Wirtz hails two dimming ‘positives’ as Liverpool star ‘keeps his mouth shut’

Struggling to come up with the “positives” surrounding Florian Wertz Grimm’s start to life at Liverpool, former Reds star Steve Nicol has heaped unsparing praise on the Germany international.

Wertz is yet to score for Liverpool since his $100 million move from Bayer Leverkusen and has claimed just two assists.

After Sunday’s 3-0 defeat by Manchester City, Gary Neville claimed he looked like a “little boy” and Nicol, who made 459 appearances for Liverpool, has finished off the barrel in his bid to find plus points on the start of his Anfield career.

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“If we’re going to put a positive on Florian Wertz, I’d say number one, he’s kept his mouth shut. It’s not in the papers how he’s not playing,” he said on ESPN.

“But the other thing I would say is when he’s actually been on the field, he’s not hiding.

“He’s looking for the ball, he’s not penetrating, he’s not walking around with his tail between his legs, he’s actually trying to get into it and try to do what he does.

“It’s not working right now. But to be fair to him, throw in how young he is, all the other things about the new team and everything else, but he’s not hiding and that’s really important for the fans, the manager and the players around him.”

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Germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann came to Wertz’s aid in his press conference ahead of World Cup qualifiers against Luxembourg and Slovakia, claiming his team-mates were responsible for the playmaker’s extraordinary start to life in the Premier League.

He said: “To be honest, the whole situation doesn’t make it easy for him either. The whole club itself is not as stable as it was last year. It’s very difficult to slip into the team now.

“If you look at City vs, they were the worse team over the 90 minutes. So it’s hard for Flo to make a big impact either.

“Ultimately, the overall situation is that he just needs a bit more time – which is normal and you see that with other players, who also go to the English Premier League.”

Nagelsmann added: “We all know what he’s capable of and it’s quite normal for a player of his age to go through a bit of a dip in form.

“We can’t expect him to perform at the same level for three straight years.

“Instead, we all need to help him, so he can clear his head here and then, maybe, Liverpool can also help him by scoring some of the chances they create.

“That would be a thought, because he creates some chances. It’s just that they somehow don’t like to shoot the ball with those chances. That’s part of the reality.”