Liverpool’s Florian Wirtz’s record of no goals and assists in seven Premier League games has been defended by German manager Julian Nagelsmann using false statistics.
Following his £100m-plus move to Bayer Leverkusen, Wertz was given the nickname ‘007’ due to his record of making no statistical impact in seven Premier League games.
And now, Nagelsmann says, “It’s not my fault if my teammates didn’t convert” the chances Wirtz created.
Speaking ahead of Germany’s World Cup qualifier against Northern Ireland, manager Nagelsmann said, “Even though he hasn’t scored, he is still the player who creates the most chances in the Premier League.”
“It’s not his fault if his teammates don’t convert, and the stats don’t tell the whole story. It hasn’t always been easy for him. He’s going to have to keep working hard.”
“Wirtz needs to get used to the league. I’ve seen him play completely free. He knows his abilities and how things work.”
The problem is that Nagelsmann cited an old Opta tweet that mentioned every match in every competition, and his numbers are way off.
In fact, Werts is tied for 15th in terms of chances created in the Premier League this season.
Who has created the most chances in the Premier League this season?
1) Bruno Fernandes (19)
2) Jack Grealish (17)
3=) Kodi Gakpo, Anton Stach (14)
5=) Sean Longstaff, Keenan Dewsbury-Hall, Brian Mbeumo, Mohamed Kudus (13)
9=) Jeremy Doku, James Ward-Prowse, Declan Rice, Sandro Tonali, Yankuba Minte, Mo Salah (12)
14=) Kieran Trippier, Adam Wharton, Florian Wirtz, Sasa Lukic, Iliman Ndiaye, Lucas Paqueta (11)
As you can see, Werts has created fewer chances than many of the better players in the Premier League, as well as Leeds United’s Anton Stach and Sean Longstaff, and Everton’s Jack Grealish and Keiynan Dewsbury-Hall.
Former Liverpool manager (German) Jurgen Klopp defended Wirths on German TV as follows: “His quality is very good.
“The argument is a bit exaggerated.
“Liverpool have just lost three games in a row, which is unusual. But it’s also a normal thing in life. That’s why things like that are discussed there.”
“(Wirtz) is a once-in-a-century talent and, as he showed in Leverkusen, he will show it again in every game at some point.”
At least Klopp didn’t rely on Opta’s tweet from two weeks ago to defend Wirtz.
In fact, Werts does not feature in any of the top lists of Premier League stats, with Grealish and Kudus leading the assists chart, and Grealish taking the lead from Gakpo in the list of Premier League players with the highest xAG.
