Jamie Carragher has used his podcast and his co-commentary slot to argue, several times over, that Florian Wirtz should not be starting for Liverpool at the moment. On Sunday at Anfield, Wirtz was asked how he deals with that kind of noise.
He grinned.
“Maybe I’m just an interesting person,” he told reporters, in comments carried by Goal.
The second part of his answer went harder.
Read also: Bernal is planning a 2027 return, five years after a near-fatal crash
“I don’t care at all about what anyone says about me, because I pay it no attention whatsoever.”
Two days after Liverpool’s 3-0 home defeat to Manchester City on 11 October, Carragher had called for the £116m signing to be dropped from Andoni Iraola’s starting side, saying Wirtz plays every week in a No. 10 position where “it has to stop” and that Liverpool have given him “enough chances.”
It did not start with the City loss
The pressure built before the Etihad fixture. In the scrappy 1-0 win at Bournemouth on 20 September, Wirtz’s performance drew particular criticism, with his passing accuracy singled out as the lowest of any Liverpool starter on the day.
On his podcast afterwards, Carragher refused to put it down to form.
Read also: Pakistan needed 88 runs with one wicket remaining and what happened next made cricket history
“That was one of the poorest I’ve ever seen him in a Liverpool shirt,” he said, before adding that Wirtz would not be in his own Liverpool team for the Manchester City game.
Carragher has questioned the midfielder, who joined from Bayer Leverkusen in June 2025 as Britain’s record transfer signing, since the opening weeks of the season. The Manchester City match itself, in which Ryan Gravenberch was sent off before Erling Haaland, Jérémy Doku and Rayan Cherki pulled the game away, hardened his position rather than softened it.
The Brighton answer
Andoni Iraola, in his first season at Liverpool after replacing Arne Slot ahead of the 2026-27 campaign, kept Wirtz in the team on Sunday and had his first Premier League home win at Anfield to show for it.
Wirtz drove into the box in the 17th minute, latching onto a loose ball after Virgil van Dijk’s teammate Ibrahima Konaté had helped force the turnover, and his shot deflected off Pascal Gross into the Brighton net. The goal was officially logged as a Gross own goal. Four minutes later, Bradley Barcola’s cross, turned in after a Maxim De Cuyper clearance ricocheted off him, teed up Alexander Isak to make it 2-0, ending a five-match winless run at Anfield.
Read also: Report: Man City preparing sensational January move for £70m Chelsea star
Wirtz twisted an ankle shortly before the hour, but after treatment on the pitch he carried on and finished the match.
Read also: Russell: Austin penalty was ridiculous
