Carragher Urges Liverpool to Bench Wirtz After Manchester City Defeat
Jamie Carragher believes Florian Wirtz should be taken out of Liverpool’s starting side after the Reds’ home defeat to Manchester City, arguing that the midfielder’s limited attacking return has become a pressing concern for Andoni Iraola.
Wirtz under pressure after quiet City display
Liverpool were without Cody Gakpo, Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexander Isak through injury, placing greater creative responsibility on Wirtz at Anfield. The former Bayer Leverkusen player, however, struggled to influence the contest and produced little in the final third before being substituted shortly after the hour.
His departure followed Ryan Gravenberch’s red card, with Trey Nyoni introduced as Liverpool adjusted to playing with 10 men. Until that dismissal, Carragher felt Liverpool had competed well against City, but he stressed that the side did not generate a clear scoring opportunity.
City then capitalised decisively. Erling Haaland and Jérémy Doku scored within three minutes of one another to put the visitors out of reach, before Rayan Cherki added a late third goal.
- Liverpool began without injured attackers Gakpo, Szoboszlai and Isak.
- Gravenberch was sent off, prompting Liverpool to replace Wirtz with Nyoni after the hour mark.
- Haaland and Doku struck in quick succession after the red card.
- Cherki completed City’s three-goal win late in the match.
Carragher calls for midfield change
Wirtz has started all six of Liverpool’s matches this season and has recorded one assist. The 24-year-old arrived from Leverkusen in a £100 million deal, valued at $132.3m, after an underwhelming first campaign at the club. Carragher said the expectation had been that the player would make a clearer impact in his second season in English football.
The former Liverpool defender said Wirtz needs to be removed from the side for now, while making clear that his criticism was not intended as a personal attack. His concern is that Liverpool need more immediately from a player signed to create and score, particularly when he is neither offering a major defensive contribution nor delivering enough in possession.
Carragher compared Wirtz’s current influence unfavourably with former Liverpool attacking players who were not necessarily viewed as cornerstone figures for title or European-winning sides but still made significant contributions. He cited Nicky Barmby, Vladimir Smicer, Yossi Benayoun, Maxi Rodriguez, Yari Litmanen, Philippe Coutinho, Steven Gerrard and Steve McManaman.
His proposed solution is a rebalanced midfield with greater output, athleticism, physical presence and running power. Gravenberch, in Carragher’s view, must remain an important part of that setup despite his dismissal against City.
- Wirtz has started each of Liverpool’s six fixtures this season and supplied one assist.
- Liverpool failed to create a clear chance against City before Gravenberch’s sending-off.
- Carragher wants more goals and assists from midfield, alongside greater height, power and mobility.
- He believes Liverpool cannot afford an extended wait for Wirtz to find form.
Iraola’s early challenge is chance creation
The City defeat was Iraola’s first as Liverpool manager. Carragher said the early issue under the new head coach has been different from the one he anticipated.
He expected a more open, high-scoring team, similar to Liverpool’s display at Newcastle, with matches carrying danger at both ends. Instead, Liverpool have appeared more secure over the past four or five games, but have too rarely looked capable of creating a high volume of opportunities or scoring freely.
For Carragher, that makes Wirtz’s form central to Liverpool’s next decisions: a team that has become steadier without becoming sufficiently threatening needs its principal creative signing to deliver much more quickly.
