldn’t defeat Oliver Glasner’s team and were soundly eliminated in the League Cup round of 16 on Wednesday (0:3). The crisis is growing.
The elimination marked the fifth consecutive defeat in domestic competitions. The last time Liverpool experienced such a drought was in 1953—72(!) years ago. Across all competitions, they’ve managed just one win in their last seven matches: a 5:1 victory against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League.
Everything is going wrong for Florian Wirtz and Liverpool FC right now
A positive outlier, if you’re being kind to Liverpool FC. Otherwise, the English champion’s performances have regularly given their own fans headaches and left behind plenty of frustration.
Particularly the lineup against Palace surprised some viewers. Stars like Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitiké, Alexander Isak, Mohamed Salah, and Virgil van Dijk weren’t even in the squad for the match. Instead, Arne Slot relied on academy products and squad players.
Media tears into Liverpool and Slot
A plan that backfired. “Slot suffers its heaviest defeat,” wrote the tabloid Sun, for example. Other media also questioned the many changes in Slot’s lineup. Did the Dutchman gamble and lose?
“At first glance, I think yes,” says Joachim Hebel, sports commentator and England expert, in conversation with SPORT1. Nevertheless, he assumes it was “agreed upon.” “With two 18-year-olds, one 17-year-old, and only 18- and 17-year-olds on the bench, I almost believe that was calculated.” The competition doesn’t have the highest priority for Liverpool; the league is more important.
There, the Reds’ season started so positively; they seemed almost unbeatable at the beginning. Despite losing the Community Shield (of course against Crystal Palace), the champion started the Premier League season perfectly: Five matches, five wins, and the top of the table. Despite early struggles from star signings like Florian Wirtz or Alexander Isak, the Liverpool machine was running smoothly.
But that often included a large portion of luck. Liverpool decided three matches only in the 90th minute or even in stoppage time. Had those matches gone differently, things would look even darker.
Liverpool FC sinks deeper into crisis
Liverpool: Expert sees tactical deficiencies
By now, after four consecutive league defeats, the team sits only in seventh place, and pressure on Slot is growing. Lever sees several tactical problems above all.
“The new fullbacks aren’t adapted at all. Tactically, it’s not working in this system yet,” he explains, referring among others to Jeremie Frimpong and Conor Bradley, who had to fill Trent Alexander-Arnold’s shoes: “They constantly have an imbalance, with one fullback pushing higher than the other.”
But that’s far from all from the expert’s perspective. “They still don’t have a proper defensive midfielder, Luis Díaz wasn’t replaced one for one,” Hebel lists further problems. With Isak and Ekitiké, they’ve signed two “absolute world-class strikers,” but they lack depth on the wings.
Is Liverpool’s team simply poorly constructed? “Each individual transfer makes sense for the squad, but in combination, it takes time. There are certainly question marks about whether the money could have been spent differently,” says Hebel about the new signings, which cost over 500 million euros in total.
Wirtz? “He will definitely do it”
One of them was Florian Wirtz, whom the Reds spent a total of 125 million euros on. But the German hasn’t yet lived up to his high expectations, doesn’t quite seem to have arrived yet. Only three assists and no goals are recorded for him after 13 matches. Lever also sees the system as partly to blame.
“How is a player, who feels like he’s only been in the Premier League for a week, supposed to understand this system immediately? The system is incomprehensible because currently no one understands it, not even those who are there.” That’s “simply difficult” for him. Add to that the pressure and immense media attention that came with his transfer.
Wirtz needs time; after all, he hasn’t forgotten how to play football. “He will definitely make it, of course he will establish himself,” Lever is certain.
In any case, the Reds need to turn things around quickly because major challenges await: After the league match against Aston Villa on Saturday, Liverpool hosts Real Madrid in the Champions League (Tuesday, 9 PM in the LIVE TICKER). Just five days later, they visit Manchester City. Not the easiest tasks to escape the crisis.