Moving into midfield, Wirtz was the outstanding Liverpool player at Wembley. Slot has clearly tweaked the system to suit their record signing – and the early signs are positive.
Wirtz has been given a role freer and further forward than Liverpool had previously from an attacking midfielder – they had nobody to do that role last season.
He almost formed a strike partnership with Ekitike at times, so close together were they. Indeed by the time he was substituted, Wirtz was playing as a false nine with Ekitike already taken off.
This freedom allowed the German to float wide left after four minutes, to pick up the ball and play in Ekitike for the opener.
There were 22 passes in the build-up to Liverpool’s opener, finishing off a move that lasted 66 seconds and involved nine players.
Until being taken off in the 84th minute Wirtz looked perfectly balanced, always in control, never flustered. His influence all over the pitch for Liverpool is already clear.
At the point of his substitution, Wirtz led Liverpool for passes and entries in the final third, crosses and touches in the Palace box. He had the third most touches in total. Everything went through him.
“It has been a really impressive performance for Wirtz,” former Palace striker Glenn Murray told BBC Radio 5 Live. “Very dominant.
“He was tiring by the end of it and that is something he will need to get used to. But he is looking like a very good signing.”
This does put a question on Mohamed Salah’s role in the team. The Egyptian has now not scored in eight Wembley appearances, had only one shot on target and in the shootout blazed his penalty over. But that is a question for another article.
