Florian Wirtz Just Produced One Of The Rarest Stat Lines In Years
Buried underneath the scoreline from Brentford was a number that deserves far more attention than a single line in the match report. Florian Wirtz created nine chances from open play during Liverpool’s 2-1 win, and once you understand how rare that is, the whole afternoon looks a little different.
A Number That Does Not Come Around Often
Nine open play chances created in a single Premier League match is not just a good day at the office, it is the kind of figure that barely shows up in the record books. According to Liverpool’s official website, nobody had managed nine in the competition since Sadio Mane did it for this club against Burnley back in January 2021, and nobody had produced that tally away from home in well over fifteen years, with Samir Nasri’s ten coming all the way back in August 2011.
Numbers like that put Wirtz in some serious company, and it is worth remembering this came away from home, in a game that was anything but open for long periods. Chance creation on that scale usually needs a team dominating from front to back. Liverpool were not doing that for large stretches at Brentford, which makes the number even more striking.
The Context Behind The Numbers
Brentford took the lead before half time through Keane Lewis-Potter, and the hosts also finished the match with a man sent off in each half. Liverpool turned it around after the break, with Victor Munoz and Alexander Isak scoring the goals that won the game. Wirtz had a hand in that turnaround directly, setting up Munoz’s equaliser, and he picked up the Carlsberg Player of the Match award for his afternoon’s work.
What stood out watching it back was not just the final pass, but how often he found a way to shift the angle of attack when Brentford thought they had him boxed in. Receiving under pressure, turning away from a defender and immediately picking out a runner is a specific skill, and Wirtz produced it again and again in a match that was not exactly flowing for long periods.
Why This Matters For Us
As supporters, this is exactly the kind of statistic that confirms what a lot of us have already been seeing with our own eyes over recent weeks. Wirtz is not simply collecting tidy touches in advanced areas, he is actively shaping matches and manufacturing openings at a rate that tips games Liverpool’s way. Matching numbers associated with the best creators English football has produced in the last decade tells you this was not just a nice afternoon, it was a performance that drove the result.
If this is close to his ceiling in a difficult away fixture against a well organised defence, there is a reasonable case for expecting even more when Liverpool get a cleaner platform to work from at Anfield. For now, a player many of us hoped would need time to adapt to English football is instead setting records inside his first season. That is worth enjoying while it lasts.