Andoni Iraola has outlined what he wants from Florian Wirtz at Liverpool, offering a strong show of support for the attacking midfielder.
However, the Reds boss believes the German is being judged too harshly because of his body language and has yet to fully adapt to English football.
Florian Wirtz came off the bench to score his first goal of the season as Liverpool fought back to beat Villarreal 4-3 in the Champions League at Anfield on Tuesday evening.
It followed two impressive performances in which he registered assists against LASK in Europe the previous Wednesday and Brentford in the Premier League three days later.
The 23-year-old has recorded 21 goal contributions in 59 appearances for Liverpool since joining from Bayer Leverkusen for £116million in the summer of 2025. He registered 122 goal contributions in 197 appearances for the German club.
However, Iraola believes Florian Wirtz offers Liverpool more than just statistics and expects him to improve further this season.
“I’m delighted with Florian,” said the Liverpool head coach. “He’s coming off three very good performances and I trust this is the start of finding his confidence again.
“We believe him in a lot. He is judged a lot in terms of goals and assists, but he is a player for whom that won’t be his strength.
“He’s not a number 10 or a second striker who is going to score 15 goals this year, no. I mean if he can do that, even better. But he’s a player who gives us a lot of control over the matches, he has a lot of confidence on the ball.
“Ultimately we have to make him feel comfortable but he’s probably feeling more comfortable in Champions League matches.
“In the Premier League he has to get used to those duels, here duels are really hard to win. He’s in that process, it’s true he’s been here a year but he’s still acclimatising to this competition.
“But in terms of talent I have no doubt about him and in terms of attitude either. He is a player who works a lot.”
Florian Wirtz, who is expected to return to the starting line-up for Sunday’s Premier League clash with Brighton, faced criticism during the opening weeks of the campaign after struggling to make an impact in several games.
Iraola added: “He probably has body language that seems a bit cold and doesn’t do him any favours because you think he’s not there and really, now that I know him better, he loves football, he cares, he’s involved.
“But on the outside he doesn’t convey it like someone else who has different body language that you might identify with more. I think that maybe doesn’t do him any favours.”
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