Florian Wirtz Impressive as Liverpool Draw Again Against Burnley | OneFootball

Liverpool 1 – 1 Burnley – Premier League Man of the Match

Florian Wirtz – Liverpool FC

Steven Smith’s Pre-match Prediction:

This should have been routine. It should have been comfortable. Liverpool dominated territory, possession, and momentum for long spells, yet once again walked away with far less than they deserved. A frantic five-minute spell after the interval — the kind that has come to define this season — was all Burnley needed to turn control into chaos and claim a point that never truly reflected the balance of play.

In a game where Liverpool had the ball almost constantly and Burnley were reduced to survival mode, there was no obvious standout. No one truly grabbed the contest by the throat. Except, once again, Florian Wirtz.

His goal was a moment of clarity in a match cluttered with frustration. A rasping, emphatic strike that cut through Burnley’s low block like a knife — taken early, struck cleanly, and beyond the goalkeeper before anyone had time to react. It was the kind of finish that reminds you this is a genuinely elite footballer operating in a team that too often makes life harder than it needs to be.

Wirtz’s problem is not his quality. It is the lack of movement around him. Time and again, he found himself receiving the ball between lines with no runners ahead, no angles to exploit, and no chaos being created to pull defenders out of position. Burnley did not need to be brave. They simply sat deep, compact, and trusted Liverpool to suffocate themselves.

That is not a failing of the player. It is a structural issue that continues to blunt Liverpool’s most gifted attacker.

Wirtz drifted, probed, and tried to accelerate tempo whenever possible. He combined neatly, took responsibility, and carried the attacking burden without complaint. But creativity cannot exist in isolation. Without runners beyond him, without vertical threat to stretch a back line, his invention becomes predictable — not because of him, but because of the system around him.

This is now four Premier League draws in a season already defined by missed opportunities. Two points dropped again. And while the table will reflect a point gained, the performance tells a harsher truth. Liverpool are dominating games without controlling outcomes. They look like a team unsure how to finish opponents off.

Which inevitably leads to the uncomfortable question: could this be Arne Slot’s final game in charge?

There is no sense of collapse here, but there is stagnation. Wirtz looks like a player who should be the focal point of a rebuild — not a passenger in a system that limits his influence. Under different leadership, perhaps even familiar leadership, you sense that this squad — and this footballer in particular — could be unlocked properly.

For now, Florian Wirtz remains Liverpool’s clearest expression of class in a season starved of clarity. The concern is not whether he is good enough. It is whether the environment around him is.

And that is why, even in a frustrating draw, he stands above the rest.