Florian Wirtz, Dominik Szoboszlai and Liverpool’s Balancing Act Under Andoni Iraola

There are moments in a season when a pattern begins to harden into something more serious, something that demands attention rather than shrugs. Florian Wirtz’s recent upturn for Liverpool feels like one of those moments. According to TALKSPORT, the numbers are beginning to point towards an awkward truth for Andoni Iraola, that the German playmaker has looked more influential when Dominik Szoboszlai has not been alongside him.

That is not a conclusion anyone at Anfield would have wanted to rush towards. Szoboszlai was Liverpool’s Player of the Season in 2025/26, he signed a new contract in the summer, and he remains one of the squad’s most forceful and admired figures. Wirtz, meanwhile, arrived for £116 million carrying expectation heavy enough to bend the back of most footballers. Yet football has never been a game that cares much for sentiment when the evidence starts stacking up.

Wirtz’s latest outing in the 2-0 win over Brighton continued a quietly significant run. His early effort, diverted in off Pascal Gross for an own goal, meant he influenced the scoresheet for the fourth game in succession. For a player who has spent so much of his Liverpool career under scrutiny, it felt meaningful. It also underlined how sharply his form has shifted after a difficult beginning to life under Iraola this season.

Photo: IMAGO

Florian Wirtz finding rhythm at Liverpool

The broad outline of Wirtz’s Liverpool story has already been shaped by impatience. His pedigree before arriving on Merseyside was glittering, his creative numbers among the best in Europe’s major leagues, and there was a belief that once Mohamed Salah had departed, the space would open for Wirtz to become the central attacking reference point. It has not happened in a straight line.

Last season brought only eight Premier League goal contributions, a return that always looked thin beside the size of the fee and the scale of his reputation. This term began with more noise than flow. After the 3-0 defeat to Manchester City before the international break, Wirtz’s display was pulled apart in forensic detail, especially after he surrendered possession 16 times in the first half. At that stage, he had just one assist in seven matches and the old doubts were circling again.

Now there is a different feeling. Over his last few matches he has looked lighter, sharper, more assured in where he receives the ball and more willing to impose himself on games. This was his 50th start for Liverpool in all competitions, and the wider numbers still tell of a player with serious creative heft. Only Rayan Cherki has produced more open-play assists for a Premier League club since the start of last season.

Dominik Szoboszlai absence and the statistical twist

The interesting point raised by TALKSPORT is that Wirtz’s best moments in the league have repeatedly come when Szoboszlai has been missing. The first hint came in the 2-1 win over Wolves last December, when Wirtz scored his first Premier League goal while Szoboszlai served a suspension. It surfaced again in the 1-0 victory at Sunderland, where Wirtz struck the post and collected the supporters’ player of the match award.

This season, with Szoboszlai restricted to just 32 minutes across the last five matches because of injury, Wirtz has found a fresh groove. In the four Premier League matches without Szoboszlai, Opta’s figures show he has registered 10 shots, created nine chances and completed more than 200 passes. His shooting volume rises notably, his chance creation improves and his goal rate doubles from 0.13 to 0.25 per game.

Those are not trivial shifts. They suggest more than coincidence. They suggest Wirtz may be benefiting from cleaner spaces, clearer responsibility and fewer tactical compromises in the middle of the pitch. They also echo what Jamie Carragher had argued earlier, that the structure of Liverpool’s midfield with both players in certain roles has looked uneasy.

Andoni Iraola faces a tactical puzzle

This is where Iraola earns his living. Good managers are judged not only by the quality they inherit, but by whether they can make expensive talent coexist. Wirtz is too gifted to be treated as a luxury, and Szoboszlai is too important to be seen as collateral damage. Liverpool need an arrangement that amplifies both.

The problem may be less about personality and more about geography. Wirtz wants zones where he can drift, receive and thread passes early. Szoboszlai plays with thrust, energy and a natural appetite to drive into similar areas. If those instincts are colliding rather than combining, Liverpool’s shape becomes clogged and the team’s rhythm suffers.

There is also the curious note that Wirtz’s influence has been at its weakest in league fixtures where Szoboszlai started at right-back, a detail that hints at how sensitive Liverpool’s spacing has become around the German. Every movement in a modern side changes the picture. Iraola has to decide whether to separate the pair more clearly, alter the pressing structure behind them, or simply trust that familiarity will solve what remains a relatively fresh tactical problem.

Patience still matters with Florian Wirtz

There is a danger in turning every statistical trend into a verdict. Wirtz is 23, still adapting to the Premier League’s physical and tactical demands, and still carrying the burden of a giant transfer. Ian Rush told talkSPORT, “In a way, he’s seeing things maybe too quickly, and people are maybe not making that run, and he’s holding onto the ball too much. So I think if I was him, I’d sort of say put the ball in the space and let the striker in – you [the striker] should be in that space. But I think he’s still got a lot to help with Liverpool.”

That feels measured and fair. Wirtz does not look like a failed signing. He looks like a high-end talent still searching for the exact terms of his dominance in English football. The challenge for Liverpool is to ensure this recent improvement is the beginning of something durable, not a passing quirk tied only to Szoboszlai’s absence.

For Iraola, the return of one of his most important midfielders should be welcome. It may also force the biggest tactical decision of his early reign.

Our View

What makes this so fascinating is that it does not read like a simple debate over who is better, or who deserves the shirt more. It feels more delicate than that. Wirtz is one of those players who can make a stadium lean forward in anticipation, because he sees passes before everyone else. When that kind of footballer suddenly starts producing numbers to match the eye test, it becomes impossible to ignore.

The concern is obvious, though. Liverpool should not be in a place where getting the best from Wirtz seems to come at the expense of Szoboszlai, or vice versa. Both are elite-level talents and both should be central to the next great side. If the current shape asks one to shrink so the other can breathe, then the shape needs changing.

There is also reason for excitement in all this. If Wirtz is finally settling, if Iraola is beginning to understand the angles and distances that suit him, then Liverpool may be on the edge of unlocking a player who can dictate major matches. That is the thrilling part. The uneasy part is whether the team can do it without compromising one of the other pillars of the midfield.

That balancing act will define plenty. Get it right, and Liverpool could have one of the most inventive attacking midfielders in the league running games. Get it wrong, and this discussion will keep returning after every flat performance. Right now, it feels like a puzzle worth obsessing over.

Source: TALKSPORT