Troy Deeney Claims Florian Wirtz ‘Doesn’t Look Like He Belongs’ at Liverpool
· GiveMeSport
Liverpool secured a narrow victory over Andoni iraola's old club Bournemouth, but one player left his manager fuming.
Liverpool took all three points from their Sunday afternoon visit to the Vitality Stadium, as Andoni Iraola's side secured a 1-0 win against Bournemouth .
After a poor first half from Liverpool, it was a much improved second 45 minutes, with Alexander Isak scoring his fourth goal of the season 12 minutes into the half.
The result sees Liverpool grab their second win of the season from their opening five games, as they remain undefeated heading into the international break. However, there was one player in the Liverpool starting XI who received his fair share of criticism following the final whistle.
Florian Wirtz joined the Reds last summer from Bayer Leverkusen , in a move that carried plenty of promise and expectations.
So far, Wirtz has struggled to live up to those expectations during his time on Merseyside, and today's game against Bournemouth was no different.
Troy Deeney spoke to talkSPORT after the game, where he gave his opinion on the German midfielder. He said: "He just doesn't look like he belongs in this league. What I mean by that is, he's clearly talented; clearly he's got the technical ability.
"But it's like he doesn't believe he's going to score and doesn't believe he's going to impact the game. Liverpool need more from him."
He continued: "The rest of the team are starting to disbelieve because every time it goes to him, the tempo slows down.
"And when they get back, it slows the whole thing down. Iraola just in front of us was absolutely blowing his top."
It was strong words from the former Watford striker, but his criticism is warranted, considering Wirtz had the lowest passing accuracy of any Liverpool player in the first half, and is yet to score a goal and has just one assist in the Premier League this season.
Speaking to the press after the game, Iraola acknowledged that it wasn't a good showing from Wirtz in the first half, but things did get better for him in the second 45 minutes.
He said: "He started the game slowly, I agree. The first minute they went quite intense, and we were not quite with us. The duels in the middle.
After that first phase, I think we improved. Florian has helped us also to improve. In the second half, he was playing much better, he was finding better spots to receive and turn.
"Probably we haven’t found the last part or moment to score but I think I’m much more happy with his second half than his last one.”
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