You can see what the complaint is here, and it’s not really about Wirtz at all. It’s about what happens after he receives it. If your main creative player gets his head up and the picture is static, you’re basically asking him to thread a needle through a set defence every time. That’s not a plan, that’s a hope.

Movement is the difference between a chance and a recycle

Watching the best sides, the give-and-go isn’t always a pass, it’s the run. Someone darts across the line. Someone else goes the other way to drag a centre-half. A third player arrives late, not too early, not too obvious. It’s chaos for the defenders, but it’s organised chaos for the attackers.

That’s the bit that can feel missing when we face a set block. Instead of one runner threatening in behind and another offering a little bounce pass, you sometimes get three lads wanting it to feet. Everyone is “available”, but nobody is dangerous. And if nobody is asking a proper question of the back line, the back line can stay on its feet, stay compact, and wait.

What Wirtz is really asking for

Players like Wirtz live off cues. The moment he receives it between the lines, he wants one of two things to happen: a run beyond to open the through ball, or a decoy run to open a shooting lane or a simple slip pass inside the box. If he gets neither, he ends up forced sideways, or he has to try something low-percentage through bodies.

And it’s not a moan about effort, either. It can be hesitation. It can be players not quite trusting that the pass will arrive. It can be forwards thinking, “If I run now and it doesn’t come, I’m out the game.” But the whole point is you make that run anyway, because it moves defenders even when you don’t get the ball.

Is it Arne Slot’s structure, or just bedding in?

The big question is whether this is instruction or understanding. Arne Slot clearly values control. You can tell he doesn’t want three players sprinting off into the distance and leaving us open to counters if it breaks down. There’s a trade-off there, and every manager has to pick it.

But control doesn’t have to mean stillness. The best controlled sides still rotate and run, they just do it with coverage behind the ball and clear spacing. If Liverpool are erring on the side of safety at the moment, you can see why. The issue is it can make our possession feel a bit polite.

Truth is, it’s probably both. Some tactical caution, plus relationships still forming. The encouraging bit is that coordinated movement is coachable and it can click quickly. Once it does, Wirtz won’t need miracles. He’ll just need options.

Written by mfahmee2: 31 December 2025

Tags: efl tactics transfers