Start deleting those posts now. Take the mocking videos down from YouTube and adopt the brace position, Florian Wirtz hate-watchers. Liverpool’s transfer brains trust might have been onto something after all.
Wirtz has been getting better for weeks but a majestic performance in the Sunderland maelstrom felt massive. For a start it moved Liverpool closer to the promised land of Champions League qualification, which is surely a non-negotiable if Arne Slot is to cling onto his job after a desperately patchy title defence.
More than that, it was a sign that Wirtz looks increasingly able to handle everything the Premier League chucks at him. A cold, wet night on Wearside against hosts who hadn’t lost a game at home this season? Completed it, mate.
No one has ever doubted Wirtz’s ability but there was a time when he would have looked lost in a game like this.
Sunderland are typical of the Premier League’s shift this season to a whir of endless energy, physicality and a tenacious press but on Wednesday night Wirtz seemed to have all the answers.
Liverpool find the breakthrough at the Stadium of Light!
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Virgil van Dijk's header deflects off Habib Diarra and goes in
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That sound you hear is the rest of the Premier League gulping. If he has found his rhythm it is going to be a problem for Liverpool’s rivals.
It is also a lesson for those who put the boot in early on, especially the likes of Jamie Carragher, who really should have known better. The former Liverpool defender is a thoughtful, studious pundit but it is only four months since he said that Wirtz’s slow start was an ominous sign, claiming that foreign signings either adapted early or withered on the vine at Anfield.
Carragher has changed his tune since, describing Wirtz as a “special player”. But the Reds have kept the receipts and it is a reminder that we need to be a little bit more patient, even with players who cost £116m.
For Slot, Wirtz’s revival might end up being a double-edged sword.
Liverpool insist Slot is their long-term choice but the red lights will be flashing on the dashboard at the prospect of missing out on the Champions League riches. Winning the Premier League buys him time but the bottom line demands they finish in the top five at the very least.
So far this season he has been able to fall back on the mitigation that Liverpool’s inconsistency is down to new players taking time to settle. Alexander Isak, who arrived half-fit after his ill-advised strike action, has struggled to match sky-high expectations.
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But now Wirtz is playing well, what is Liverpool’s excuse?
They were much better at Sunderland as they claimed the last unbeaten home record in the Premier League but an inability to finish off opponents they had dominated felt very familiar. Slot’s men have been having an identity crisis all season – neither the all-encompassing press monsters of Jurgen Klopp’s day or the masters of control that their head coach hopes they can become.
With Wirtz pulling the strings, there is an opportunity for them to blossom in the second half of the season, and, if they do not, it calls Slot’s stewardship into question. He cannot justify finishing sixth with a star like Wirtz in his starting XI.
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