Lothar Matthaus calls out Jamie Carragher & Co. over “unfair” criticism of Florian Wirtz

Lothar Matthaus responds to criticism of Florian Wirtz

Liverpool midfielder Florian Wirtz dribbles past a Greece player. — (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images)

Matthaus did not specifically call out any of Wirtz’s critics, but the 65-year-old was most certainly clear on how he felt about the vast swathe of negative commentary aimed in the Liverpool star’s direction this term.

“The media in Germany and England are being unfair to Florian Wirtz,” the former Bayern Munich superstar told RTL/Sky Sports.

“I have some contacts in England and regularly hear that he’s putting in very good performances. Perhaps sometimes he doesn’t have the standout moment like he did with that outstanding goal against Serbia. At Liverpool, he is involved in sequences that subsequently lead to goals.”

For just a reminder of what Jamie Carragher recently told Sky Sports back in September: “I don’t see how he’s going to hurt you. It’s just neat and tidy. And in some way, the price tag for that type of player should be half of what Liverpool have paid.

“The worry for Wirtz now is that his performances so far, or what he’s given Liverpool, is so low. Where we were expecting him was to take Liverpool to another league title, to take Liverpool to a Champions League.

“The gap he’s got to get to almost justify what people were expecting, I almost think is too big. You can’t get there. Even if he improves a bit and gets there, it’s still not what Liverpool thought they were getting.”

In our former centre-half’s defence, Wirtz has simply not put up numbers on the board that reasonably reflect his £116m package. There’s just the one Premier League assist in six games (across all competitions) following a tally of 17 goal contributions in 49 games in the 2025/26 campaign.

But our analysis of the No.7 has to be more nuanced and go beyond raw numbers – it has to place him within the environment he’s working in, rather than analysing him as an individual footballer. But our analysis of the No.7 has to be more nuanced and go beyond raw numbers – it has to place him within the environment he’s working in, rather than analysing him as an individual footballer.

Liverpool won’t get the best out of Wirtz until they’re more balanced

Alexis Mac Allister celebrates with Liverpool midfielder Trey Nyoni. — (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

The point has been fairly made that Andoni Iraola is doing the best he can with an extremely unbalanced squad.

But the fact of the matter is that this isn’t just impacting the Basque’s ability to coach this Liverpool side into form, but also Florian Wirtz’s ability to be impactful in English football.

The player himself has already alluded to the fact that he’s got very little space to work with on Merseyside; not simply due to the intense nature of Premier League football but also because his teammates aren’t platforming him well enough.

And it’s no surprise as to why when we’re looking at a frontline every single week that seems reliant on the combination play between Cody Gakpo and Alexander Isak. And things aren’t exactly harmonious behind Wirtz either, with the Reds coming closest to finding some balance in the middle of the park when fielding a sitting midfielder in Trey Nyoni alongside the more reserved Alexis Mac Allister (compared to Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai).

Now, while neither issue can be fixed within a week, it’s not impossible to imagine this Liverpool side functioning at a more optimal level with some tweaks. The middle of the park, for one, would benefit massively from a foray into the January transfer window for a midfielder who likes to sit behind the ball (cough cough, Lamine Camara, cough cough).

We’d like to see a right-sided winger added in the same window but have doubts the club will address this much before the summer. At any rate, we expect to see Victor Munoz and Bradley Barcola adapt to life in the Premier League over the course of the campaign.

All of this will contribute to an environment better suited to enabling Florian Wirtz to deliver in England and, perhaps, silence his critics.