1 month ago
23
First in 17 PL games
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Just over six months on from his €125 million transfer from Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Florian Wirtz scored his first Liverpool goal on Saturday to end a 23-game wait - 17 in the league - to open his account. The relief was clear to see - not just for the German playmaker but also his manager Arne Slot and practically every fan watching from inside Anfield. It wasn't a vintage performance from the champions, winning 2-1 against rock-bottom Wolves who are still waiting for a first league win this season. But Wirtz's excellent all-round display gave them hope that this is just the start of a long, successful career on Merseyside.
It was only 23 days ago that Wirtz thought he had notched his maiden goal in Liverpool colours against Sunderland to silence the social media warriors, who had taunted him with '007' memes about his goal drought. That was until the Premier League's independent dubious goals panel ruled it as a Nordi Mukiele own goal and the German was denied. But two days after Christmas, he got the belated present he had been waiting for.
Running through the middle with a surging run, Hugo Ekitiké's perfectly-weighted pass found Wirtz inside the box and his first touch did enough to get the ball away from his marker. Jose Sa rushed off his line in an attempt to make the angle as tight as possible, but the 22-year-old showed all of his intelligence to thread the ball into the bottom right corner of the net, sparking wild celebrations in the stands. The goal came after a long, frustrating half as Wolves sat deep in their five-man defence under Rob Edwards, who was determined to snap their awful run of form that had seen them take just two points from their previous 17 games, including 15 defeats.
Ryan Gravenberch's goal on 41 minutes broke Wolves' resistance and when Wirtz found the net a minute later, it felt like it would be a long afternoon for the visitors. But they showed their own fight and grit to get a goal back through Bueno on 53 minutes, although it never seemed that Liverpool would relinquish their two-goal lead - and they held on resolutely. The win means they stay within nine points of leaders Arsenal with 20 games to go - hardly an unassailable gap to bridge - and their form is turning around at the right time.
Another positive for Slot, who has now overseen a run of four wins in five games, was witnessing three of his summer signings Wirtz, Ekitiké and Jeremie Frimpong all contribute to Liverpool goals for a second a week in a row. With Alexander Isak out with a broken fibula and Mohamed Salah at the Africa Cup of Nations, Slot will be relying on Wirtz to help shoulder the burden of scoring and creating goals. With three contributions in six games, the Dutchman will rest a little easier knowing his summer signing is starting to find his feet in England after a tough start.
