'He can’t be in the team!' - Carragher tears into Wirtz after 'one of his worst' Liverpool displays - but backs Jurgen Klopp to revive him

Carragher has not held back in his assessment of Wirtz following a lacklustre display against Bournemouth. Despite the Reds securing a narrow 1-0 victory at the Vitality Stadium, the focus remained on the German midfielder’s inability to influence the game. During the first half, Carragher was particularly vocal about the 23-year-old's contribution on co-commentary duty. "Wirtz has been really poor again," he stated. "It's just nothing. Nothing is happening there at all."

"That was one of the poorest I've ever seen him in a Liverpool shirt," he noted on the Jamie Carragher Podcast. Expanding on his concerns, he admitted: "I've been critical of the fact that he hasn't got the numbers. But normally when you watch Wirtz, he's neat and tidy, he keeps possession, there's things that you like."

He added: "He gets out of a tight situation where you're normally expecting your player to lose the ball. But the reason I worry is, I don't think Wirtz is in poor form since he came to Liverpool. I actually think what we're seeing is what he is. And I was worried for Wirtz probably 12 months ago. And maybe that was a little bit early to say that, but I didn't say it. It was just in the back of my head."

The tactical fallout of Wirtz’s inclusion in the starting eleven is also a point of contention for Carragher. He believes that deploying Wirtz in the number 10 role forces other key players out of their natural positions, specifically mentioning Hungarian international Dominik Szoboszlai. "The worry for Wirtz now is that his performances so far, or what he's given Liverpool, is so low," Carragher argued.

"Where we were expecting him was to take Liverpool to another league title, to take Liverpool to a Champions League. The gap he's got to get to almost justify what people were expecting, I almost think is too big. You can't get there."

With a high-stakes clash against Manchester City looming at Anfield on October 11, Carragher has urged manager Andoni Iraola to make a ruthless call. The pundit insisted that on current form, there is no justification for Wirtz to start against the reigning champions. "I think going forward Iraola's got a decision to make here. Wirtz would not be in my Liverpool team," he declared.

The pundit highlighted that Wirtz's passing accuracy of 63 per cent against Bournemouth was the lowest of any Liverpool player on the pitch, contrasting it with the 75 per cent recorded by Milos Kerkez and Alexander Isak. "Manchester City at home, for me, he can't be in the team," Carragher added firmly.

Despite the harsh criticism, Carragher believes there is one potential avenue for Wirtz to reclaim his confidence: the international break. With former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp now at the helm of the German national team, Wirtz will spend three weeks under the guidance of the man who knows the Anfield expectations better than anyone.

Klopp has included the midfielder in his squad for upcoming Nations League fixtures against Serbia and Greece. "The one hope for Liverpool supporters now is Klopp is the Germany manager," Carragher suggested. "Wirtz goes away with the Germany team for three weeks, and he's obviously one of the best players in Germany, that's how they see him.

Carragher acknowledged that Klopp’s unique man-management style could be the key to unlocking Wirtz’s potential. "Jurgen is one of the greatest managers in the world, we know that. And what he gets out of players is probably more than most managers because of the nature of his personality, and fingers crossed something can happen for him."