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Arne Slaughter Admits Florian Wirtz knew he had to start with the breakthrough goal, but liverpool The head coach was extremely pleased with the playmaker’s “special” performance in the team’s 2-1 win over Wolves.
A week after recording his first Premier League assist, Germany The international, signed for £116m in the summer, scored 89 seconds after Ryan Gravenberch opened the scoring.
The 22-year-old was the standout performer in a team that went from a dominant first-half display to becoming nervous and shaky when Hugo Bueno reduced the deficit after the break and exposed a continuing weakness from set-pieces.
“I think I’m pretty sure it was a relief for him,” said Slaughter of Wirtz. “I could tell by the reaction when he scored and so were his teammates, they were really happy for him.
“In football, maybe we are judged mainly by results and individuals are judged mainly by goals and assists, and we sometimes forget what else can be done in the game.
“I thought he had a number of great games for us, but I also thought he got better every game he played for us.
“He’s getting fitter and getting closer and closer to his first goal, so it’s no surprise that he scored today.
“He will be the first to understand that one goal is not enough, so hopefully he can score more goals for us than just this one.
“But I also liked the way he played most of the game today and I thought he was special in a lot of moments.”
It was an exciting afternoon for both former clubs Diogo JotaHe was killed in a car crash in July along with his brother Andre Silva.
Jota’s two sons, plus two other young family members, walked out of the pre-match speech alongside Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk and Wolves’ Portuguese goalkeeper Jose Sa, under the watchful eye of Jota’s wife Root.
“It’s difficult but also special and beautiful in a way. The football world shows how to behave in moments like this,” Slaughter added.
“Our fans have been unbelievable from the time this tragedy happened to today. They did everything you would want them to do every moment to honor his memory.
“The away fans showed today that it’s not just about us fans. You know how special the British fans are and today we showed it to the world.”
Despite a spirited second half, Wolves suffered their 11th consecutive defeat and became the first Premier League club to fail to win in their opening 18 games.
“It’s another loss, so it’s tough,” said coach Rob Edwards, who took over seven games ago but has been unable to stem the slide.
“I said to the lads, ‘I’m really tired of it,’ and I know they’re hurting too, but I’ll look back at the game and take some emotion out of it and feel some good things.
“In the second half, there was a team that was brave and showed quality against top teams.”