Andoni Iraola responds to Jurgen Klopp’s plea over Florian Wirtz at Liverpool
Below is a summary of the full article. Click here for the full version from Rousing the Kop or go back to LFC Live.
Andoni Iraola was asked about Jurgen Klopp’s assertion that Florian Wirtz should not be judged by his lack of goals and assists for Liverpool and Germany during his pre-Bournemouth press conference on Friday.Klopp leapt to Wirtz’s defence after naming him in his first ever German national team squad, claiming that the Liverpool No. 7 can still be effective without scoring or setting up a teammate.Asked whether he felt a similar way, Iraola insisted that he judges Wirtz exactly the same as every other player: on whether he has had a good game or not.
Photo by Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images Iraola is very happy with WirtzSome Liverpool fans bristled a little at Klopp‘s claims that Wirtz should not be expected to deliver moments of magic game on game. Having been bought for £116m as the kind of player who you absolutely are expecting to see goals and assists from, there is an argument that Wirtz is doing little if he is not making that kind of impact in the final third.READ MORE: Jamie Carragher explains why he’s beginning to change his mind about Andoni Iraola at LiverpoolAccording to Iraola, though, he is happy with the 23-year-old’s current performances, and has seemingly agreed with Klopp that his critics should probably look a little bit deeper into his game.“He should be judged like everyone else; if he plays well, if he doesn’t play well,” said the Liverpool head coach.“Mostly I always say ‘how does the team play when you are on the pitch?’ And I’m very happy with Florian.
He understands what we need from him, he’s trying to help in every aspect of the game. “Obviously he will want to add some assists or goals, but he is helping us in a lot of different areas and also we could give him some rest the other day which I think he needed because he’s had good effort during the games.”Despite the assertions from Klopp and Iraola that Wirtz is helping in other, sometimes unseen – or at least unheralded – areas, fans will still want to see him getting on the scoresheet or helping others to do so.