The hidden stats that prove Florian Wirtz is being unfairly judged against Cole Palmer and Phil Foden

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Florian Wirtz has become a target for pundits and fans alike in this week after another disappointing performance for Liverpool, this time against Bournemouth.Jamie Carragher, watching the game for Sky Sports, was not shy in expressing his opinion that the German is fast becoming an expensive Premier League flop, with the general sentiment beginning to turn noticeably negative towards him.Football is rarely that simple, though, and while it is fair to expect much more from Wirtz, a look at the data behind his performances sees a different story emerge. And while he has registered only one assist and no goals this season, a closer look at the advanced metrics reveals that his creative baseline remains comparatively high.Since the start of the 2025/26 season, Wirtz’s underlying expected goals (xG) and expected assists (xA) per 90 minutes track almost identically alongside Palmer and Foden, who both remain celebrated, despite similarly fruitless periods of form.Wirtz has consistently delivered in terms of chances created for his teammates, but at times he has been let down by the efficiency of the environment around him.

He could easily have ended up with 10 or 12 assists last season”.It is important to mention Ekitike, as arguably the true turning point in Wirtz’s narrative at Liverpool coincided with the Frenchman picking up a serious injury in April.Before his setback, Ekitike was the one Reds forward who had been able to form an instinctive, symbiotic partnership with Wirtz. With Ekitike sidelined, Liverpool’s frontline has grown a little static.

For Reds fans, this has even led to talk of dropping Wirtz out of the team, or overhauling their tactics completely and moving forward without him. Liverpool have been poor since before they lost the Carabao Cup final to Newcastle in March 2025.Wirtz was not in any Liverpool supporters’ thinking then, and he certainly hasn’t broken the system, as Carragher has suggested.