„Poor Florian Wirtz“: Hoeneß taunts Liverpool | OneFootball

English champions Liverpool FC are in crisis mode. After a summer of transfers in which the Reds invested almost 500 million euros in new players, the season is heading steeply downwards: eighth place in the Premier League, nine points behind Arsenal, a 1:4 debacle in the Champions League against PSV Eindhoven – and an increasingly shaky coach in Arne Slot. Uli Hoeneß has closely followed the end of Liverpool’s dominance – and now provides a sharp analysis, spiced up with a good dose of teasing.

During his appearance at the „Power Days“ in Munich’s Olympic Hall, the honorary president of FC Bayern left no doubt as to how he assesses the Reds‘ plight. „They have spent 500 million euros and are playing a catastrophic season,“ said Hoeneß – only to follow up with a sentence that is likely to provoke long discussions on the island: „In my opinion, that’s because you only have superstars. You only have chiefs and no Indians.“

The 73-year-old painted a picture of a squad in which every player wants to be the leading actor. „I always say: at Liverpool, they’ll soon have to play with five balls because the stars don’t want to give up a ball.“ A sentence that sums up the state of the team as exaggeratedly as it does aptly: lots of glamour, little balance.

Liverpool are reeling – and Hoeneß sees a structural problem

photo: IMAGO/Kirchner-Media

Liverpool are a long way from being the team that dominated Europe for years under Jürgen Klopp. Expensive stars such as Wirtz, Isak and Ekitiké have so far failed to live up to expectations and the sporting processes appear to be in disarray. A historic low is looming, particularly in the Champions League: 13th place in the league phase and a direct place in the round of 16 seriously in danger.

Head coach Slot is under massive pressure, with the first rumours of a possible exit already circulating. 1:4 against Eindhoven was considered a low point by many fans – Hoeneß sees this as a logical consequence: too many individual artists, too little team.

„Want to play with their own ball“

DFB star Florian Wirtz, who moved to Anfield Road from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2025, is also part of Liverpool’s problem. The 22-year-old has so far been unable to build on his outstanding performances in the Bundesliga. For Hoeneß, the blame lies not only with the player himself, but above all with the circumstances in the team: „Poor Florian Wirtz, he doesn’t get the ball at all because Salah and Szoboszlai and what they’re all called want to play with their own ball.“

Hoeneß not only showed sympathy for the young international, but also bluntly criticized the hierarchies in the Liverpool attack – and the unwillingness of some stars to share responsibility.