Liverpool took a big step towards qualifying for next season’s Champions League with a 5-2 victory over West Ham United at Anfield. While there were definitely some tricky moments, and some moments that some fans weren’t quite convinced about, overall you wouldn’t be the only one who felt this was an overall positive performance for the Reds. I mean, as the owner of a three-game winning streak in the league and probably the team in good form right now, it’s hard to complain.
Especially going forward, Liverpool look more than capable of making West Ham pay for their lapses in concentration. The team are really looking forward to this, stringing together some moves and it looks like the lads have finally found their missing groove. Doing so just adds a little something extra on top of the accomplishment with so many offensive players still on the injured list.
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Perhaps the most important cog on the coaching desk at the moment is Florian Wirtz, the German attacking prodigy who has developed into a key cog in Liverpool’s attack over the past few months. With the midfielder picking up the injury last week, it was hoped that the injury would not result in too many games being missed.
But because Wirtz was not selected for the game squad today, it caused a wave of concern. Unfortunately, Arne Slott’s postgame comments only confirmed that the injury isn’t entirely an immediate, ultra-short-term issue:
“I think [Tuesday against Wolves] It’s still early, but I said last week that I didn’t expect him not to play today, so sometimes things can go a positive way or a negative way after an injury. Now we don’t think it will take too long, but Tuesday may be too early. The way things are going it’s going to be a tight week ahead but like I said I thought he would be able to play today as well, unfortunately that didn’t happen. “
So, if I read Slott correctly, we might not even see Flo back in the team until the second Champions League game against Galatasaray. Hopefully any issues Wirtz has on the sidelines are resolved soon. It’s clear that Liverpool’s long-term future depends on the attacking talent, and considering he’s only started to live up to expectations since signing, it seems like an early return would be a good thing.