Moving to the center of the stadium, Wirtz was Liverpool’s best player in Wembley. Slot has clearly added the system to comply with their record signature – and early signals are good.
Wirtz has been given a free and more frontal role than Liverpool previously from the attacking midfielder – they had no one to perform that role last season.
He almost created a strike with the strike with Ekitike sometimes, they were very close. In fact when he was replaced, Wirtz was playing about nine false and Ekitike had already been removed.
This freedom allowed the German to float a wider after four minutes, take the ball and play with Ekitike with an opener.
There was a 22 pass in the construction of the Liverpool opener, finishing the stage that lasted 66 seconds and involved nine players.
Until taken in the 84th minute Wirtz appeared to be the same, every time he was in control, he was never damaged. Its influence on the pitch for Liverpool is already clear.
At the point of his replacement, Wirtz led Liverpool by passing with entries in the last three, crossing and touching in the White House box. He had a third touch in general. Everything went through him.
“It’s been a very good performance for Wirtz,” former palace striker Glenn Murray told BBC Radio 5 Live. “It is very dominant.
“He was tired at the end and that is something he will need to get used to. But he looks like a very good signature.”
This does not provide a question about Mohamed Salah’s role in the team. The Egyptian has now not scored in the appearance of Wembley Eight, had only one shot in the goal and in the shooting led to his penalty. But that’s a question for another copy.
