Wirtz Will Pick The Lock, Who Will Open The Door?

Florian Wirtz is a through-ball master. The problem is that he has joined a Liverpool side who were abysmal at converting them this season.

Florian Wirtz is a technician, a craftsman, a wizard with the ball. He has also been described as a locksmith.

Rory Smith mentioned this in a recent article on the number 10 role, in which he made reference to the Liverpool new boy. “Now, in recruitment circles, clubs tend to talk about a “locksmith”: someone capable of picking their way through the major leagues’ increasingly well-drilled defences. Like [Rayan] Cherki, like Chelsea’s Cole Palmer, like his international team-mate Jamal Musiala, Wirtz fits that bill.”

A previous ABF newsletter looking at his relationship with Patrick Schick identified the manner in which Wirtz picks opposition locks. “The German international topped the Bundesliga chart for through-balls in each of the last two seasons. Since summer 2021, only Rodrigo De Paul averages more per 90 minutes in the big leagues.”

Florian Wirtz's Leverkusen link-up which outdid Firmino and Salah

Passes which bisect back lines are incredibly potent. A chance created from a corner was converted 7.3 per cent of the time across the previous 16 seasons of Premier League football. That rate rose to 9.5 per cent for free-kicks, 11.0 for all crosses.

At 24.6 per cent, a shot following a through-ball effectively has in a one-in-four likelihood of becoming a goal. There have been 65 more assists via this type of delivery than from free-kicks and corners combined despite the created chances count being 10,329 lower. Wirtz can exploit this huge imbalance to the Reds’ benefit.

Him doing so may depend on Liverpool buying a new striker. The Reds clearly struggled to make the most of their set plays in Arne Slot’s first season at the helm. Less obvious was how poor they were at putting away their chances from through-balls.

Not just bad at it, either. Spectacularly bad. Stinking out the joint bad.

Liverpool’s 21 through-ball chances in 2024/25 yielded a solitary assist when even average conversion would’ve produced five. Only one of the 92 other Premier League sides with over 20 key passes of this type since 2009/10 was more inefficient with them.

The Reds were also below average for converting through-balls in the final campaign of the Jürgen Klopp era, at 17.2 per cent. It means Liverpool have been half as productive with these high value opportunities as they should have been across a two-season sample.

Maybe our old pal ‘reversion to the mean’ will come to the rescue. Perhaps Wirtz will play so many through-balls that inefficiency can be papered over. For now, let’s see what went wrong in 2024/25 to see if it can be fixed with the existing squad. Researching this did at least offer a sizeable positive when it comes to defence-splitting passes.