Florian Wirtz created nine chances from open play at Brentford on Saturday. No player has managed that in a Premier League match in six seasons. The last to do it was Sadio Mane, also for Liverpool, against Burnley in January 2021, and the last away player to reach the mark was Samir Nasri with ten for Manchester City at Tottenham in August 2011. Liverpool won 2-1. And the argument about whether Wirtz should be in the team carried on regardless.
The numbers were emphatic
Liverpool had 21 attempts in west London, 14 of them in a second half played against ten men after Brentford's first-half dismissal. Wirtz was at the centre of nearly all of it: a match-leading 12 entries into the final third, 53 of 65 passes completed at 81.5 per cent, and the ball played through to Munoz that started the comeback.
That assist means he has now set up a goal in back-to-back games across all competitions for the first time since joining. Across the season he is level with Brighton's Pascal Gross at the top of the Premier League's chance-creation chart on 18. The counter-argument is that Saturday was only his second goal involvement in seven league games, which for a player signed for a club record £116m from Bayer Leverkusen in June 2025 is a thin return.
Murphy's objection is about shape, not the player
Danny Murphy, watching for BBC Sport, was not persuaded. His problem is structural: with two wingers and Wirtz at number 10, Liverpool ask two central midfielders to patrol far too much ground.
"They got the job done. First and foremost, that's another win on the road, which is always positive," Murphy said. "But I thought they looked too easy to play against. The spaces are too big. It was too easy for Brentford to play out and to get in behind."
His remedy is blunt. "Instead of a number 10, where Wirtz is struggling to impact games, put three midfielders in. Always, the priority is foundation, defence, stability, being hard to beat. The other stuff can follow from there. At the moment, it just looks a little bit open. Against better teams, you're going to get hurt."
Two further numbers give that view something to lean on. Only Milos Kerkez, with 20, gave the ball away more often than Wirtz's 19 losses of possession, and Wirtz won one of his nine duels. Steven Gerrard had suggested earlier in the week that the 23-year-old might benefit from being left out altogether to rebuild his confidence. A performance like Saturday's complicates that argument without ending it.
Iraola has other things to worry about
The win lifted Liverpool to fifth, with three wins from Andoni Iraola's first seven league games since replacing Arne Slot in the summer. It also ended a long-running oddity: this was their first away league win after conceding first since December 2023, breaking a run of 19 winless away games in which they fell behind.
Alexander Isak returned from injury, but Dominik Szoboszlai and Jeremie Frimpong both picked up problems, and Iraola was candid about the load. "We are in a delicate situation with some of the players," he told BBC Sport. "We were talking about this run of four games in 10 days, it's very, very demanding. We have to rest again because we have another big, big game against Villarreal."
Which is the honest state of it. Wirtz produced the most creative single performance the league has seen in six years and the team around him still looked loose. Both of those things can be true, and until Iraola decides which matters more, the conversation is not going anywhere.
Analysis notes: Florian Wirtz, 23, signed from Bayer Leverkusen for a club record £116m in June 2025. Brentford 1-2 Liverpool, Saturday 17 October 2026. Nine open-play chances created, 12 final-third entries, 53/65 passes (81.5%), 19 losses of possession, one duel won from nine. Season total 18 chances created, level with Pascal Gross. Liverpool fifth; Villarreal away in the Champions League on Tuesday.
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