Neville begs for more from Florian Wirtz: 'I want to put a rocket up him!'

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Robin Bairner | Chief Editor

Liverpool pair Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz have been told that they must develop a more ruthless side to their game if they are to justify the Anfield club’s enormous outlay on them.

After moving to Liverpool a year ago for a combined fee of €270m from Newcastle and Bayer Leverkusen respectively, the duo have combined for eight Premier League goals and four more assists.

They endured a chaotic season under Arne Slot, but with Andoni Iraola now in charge, the pair are under pressure to deliver – and after a 1-1 draw with a depleted Newcastle side on the opening day of the season, Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville delivered a withering assessment of their display.

Compared

Alexander Isak

F (C)

Liverpool

Alexander Isak

F (C)

Liverpool

VS

Florian Wirtz

AM (C), M (CL)

Liverpool

Florian Wirtz

AM (C), M (CL)

Liverpool

€87.5M	ETV	€104M
€78.8M - €96.3M	ETV Range	€93.6M - €114.4M
26 years old (21 Sep, 1999)	Age	23 years old (03 May, 2003)
Sweden	Nationality	Germany

Pressure builds on Isak and Wirtz after ‘free ride’

“The big thing for Liverpool is they've got this quarter-of-a-billion-pound front two, Isak and Wirtz and bloody hell, we've been kind to them,” he said on the Gary Neville Podcast.

“They're going to have to start playing sooner or later or else, to be fair, they're going to get quite a lot of criticism. For a start, they're too nice, and if you're going to be nice, you'd better be incredible at football.

“I don't see the tenacity in Wirtz in particular. I just see a nice player moving around the pitch, not really ever looking like he's busting a gut to do anything.

“Now, that can happen. Sometimes players have that flow about them, but I want to put a rocket up him. I want to put a rocket up him because there's ability there, there's talent there, the understanding of his position.

“The biggest disappointment for me during the Newcastle game is those two.”

Wirtz, in particular, came in for criticism from Neville, who described Isak’s performances against some of the Premier League’s best centre-backs during his Newcastle days as ‘devastating’.

Speaking about the German, he said: “He needs to sort himself out. Enough's enough now, we've talked about him enough. He's young and he's come to a different country - and I'm all for willing him on.

“They have both had a bit of a free ride. Obviously Isak was injured last season but Arne Slot loses his job, and Wirtz has played like that, so let's be clear, this has got me to start some real focus now.

“I can see a real player there, but can't keep watching this stuff and he's been subbed after an hour and they need a goal, but they're 2-1 down, so no that's not right.”

Wirtz could ‘embarrass’ Liverpool

The pressure is being slowly cranked up on Wirtz, with fellow Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher claiming last week in a column for the Telegraph that the former Leverkusen player is in danger of “embarrassing” the Anfield side because of his huge transfer fee.

“Given the repercussions across the side and for his club’s hopes of an immediate recovery after a torrid 12 months, Wirtz simply must perform to the standard of a top-class Liverpool player. Last year he was afforded months to show up. This season he will probably be given only a few weeks,” the former Liverpool defender wrote.

Sunday’s 2-2 draw against Newcastle was an inauspicious start to the Iraola era at Liverpool, and it’s clear that fingers will be pointed increasingly at Wirtz and Isak should the team’s form fail to improve.