Match Coverage

Chris Sutton says he noticed something ‘interesting’ about Florian Wirtz in Liverpool’s game v Crystal Palace

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Liverpool are headed into the second half of their clash against Crystal Palace with the score 1-0 to Oliver Glasner’s men after Ismaila Sarr opened the scoring.

One of the most interesting things about the first half of the game was the team that Arne Slot chose to start the clash with.

Milos Kerkez and Florian Wirtz were chosen over the likes of Andy Robertson and Cody Gakpo, with Slot clearly looking to try something new.

However, things didn’t go quite to plan at the start of the first half as Sarr, who seems to be Liverpool’s worst nightmare, bagged a goal in the ninth minute.

The game was dominated by Palace, with Liverpool failing to convert the few chances they earned.

Oliver Glasner, Manager of Crystal Palace, and Arne Slot, Manager of Liverpool, interact prior to the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Liverpool at Selhurst Park.
Photo by Alex Broadway/Getty Images

But, during the game, Chris Sutton shared that he spotted something ‘interesting’ about Wirtz.

Chris Sutton says that Florian Wirtz’s positioning for Liverpool was interesting

Seeing as though Wirtz is naturally an attacking midfielder, that’s the area of the pitch that Slot has chosen to play him in for most of the season.

However, with Hugo Ekitike being suspended, a shake-up of the Reds’ starting XI was needed, and that’s exactly what Slot chose to do.

This resulted in Alexander Isak being handed his first Premier League start for Liverpool, but it wasn’t something about his performance which piqued the interest of Sutton.

“Notice that Florian Wirtz is actually quite central, he’s not necessarily playing on the left as Cody Gakpo might,” Ian Dennis said on BBC Radio Five Live.

To which Chris Sutton replied: “I think we’ll see him drift inside as he has done in these early stages.

“They’ve got a lot of competition for places Liverpool in that central area.

“It’s an interesting call, Wirtz over Gakpo off that left-hand side, but that shows their strength in depth in those forward areas.”

Florian Wirtz of Liverpool runs ahead of Daniel Munoz of Crystal Palace during the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Liverpool at Selhurst Park.
Photo by Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

Liverpool need to pick up their performance in the second half

Liverpool will not want to lose their perfect Premier League start to Crystal Palace.

The Eagles are the only team that Liverpool have lost to this season after they were defeated in the Community Shield final.

Since then, the Reds’ performances have slowly started to pick up, but on Saturday, their first-half performance was well below par.

Players such as Isak and Wirtz failed to live up to expectations, and if they don’t pick things up in the second half, it could end up being rather embarrassing for Liverpool.