Florian Wirtz “Happy I Could Make My Mark” In Liverpool Victory

While the goals and assists haven’t yet come as many would have hoped when Liverpool signed Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen in a blockbuster £100M+ deal over the summer, the 22-year-old German attacker has regularly stood out as a creative spark when given the chance.

He’s especially stood out for the right reasons in the Champions League, and in Sunday’s 2-0 victory over West Ham he was arguably Liverpool’s best player on the pitch despite not adding to his stat line. It was a sign of what he can bring to the side, though, and the Reds will need more of that to turn their season around.

“I tried to give my best and to help to turn it around so that we could start to win games again,” Wirtz reflected when speaking to the press ahead of Liverpool’s next match, a mid-week home date against Sunderland on Wednesday evening. “I’m happy that I could give my best to help.

“I was playing more as a ten, had freedom to go to free spaces and create overloads. I tried to just make us better in possession and create chances. I also had one or two chances where I could score but I’m a bit unlucky at the moment, but I’ll keep going. I’m happy I had a good game and could help the team to win, and everything else will come.”

With Liverpool struggling to win games through October and November as their Premier League title defence evaporated, there has been plenty of focus on their two big money summer signings in Wirtz and Alexander Isak, neither of whom has quite found their feet yet for their new club.

Both, though, stood out for the right reasons on Sunday—with Wirtz the creative focal point and Isak scoring the game winning first goal. Now, the focus will be on continuing to perform to those levels and trusting that if they do so, the goals and assists will start to tally up at a slightly faster rate than they have to date.

“I don’t put too much pressure on myself because I know what I can do on the pitch,” Wirtz added. And “When I can help the team win, that’s when I’m happy. I don’t know [if it’s my best performance], but I’m just happy we won and I could contribute—I’m happy I could make my mark.”