Wirtz delivers against Brentford but remains Liverpool's tactical dilemma

Liverpool returned to winning ways in the Premier League with a hard-fought comeback away at Brentford, where Florian Wirtz was instrumental in attack but could not fully silence the debate about his role in Andoni Iraola's system. The German playmaker provided the assist for the equalizer and delivered remarkable creative numbers, all in the same week that Steven Gerrard suggested a spell out of the side might help him rediscover confidence.

• Florian Wirtz assisted the equalizer and created nine open-play chances, the most in a single Premier League match over the past six seasons.
• Liverpool came from behind after Brentford were reduced to ten men before half-time.
• Pundit Danny Murphy believes playing Wirtz as a number 10 makes the team too easy to play against.
• The win lifts Liverpool to fifth place with three wins from their first seven league games.
• Andoni Iraola described the squad situation as delicate after injuries to Dominik Szoboszlai and Jeremie Frimpong.

Wirtz unleashes his creativity against Brentford

The Germany international picked the perfect stage to respond to his critics. Against Brentford, Wirtz created nine open-play chances, a tally no other player had reached in a Premier League match over the previous six seasons. To find a comparable single-game performance by a Liverpool player, you have to go back to Sadio Mané, who created nine chances against Burnley in January 2021.

His influence in the final third was relentless. He completed 53 of his 65 attempted passes, 38 of them in the opposition half, while leading his team in both final-third entries and passes in dangerous areas. His assist early in the comeback marked consecutive games with a goal involvement across all competitions for the first time since arriving at Anfield.

Iraola's dilemma: attacking spark at the cost of defensive stability

Despite those numbers, Wirtz's role as a number 10 continues to divide opinion. Danny Murphy, a pundit and former Liverpool midfielder, believes the setup with two wingers and the German behind the striker leaves too much ground for the two central midfielders to cover. His assessment is that the team becomes predictably vulnerable to opponents who can play through the middle.

They don't look solid and don't look together in terms of shape. Instead of a number 10, where Wirtz is struggling to impact games, put three midfielders in. Always, the priority is foundation, defence, stability, being hard to beat. The other stuff can follow from there.

Possession stats also feed into that concern. The German was the second player on his team to lose the ball most often during the match, behind only Milos Kerkez, and he won just one of his nine duels. That combination of high-risk playmaking and limited work without the ball supports the argument for a tactical rethink in certain games.

Gerrard suggests a rest could help Wirtz

The discussion is not new. Earlier in the week, Steven Gerrard suggested the 23-year-old could benefit from being taken out of the starting lineup for a while. For the former Liverpool captain, the issue is not talent but confidence, and he believes a break could help the player reset mentally and physically.

Wirtz joined Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen in June 2025 for a club-record fee of around £116 million. That price tag carries weight, and comparisons with his performances in Germany follow him whenever his influence falls below expectations.

Comeback win comes with fresh injury concerns

The victory in west London ended a run of 19 away league games without a win after falling behind. Liverpool had not come back from conceding first on the road in the Premier League since December 2023. With this result, Iraola's team now has three wins from its first seven league matches and sits fifth in the table.

However, the win came at a cost. Dominik Szoboszlai and Jeremie Frimpong both picked up injuries during the match, adding to the strain of a demanding schedule. Liverpool are in the middle of a stretch of four games in ten days, with a tough Champions League trip to face Villarreal coming up on Tuesday.

We are in a delicate situation with some of the players. We were talking about this run of four games in 10 days, it's very, very demanding. We have to rest again because we have another big, big game against Villarreal.

What is at stake for Liverpool with Wirtz in the coming weeks

The schedule offers no breathing room, and the debate over Wirtz's role coincides with the return of Champions League action. Iraola must decide whether to keep backing the German as the creative number 10 or introduce a third midfielder to provide more protection behind the ball. The return of Alexander Isak up front gives the team a more direct attacking option but also changes how Liverpool can build play between the lines.

With the team fifth in the league and the European group stage in full flow, the coming weeks will test Iraola's ability to find a balance that preserves Wirtz's creativity while closing the spaces that stronger opponents than Brentford are likely to exploit. Nobody questions his ability to create chances: the question is whether this Liverpool side can carry that without paying too high a price defensively.