Arne Slot: ‘Special’ Florian Wirtz has to build on breakthrough Liverpool goal

Arne Slot admitted Florian Wirtz knows he has to kick-on from his breakthrough goal but the Liverpool head coach was more than happy with the playmaker’s “special” performance in his side’s 2-1 win over Wolves.

A week after recording his first Premier League assist, the Germany international – who was signed in the summer in a £116million deal – followed up by scoring 89 seconds after Ryan Gravenberch’s opener.

The 22-year-old was the stand-out player in a team performance which went from dominant in the first half to nervous and shaky when Hugo Bueno reduced the deficit after the interval, having exposed a continued weakness at set-pieces.

“I think I am quite sure it was a relief for him,” said Slot of Wirtz. “I could see with his reaction when he scored the goal and it was the same with his team-mates, they were really happy for him.

“In football, rightly so maybe, we mainly get judged on results and individuals mainly get judged on goals and assists and we sometimes forget what else is there to do during a game.

“I think he has had multiple good games for us but I also think he is getting better every game he plays for us.

“He is getting fitter and fitter and was getting closer and closer to his first goal and it is not a surprise he scored today.

“He will be the first to understand that one goal is not enough so hopefully he will score many more goals for us than just this one.

“But I also liked his performance during large parts of the game today, I think he was special in a lot of moments.”

It was an emotional afternoon for two former clubs of Diogo Jota, who died in a car crash in July alongside his brother Andre Silva.

Jota’s two sons, plus two other young members of the family, were part of the pre-match presentation as they walked out with Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk and Wolves’ Portuguese goalkeeper Jose Sa, watched by Jota’s wife Rute.

“Difficult but in a way also special and nice. The football world showed how to behave in moments like this,” added Slot.

“Our fans have been incredible since the tragedy happened until today. Every single moment they did what you would hope they do in memory of him.

“Today the away fans showed it is not only about our fans. You guys know how special English fans are and today we showed to the world.”

Despite a spirited second half, Wolves slipped to an 11th-successive defeat and are the first Premier League club to fail to win any of their opening 18 fixtures.

“It is another loss so it is difficult,” said boss Rob Edwards, who has failed to arrest the slide, having taken over seven matches ago.

“I said to the lads, ‘I am getting really fed up of this’ and I know they are hurting as well but I will watch the game back, take some of the emotion out of it and feel some of the good stuff as well.

“The second half, there was a team that was brave and showed quality against a top team.”