Liverpool: Arne Slot admits Florian Wirtz 'risk' against advice as exciting Kevin De Bruyne claim made | OneFootball

£116m summer signing has lift-off in Reds career after influential display against West Ham

Arne Slot has admitted that he took a “risk” with Florian Wirtz’s fitness against West Ham, but was rewarded by what Jamie Carragher hailed as his best performance for Liverpool to date that had shades of Kevin De Bruyne.

His ongoing struggles, plus that of £125m arrival Alexander Isak, the two headline recruits of a record £450m summer transfer spend, had provided another unwanted subplot for Liverpool during a dreadful run of recent form that saw them lose nine of 12 games, including six in seven in the Premier League - culminating in successive Anfield humiliations by Nottingham Forest and PSV Eindhoven.

However, defending champions Liverpool - who went into the game sitting down in 13th place - were finally able to start turning the tide on Sunday, easing the building pressure on under-fire manager Arne Slot with a 2-0 victory at West Ham in which Isak finally broke his goal duck for his new club in the league before Cody Gakpo’s stoppage-time effort against opponents who saw Lucas Paqueta sent off on a day when the Hammers mourned late club icon Billy Bonds.

It was a much-improved performance from the Reds against their spirited but ultimately toothless hosts, with Wirtz a central figure as he recovered from the recent knock suffered on international duty with Germany that forced him to miss the embarrassing defeats by Forest and PSV, replacing the benched Mohamed Salah in attack as Alisson also returned from illness in goal and Isak and Joe Gomez both came in.

Wirtz played for 75 minutes at the London Stadium and was massively influential, at the heart of most of Liverpool’s positive play despite not registering a goal or an assist before eventually making way for Curtis Jones.

Asked about Wirtz’s performance after the game, Slot said: “Good, as the team played a very good game. Recently I've been asked a lot about individuals when they've played maybe not a game of their usual standards and I've pointed out the team every single time.

“Now after a very positive performance from Florian, I can acknowledge that, but I also want to emphasise on the performance that was much better than some others.”

Quizzed on what he had had asked from Wirtz against West Ham, Slot added: “Like I asked all of them, play to your own standards. We tried to create an extra midfielder and he was very important for us to find every time the extra midfielder.

“He was good when he made a dribble, he was really good in his one-touch balls, I even remember a moment when he played the ball diagonally in the 18-yard box to Cody Gakpo, which then didn't lead to a shot so no xG value.

“We had many of those moments and he was part of many of those moments, I think. A good game.”

Slot admitted that he was being advised by Liverpool’s performance personnel to substitute Wirtz earlier given his recent injury, but insisted that it was an occasion on which to take more of a risk than usual.

“The performance staff were constantly telling me, 'He needs to go out, he needs to go out' because he's been out for one-and-a-half, two weeks and he only trained once, so to a certain extent maybe it was a bit of risk to keep him in the team, but some situations ask for an exception and I think today was one of them,” the Dutchman added.

Liverpool legend Carragher praised Wirtz’s showing against West Ham as his most impressive so far in English football and even the first signs that he could eventually go on to replicate former Manchester City superstar De Bruyne.

“I think it was the first sign of seeing, not just a player for Liverpool, but I said when he came in he could be a replacement for Kevin De Bruyne in terms of the Premier League - getting on the ball, causing problems for the opposition,” Carragher said on Sky Sports.

"He didn't lose possession often, he was very clever with the ball. But he had penetrating passes - 42 out of 45, which is a lot for a player who is supposed to make key passes to try and put people in, so at times you take chances.

"It's about getting him into his role where he's best suited. We can talk about the knock-on effect for other players because I don't think the squad is that well balanced.

"We've spoken about Wirtz being a No 10, but he likes the side left channel. When you think of De Bruyne, you think of him on the inside right position and that's where Wirtz needs to play.

"At times, I thought he would start on the right and come in from the side and he has done in a few games when he's replaced Mo Salah, but this was better.

“This is exactly where they want him on the pitch, this is where he's at his best and that's why today was his best Liverpool performance so far in the Premier League.”