Journalist: How Florian Wirtz’s ‘special programme’ paid off for Liverpool | OneFootball

Liverpool’s £116m Wizard Wakes Up Against Wolves

Florian Wirtz’s first Liverpool goal, scored in a 2-1 win over Wolves, might not have prompted seismic shifts in the Premier League title race, Liverpool already wrapped that up under Arne Slot earlier this year, but it certainly shifted a narrative. As Lewis Steele wrote for The Daily Mail, “Wirtz scored his first Liverpool goal at the 23rd time of asking”, a stat that had begun to feel like an albatross around a £116m price tag. The German “started to dictate proceedings in the fashion Liverpool’s scouts would have seen him do hundreds of times for Bayer Leverkusen.”

The optics matter at Anfield, especially for a signing billed as a generational creative force. Supporters, Steele notes, “might have been wondering when their own new attacking midfielder would start to trouble the scorers with some goal involvements.” The answer arrived not as a thunderbolt, but as a silk-threaded pass followed by a “clever run and tidy finish.” That feels apt for Wirtz, understated incision over spectacle.

Slot himself struck the right tone post-match, praising his new midfielder while acknowledging the broader picture. Wirtz, Steele observes, has been on “a special programme to bulk up to the intensity of English football”, adding “around two kilograms”, a reminder that even the most technically precocious talents must be physically conditioned for the Premier League’s tempo. In this match, the investment looked justified: “he looked two or three steps ahead of everyone else on the pitch.”

Victory, But Lingering Anxiety

Context always tempers judgement. The inevitable rejoinder, “Lads, it’s Wolves”, arrived on cue. Steele captures the scepticism: “Rob Edwards’s side, for all their best efforts in the second half, are a mess.” True, but, as the piece notes, “you can only beat what is in front of you”, and Liverpool did exactly that, claiming a fourth straight win to close 2025. Yet, the performance again flirted with self-sabotage.

Steele’s critique is sharp and justified. “Just like against 10 and then nine-man Tottenham last week, Liverpool grew in anxiety”, he writes, with two 2-1 wins that “left with the feeling that they may have got away with one.” The worry isn’t the wins, it’s the pattern: shrinking into scoreline protection rather than expanding into game control.

Photo: IMAGO

Nowhere is that pattern clearer than set pieces. “Twelve goals conceded from dead-balls is a league worst”, Steele highlights. He adds that Slot “knows this must be fixed soon”, particularly with Leeds, “the lanky Leeds”, next up. The suggested chant tweak, “set piece again, oh no, oh no”, may read like gallows humour, but it underlines a structural issue that will punish Liverpool against more coherent sides.

Chiesa Misses Cue, But Earns Callback

Federico Chiesa, handed “a rare league start”, produced a performance that split the verdict neatly. “Did he do enough to justify all the clamour about him? No”, Steele concludes, but “did he prove he deserves more chances to impress? Yes.” That’s fair. Chiesa didn’t grab the stage, but he didn’t fall through it either. Liverpool’s season is secure, the title long banked, and minutes are the only currency Chiesa needs now.

Jeremie Frimpong and Jeremie Frimpong’s enterprise on the right, alongside Chiesa’s tentative audition, offered the balance Liverpool crave: thrust without abandon. “Jeremie Frimpong also impressed on the right flank”, Steele reports, an encouraging subplot for a side still searching for consistent flank synergy.

Big Picture

Wirtz’s breakthrough moment was welcome and overdue, proof that the adaptation programme is working and that his technical brain can run Premier League code. But Liverpool’s wider anxieties, especially on dead-ball defence, remain unresolved. Slot has earned patience after a title-winning debut season, yet the next phase of evolution demands control of moments as much as control of matches.

Our View – Anfield Index Analysis

If you want excitement, this was it. Wirtz finally scoring feels like Christmas morning and New Year’s Eve rolled into one. We’ve waited 23 games for this lad to announce himself, and the way he did it, gliding through challenges, threading passes like he’s got GPS in his boots, that’s the Liverpool creative spark we’ve been missing since the early-season bedding-in chatter.

Let’s be clear, Rayan Cherki’s form at City is brilliant for the league, but Wirtz wearing red hits different. Slot has already delivered a Premier League title in his debut season, the man knows how to build a team, but Wirtz becoming the “creative heart of Liverpool moving forwards” is the next frontier. We saw flashes at Spurs, even amid the chaos of their red cards, but against Wolves, messy or not, he looked like the smartest footballer on the pitch. That clever run and tidy finish, it’s only the beginning.

Yes, set pieces are doing our heads in. “Twelve goals conceded from dead-balls is a league worst”, we know, we feel it, we shout it into our scarves every week. But if Slot can fix that Achilles heel, and he will, because winners solve problems fast, this team could go from surviving 2-1s to owning 3-0s. Leeds next? Bring it. Wirtz is bulking up, adding muscle to genius, that “two kilograms” might be the most important weights lifted at AXA this season.

Chiesa didn’t steal the show, fine, but he grafted enough to stay in the script. Frimpong though? Electric. The right side finally looks like a weapon again. But today is about the wizard waking up. £116m is a lot, but if anyone can turn that into priceless, it’s a 22-year-old who plays like he sees football in 4K while everyone else is buffering.

We’re top of the world, champions already under Slot, and now our maestro has arrived. More goals, more assists, more chaos for defences, it’s coming. The Kop’s new chant might not be “set piece again, oh no, oh no” for much longer. It might soon be “Wirtz again, ole, ole”.