Gary Neville's Warning to Liverpool's £200m Duo
Gary Neville has warned Liverpool’s £200m front pair Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak that the grace period is over – but insists he still believes they will come good at Anfield.
Both were anonymous in Liverpool’s Premier League opener at St James’ Park, a flat return for Isak on his first game back on Tyneside since becoming the league’s most expensive player last summer, and another subdued outing from Wirtz before he was hooked just after the hour for Alexis Mac Allister.
They had teased something far more exciting in pre-season. Under new head coach Andoni Iraola, Liverpool’s friendlies had hinted at a sharper, more fluid attack, with Wirtz thriving as a shadow striker and Isak looking sharp. That promise vanished when the real stuff started.
On the Gary Neville Podcast, the former Manchester United defender did not hold back.
“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. “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 [Sunday] is those two.”
Isak completed the full 90 minutes but rarely threatened. Wirtz drifted, pressed in patches, and then disappeared from the game. For a duo that cost Liverpool in excess of £200m, it was a timid start.
Neville, though, is not writing them off. Far from it.
“I've watched them both for 12 months, and I do actually have faith in them,” he said. “I think Isak's an exceptional player and we've seen it.
“I never saw anybody give Gabriel and Saliba or Van Dijk and Konate a tougher time as Isak did when he played at Newcastle in a black and white shirt. I've seen him be devastating.
“Now Liverpool fans and his team-mates and coaching staff, they need to see that – because that's £125m they've spent on him.
“And then Wirtz, 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’s role under the microscope
If the criticism of their output was blunt, Neville’s tactical gripe with Wirtz was even more specific.
The Germany international had looked lively as a second striker in pre-season, particularly in the 3-2 defeat to Monaco a fortnight before the league campaign began. At St James’ Park, used deeper and wider, he drifted away from Isak and away from the areas that hurt teams.
Wirtz has just eight league goal involvements since his nine-figure move from Bayer Leverkusen a year ago. For Neville, the explanation lies in his positioning.
“Sometimes I think he moves around too much,” Neville said. “Sometimes I don't think he's close enough to his striker, I don't think he understands where the game's going to be won and lost.
“When I played football and No 10s sometimes drifted too deep, or too wide, they would get a right rollicking off our manager.
The game's not going to be won out there, the game's not going to be won back there, the game's going to be won in the final third, in and around the box.
“Combining with your striker, getting crosses in, getting little passes, getting little side passes down the side of the centre-backs, being close enough to your forward so that you can combine with him. And I don't see him combining with Isak.
“I just feel like Wirtz has got to think about being involved in the build-up less and think about being a second striker. He's got to think about his output and what he needs to do, and that is feed Isak with little passes down the side of centre-backs. He might only get the ball two or three times in that position in tight games where teams are lying deep.”
The message is clear. Liverpool have paid for end product, not pretty patterns 40 yards from goal.
Isak has already shown in England what he can do when the structure around him clicks. Wirtz has already dominated games in Germany. Neville’s faith rests on those versions reappearing in red – and fast.
The patience, as he made plain, is running out.
