Julian Nagelsmann defends Florian Wirtz: “Still the player who has created the most chances in the Premier League.” | OneFootball

German phenom Florian Wirtz continues to fail to get on the scoresheet for Liverpool. The 22-year-old also recorded neither a goal nor an assist in last night’s German national team 4-0 win over Luxembourg. Julian Nagelsmann nevertheless defended one of his most talented charges in his post match comments.

For Nagelsmann, and indeed many football nerds, Wirtz’s performance thus far at the Premier League champions has been severely underrated. Irrespective of which statistics aggregator one turns to, Wirtz still possesses decent expected goals (xG) and expected assist (xA) totals.

It’s not entirely certain which source Nagelsmann drew upon when speaking on Wirtz last night, but one assumes that the ultra-modern “metric-centric” footballing guru and his coaching staff did their research with regard to Wirtz’s sluggish Premier League start.

“He is still the player who creates the most chances in the Premier League,” Nagelsman remarked last night at the post-match press conference. “If the player doesn’t convert the chances, it’s bad for his statistics. But that’s not even one third of the truth.

“Flo is a player who knows what he can do and how things work in football,” Nagelsmann continued. “He had to work hard to get where he is. We know how things work: as soon as he scores three goals, he’ll be the king of all summer transfers. Right now, he’s an expensive addition, but that doesn’t weigh on him.”

Nagelsmann went on to discuss the specifics of Wirtz’s performance last night. Wirtz – like he did against Northern Ireland in September – nearly converted a free-kick. A 62nd-minute dead ball effort from Wirtz struck the post. Fine passes to Leon Goretzka (16th) and Nick Woltemade (33rd) also deserved assists.

“He did well and tried a lot,” Nagelsmann said of Wirtz’s overall game. “He was unlucky in a few situations, but can’t be blamed for that.“

Prior to kick-off in Sinsheim last night, Wirtz was awarded a trophy commemorating his selection as Kicker Magazine’s “Footballer of the Year“. Wirtz edged out Bayern attacking sensation Michael Olise and his fellow new Premier League arrival Woltemade to earn the award.

GGFN | Peter Weis