‘He’s bright and smart’ - Florian Wirtz likened to Liverpool legend after finally ending Premier League goal drought

Picking up from where he left off in the 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur on 20 December, Wirtz produced a man-of-the-match performance for Liverpool in what was a tight victory over rock-bottom Wolves.

Having recorded his first league assist against Spurs, teeing up Alexander Isak with a cute pass which led to the Sweden striker opening the scoring in north London, Wirtz was again full of guile against Wolves, creating the most chances (3) and completing the most dribbles (7) on home soil.

But the moment every Liverpool supporter had been waiting for soon arrived on the stroke of half time - Wirtz collecting Hugo Ekitike’s lovely through ball before coolly slotting past Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa.

All four corners of Anfield erupted as the 22-year-old midfielder wheeled away in celebration having finally scored his first goal in red.

With a goal and an assist in his last two Premier League games, Wirtz may finally have lift off at Liverpool following the fanfare which greeted his big-money move from Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen in June.

And on the back of scoring his elusive first goal for Arne Slot’s side, Wirtz has now been compared to Liverpool legend Peter Beardsley by another one of the club’s iconic former players, John Aldridge.

Beardsley and Aldridge enjoyed a brilliant partnership during the late 1980s - a period which saw Liverpool win the old First Division title in the 1987-88 season and the FA Cup the following year with both players in attack.

Diminutive with clever link-up play, Beardsley would draw markers towards him before slipping in the ruthless Aldridge, who scored an incredible 60 goals during their two seasons together, before the latter joined Spanish side Real Sociedad in 1989.

And Aldridge believes Wirtz has a lot in common with Beardsley - a man who scored 61 goals in 175 appearances for Liverpool, before crossing the divide by joining city rivals Everton in 1991.

In his column in the Liverpool Echo, Aldridge said: “That first goal for Florian Wirtz was going to come, wasn’t it? I’ve watched him for some time. He’s a player. He reminds me of Peter Beardsley. He’s bright, he’s smart, but he needed that goal. It was playing on his mind. It’ll be a relief to him and he can build on it now for sure.

“He’s linking up in the right areas with Hugo Ekitike. It’s good to see. There will definitely be more to come from him, from both of them. Alexander Isak will come back too. When you’re a striker, you need service and Wirtz certainly provides that.”

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One man who struggled to make his impact felt against Wolves was Federico Chiesa, who was handed an opportunity from the start as Dominik Szoboszlai missed out through suspension.

Italy international Chiesa recorded the pre-assist for Liverpool’s opener through Ryan Gravenberch by feeding the ball to Jeremie Frimpong, before the winger was replaced by substitute Conor Bradley on the hour mark.

However, Aldridge has sympathy for Chiesa, so often a ‘super sub’ for the Reds this season, saying it is “not easy” to spring into life from the start of a game when you have become accustomed to making an impact late on in matches.

“He always gives you 100 per cent,” Aldridge added. “But he’s devoid of match fitness so we couldn’t expect much more from him against Wolves. I don’t want to make excuses for him but you can’t expect much more. He’s only played a bit-part role and while he gets his start, it’s not easy considering where we are as a team at the moment.

“It’s not easy to come in and be a star. At the moment he’s an impact player. You can bring him on and he can make things happen in 15 or 20 minutes. But if Arne Slot doesn’t fancy him, he won’t have done enough [against Wolves] to convince him that he should be starting games more regularly.”

Liverpool will look to stretch their unbeaten run to eight games in all competitions when they host in-form Leeds United at Anfield on New Year’s Day. Following their win over Wolves, Slot’s men moved up to fourth in the league table, three points ahead of fifth-placed Chelsea.

Man-of-the-moment Wirtz will be hoping to build on his breakthrough goal against Daniel Farke’s Leeds, who themselves are unbeaten in their last five league games - an impressive run which includes the dramatic 3-3 draw with Liverpool on 6 December.

Speaking after scoring his maiden goal against Wolves, Wirtz told Sky Sports: "It was very nice the feeling on the pitch with the fans around. I was very happy and I still am. I was confident that I would score one day. I wanted to start earlier scoring and assisting but it was like this and I have to accept it. I just know that it will come and I try to keep going like that. 

"We played a brilliant first half. We lost the game and got it back. Everyone was working hard. In the last 20 minutes, we made it a bit difficult. I cannot explain why. We have to change that. That's how we want to do it. We want to be there and be on top of the table. It's not been an easy start for us but we're doing better and getting the points."