Florian Wirtz registered his first assists since his Liverpool debut in Wednesday’s 5-1 thumping of Eintracht Frankfurt, with Arne Slot‘s system raising new questions.
Eintracht Frankfurt 1-5 Liverpool
Champions League (3) | Deutsche Bank Park
October 22, 2025
Goals: Kristensen 26′; Ekitike 34′, Van Dijk 38′, Konate 44′, Gakpo 66′, Szoboszlai 70′
1. New shape does the trick, but can it last?
As Frankfurt swept through Liverpool to score with their first shot of the game, it did not look much like the visitors’ new shape had brought the solidity they were seeking.
Yet the Reds were much improved on both sides of the ball from thereon in – scoring five of course, but also taking 18 shots and generating 3.21 xG to Frankfurt’s four and 0.23 as part of a much-improved performance.
So, will Arne Slot stick with this new system as a result?
Well, it is not like Alexander Isak‘s form demands it, and it feels like a huge compromise to be stationing Florian Wirtz on the right just as he is starting to show his best.
As such, it will be interesting to see what the manager goes with his when his team travel to Brentford on Saturday evening.
2. Ekitike is truly special
If Liverpool are to return to a one-striker system after their experiment in Germany, then any debate over who should be the starter has surely been settled.
How could any manager leave Hugo Ekitike on he bench after he netted his sixth goal for the club as part of an impressive 12th appearance?
Not only did the Frenchman score one of his three shots, he also completed 19 of his 21 passes and two out of three dribbles, as well as winning five out of seven duels in the match.
The contrast to Isak, who was withdrawn at half-time, could not have been more stark, and Ekitike deserves to keep his place for the foreseeable future.
3. Major moment for Wirtz
OK, setting up the fourth and fifth goals in a 5-1 hammering is hardly the most crucial contribution of Wirtz’s career, but it did feel like an important moment.
The German hasn’t been playing as poorly as some would have you believe, but it can’t have helped his confidence to have missed out on several assists through pure misfortune.
Gladly, there was no such issue this time around, with Wirtz perfectly weighting a pass for Cody Gakpo to tap in at the back post before a simpler ball to Dominik Szoboszlai who hammered in for 5-1.
The 22-year-old was also otherwise impressive, and the hope is that this moment can ensure he is more regularly registering in the goals and assists column.
4. Set-piece again, ole, ole…
It is absolutely fair for Slot to believe that if Liverpool mimicked Arsenal in building much of their attacking game around set-pieces, it would limit their potential.
But there is no excuse for the Reds having been quite as poor in that aspect of the game as they have been for much of this season, and that is why it has felt like the manager has been putting pressure on set-piece coach Aaron Briggs in bringing those issues up at every recent press conference.
Briggs will no doubt have been relieved to see both Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate powering in headers from corners, particularly as they turned 1-1 into a 3-1 lead for the visitors.
The fact is, Liverpool don’t have to be Arsenal from set-pieces, but more of these game-breaking goals certainly wouldn’t go amiss.
5. Frimpong injury a concern
A brief look at Jeremie Frimpong‘s injury history shows a player who has proven himself to be pretty robust when representing his previous clubs.
The Dutchman missed just one game across 18 months at Celtic with a knock, and was sidelined only once (for 11 games) with an ankle problem during his four-and-a-half seasons at Bayer Leverkusen.
So how can it be that the defender is already into his second lay-off for Liverpool, five months on from arriving at Anfield?
Frimpong has already struggled for regular minutes in the early part of his debut season, and so he could have done without another setback that raises questions about his ability to deal with the intensity of a new league.
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