What journalist noticed about Florian Wirtz after full-time summed up his ongoing frustration | OneFootball

Liverpool may have been playing against a team nicknamed the Black Cats on Wednesday night, but Sunderland’s visit to Anfield certainly didn’t bring Florian Wirtz the kind of good fortune associated with the animal fitting that description.

The German playmaker is now 18 matches into his LFC career but his wait for a first goal goes on, and he couldn’t have done much more last night to finally break that duck.

He must’ve thought his moment would come in the first half when the ball broke to him from an attempted interception by Granit Xhaka, but Robin Roefs saved his shot and the ricochet went off the Reds’ number 7 and into the side netting rather than inside the posts.

When Liverpool equalised in the 81st minute, it initially looked as though Wirtz had his elusive goal at Anfield, only for the Premier League to officially credit it as a Nordi Mukiele own goal, with the German’s strike seemingly going wide had it not taken that deflection.

Wirtz cut a frustrated figure at full-time

Mail Sport writer Dominic King was at the stadium on Wednesday night, and immediately after the full-time whistle, he observed the reactions from several Reds players, including the man in the number 7 shirt.

The journalist wrote: ‘Who was happy at the end? Florian Wirtz didn’t seem to be. His torturous wait for a decisive moment had ended but he looked like he’d lost a pound and found a penny as he trooped off, politely clapping the Main Stand but giving no real enthusiasm.’

(Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Wirtz is doing everything but score for Liverpool

Wirtz must feel as though Lady Luck forgot about him when she was dispensing portions of her second name, with the Liverpool playmaker turning in some excellent performances since his summer move from Bayer Leverkusen but still officially without a goal.

On a night when many Reds players were nowhere near their best, the 22-year-old never stopped trying to make things happen for Arne Slot’s side, whether that was in his starting role as a number 10 or the left-sided berth he took up after Mo Salah came on for Cody Gakpo.

As per Sofascore, our number 7 completed 52 of his 59 passes (88% success), won three duels and played three key passes, while he also had the joint-most shots of any LFC player (four, level with Dominik Szoboszlai).

Although Liverpool ultimately enjoyed a decisive stroke of luck when Wirtz’s shot deflected off Mukiele and into the Sunderland net, it was a night of considerable frustration for the German and his teammates, as evidenced by their subdued body language after the full-time whistle.

The 22-year-old just needs to keep getting into threatening positions, as he’s been doing in recent games, and the goals will surely come for him eventually. He certainly can’t be doing much more to try and remove that monkey from his back.

You can watch Slot’s full post-Sunderland press conference below, via Empire of the Kop on YouTube: