Jamie Carragher has called for Florian Wirtz to be dropped after accusing the £116million Liverpool midfielder of offering "absolutely nothing" in Sunday’s 3-0 defeat to Manchester City.
The Reds lost on a chastening afternoon at home, with Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Rayan Cherki all on target for the visitors.
Wirtz has yet to score in the Premier League this season and has registered just one assist across six top-flight appearances.
The Germany also previously endured a difficult first campaign, when he managed seven goals and 11 assists in 56 appearances.
Many supporters gave him time to adapt, but Carragher argued that patience is wearing thin after over 50 games in a Liverpool shirt.
The 22-year-old joined a side that had just won the Premier League, with Dominik Szoboszlai operating as the No 10.
The Hungary international has since been moved into a deeper role, but Carragher questioned whether Wirtz has done enough to keep his place in attack.
Speaking on Sky Sports after Liverpool’s loss to City, Carragher said: "I’m going to go back to Florian Wirtz, because I was critical of him after the last game Liverpool played at Bournemouth.
"I was then criticised a little bit by Liverpool supporters for putting a negative slant on it.
"But what I did say was it could be the last hope if Jurgen Klopp could get his arm around him when he was with Germany.
"He played really well for Germany under Jurgen Klopp. But he has come here today, I’m looking at the game with no [Alexander] Isak and no [Cody] Gakpo, our two best attackers this season.
"We need [Bradley] Barcola and we need Wirtz to step up and help [Victor] Munoz and [Lewis] Koumas at the top of the pitch. Koumas and Munoz were better than the two £100m players."
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Carragher argued that Ryan Gravenberch’s return to form should leave Wirtz out of the starting side, saying there was "no way" the German should be selected ahead of the Dutch midfielder.
He added that his criticism was based on a substantial run of games, not a handful of early-season appearances, despite Gravenberch being sent off against City.
"What Florian Wirtz is doing for Liverpool is not enough right now. He’s played 55, 60 games for Liverpool," Carragher said. "If we were looking at Barcola, he has played four or five.
"You would want more but hold your horses. If you were critical of him, it would be over the top, but not the guy that has played 60 games."
Carragher then added: "He shouldn’t be in the Liverpool team right now.
"I don’t want to hammer Liverpool players. But we’re not saying this after five-ten games, we’re saying this after 50-60 games."
He also questioned Wirtz’s threat in front of goal, claiming the midfielder rarely looks capable of scoring or creating a clear chance.
"There’s absolutely no goal threat whatsoever," Carragher said.
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