si
Paco Jémez, the manager whom Andoni Iraola replaced at Rayo Vallecano, once offered a memorable analogy: statistics, he said, are like thongs—they reveal a lot but conceal the most important thing. That quip feels especially apt after Liverpool's 2-1 victory over Brentford on Saturday, a match that produced one of the season's most deceptive numbers: Florian Wirtz was credited with creating nine chances, a figure unmatched by any player in a single Premier League game in over five years and the highest by a Liverpool player since Opta began detailed data collection in 2003-04.
For anyone who missed the game—and in the UK, that was everyone due to the Saturday 3 p.m. blackout—it would be easy to assume Wirtz delivered a masterclass. After 15 months of near-misses and almost-there moments, Liverpool's $154 million (€116m) signing had supposedly exploded with a performance so creative that record books needed updating. But that narrative doesn't hold up.
Wirtz was decent, not devastating; alright, not awesome. Like Liverpool as a whole, he only truly entered the contest after Yehor Yarmoliuk's reckless red card just before halftime. Even then, the source of the acclaim—that eye-catching statistic—crumbles under scrutiny.
Breaking Down the Nine Chances
8th minute: Dominik Szoboszlai blazes over. This set the tone for most of Wirtz's created chances: a sideways or backward pass for a teammate to sky over.
15th minute: Alexis Mac Allister's first pot shot. Liverpool's beleaguered No. 7 shouldn't be blamed for his colleagues' poor choices, but he also shouldn't be praised for teeing up hopeful efforts.
37th minute: Square ball for Bradley Barcola. During an even first half in which Brentford took a 1-0 lead, Wirtz was left to gently probe at the hosts' tightly stitched defense. The mobile midfielder is at his best when given license to roam, tiptoeing laterally to find weak spots. On Saturday, he was initially drawn toward the right half-space, where he would invariably roll a pass across the face of the box rather than trying to penetrate Brentford's shell.
45+8th minute: Ridiculous effort. Most of Wirtz's created chances were wild efforts from range, but two came from corners—a concerning sign. Liverpool are one of only four Premier League sides yet to score from a set piece this season. For all Arne Slot's complaints last term, the Reds still racked up 18 goals from set pieces, the fourth-most in the division. If the best scheme Iraola's staff can devise is Wirtz rolling the ball back for Trey Nyoni to shoot from 25 yards, it could be a long campaign.
49th minute: Alexis Mac Allister's second pot shot. Iraola has been a fierce advocate of Wirtz, but even the Basque boss dismissed the swollen tally of chances created. "In the second half, no?" Iraola clarified, correctly noting that Yarmoliuk's dismissal preceded most of Wirtz's questionable dexterity.
56th minute: Finding space in the crowd. While this was no performance worthy of significant statistical celebration, it would be unfair to completely dismiss Wirtz's virtues. Faced with 10 Brentford players in retreat, Iraola could turn to his chief lock-picker. "There are very few spaces, small pockets and [very little] time on the ball," Iraola said of that second half. "You have to find delicate things because Brentford is a team that defends the box really, really well. You need players like Flo." You also need players who can take advantage of being presented with the ball inside a crowded penalty area. Nyoni, for all his talent, isn't yet one of them.
62nd minute: The assist. Even calling Wirtz's pass for Víctor Muñoz's equalizer an assist is somewhat overstating it. Liverpool's flying right winger collected the ball 35 yards from goal and had to chop past Keane Lewis-Potter to create space to pick out the bottom corner with his weaker left foot. Nevertheless, Wirtz showed excellent deftness of touch to shift his weight away from Kristoffer Ajer with his first contact before quickly sliding it ahead of Muñoz, who had the beating of Brentford's fullback for pace. At a time when Liverpool were still trailing and frustrated by the staccato nature of a contest their hosts were trying to see out any way they could, it was a crucial piece of play.
65th minute: A chance created in the loosest sense. This is the most ridiculous case of a chance being credited as created. Ajer headed the ball onto Wirtz's shoulder, sending it ricocheting into the path for Barcola to slash wide.
69th minute: Another blocked shot. Another pass going any direction but forward and another shot failing to test Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher.
What Next for Florian Wirtz?
In many ways, this was a performance entirely befitting Wirtz's bizarre Liverpool career. It's almost universally accepted, even by the fiercest defenders of the former Bundesliga prodigy, that the 23-year-old has not lived up to any type of expectations, even the more realistic ones. Yet the assist he was credited with for Muñoz's leveler on Saturday was his 11th since joining Liverpool last summer. Only Manchester City's Rayan Cherki can boast more open-play assists than Wirtz among Premier League players over the same period.
Wirtz is a player who would appear to defy top-line statistics, burrowing into those cracks between perception and data collection which exist in a sport as difficult to quantify as soccer. He also ran further than any other player against Brentford, racking up another entirely meaningless number which people like to count.
Statistics clearly serve a purpose, particularly when framed in the correct context. But a player like Wirtz, especially with such a contradictory performance, makes Josh Hart's view on data entirely understandable. "They're lamp posts to a drunk person," the freshly crowned NBA champion said this year. "You can lean on them, but it won't get you home."
Grey Whitebloom is an Associate Editor for SI FC. He has more than half a decade of experience in sports media across all its various guises, from the fast-paced demands of news articles and match reports to in-depth research required for features. Whitebloom graduated with a First Class Honours from University College London and found himself named on the Dean's List—which, despite his initial fears, was a form of praise rather than a punishment. He specialises in the Premier League and Champions League, while also boasting an extensive track record of La Liga coverage.