Florian Wirtz ended his goal involvement drought with two assists in Liverpool’s resounding 5-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt.
Arne Slot made the bold call of omitting Mohamed Salah from his starting XI and playing both Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak together from the start as the Dutch manager opted for a different approach.
In a 4-4-2 formation off the ball, Wirtz was chosen to play on the right of midfield and it was a tactical change that paid dividends.
Liverpool did go a goal down midway through the first half after Rasmus Kirstensen capitalised on Wirtz losing possession but from then on, it was one way traffic.
Three goals in nine minutes from former Frankfurt forward Ekitike, Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konaté effectively put the tie to bed at half-time.
By this point though, Wirtz, a club record signing from Bayer Leverkusen, had still yet to score or assist for Liverpool in the Premier League or Champions League, at the 11th time of asking.
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He did not have to wait too much longer though, as he slipped a perfect pass to Cody Gakpo, who made no mistake at the back post, before passing to Dominik Szoboszlai four minutes later to get his second assist in red.
He could well have had his first goal too in the latter stages of the match, when Salah decided to shoot instead of playing the simple ball to the open German, but it was lift off at last for Wirtz.
“I was unfortunate to lose the ball before we conceded, but on the whole it was okay,” he said.
“I tried to get into better spaces during the second half.
“I know that I can do much, much more. I think the second half was really good, and from everyone else too.
“So I’m satisfied that we’ve won today and that I finally have a goal involvement.”
Liverpool face Brentford on Saturday evening and both Slot and Wirtz will be hoping with the initial pressure off, the German can now be let loose and get his Premier League count off the mark, as the reigning champions look to bounce back from three consecutive league defeats.
