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Germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann has suggested that Florian Wirtz's Liverpool team-mates have played a significant role in his difficult start at Anfield since his summer move.
Wirtz was tempted to Merseyside amid great fanfare as Liverpool paid a then-club record £116million fee to bring the German midfielder to the Premier League from Bayer Leverkusen.
But since arriving in the English top flight, Wirtz has struggled to find his footing, failing to score or register an assist in any of his 11 league appearances.
The 22-year-old's mammoth price tag has meant that his performances are subject to the most rigorous scrutiny, but Wirtz failed to distinguish himself last time out against Manchester City, with the star bearing the brunt of the criticism after Arne Slot's side lost 3-0 at the Etihad.
But Nagelsmann, who has handed Wirtz the lion's share of his 35 caps for his country, urged critics to be more considerate of the somewhat unsettled situation at Liverpool that the midfielder has arrived in - aiming a subtle dig at Slot himself.
'To be honest, the whole situation does not make it easy for him either,' Nagelsmann said in his first press conference ahead of World Cup qualifiers against Luxembourg and Slovakia. 'The whole club itself is not as stable this year as it was last year. It's much harder to slip into the team now.
Florian Wirtz was defended by his national team head coach Julian Nagelsmann after a difficult start at Liverpool
Nagelsmann was keen to ensure that the Liverpool star was not treated too harshly by critics
'If you look vs City, they were the worse team over the 90 minutes. So it is also difficult for Flo to make any real big impact.
'Ultimately, the overall situation is such that he just needs a little more time - which is normal and you see that with other players, who move to the English Premier League as well.'
Nagelsmann also underscored the importance of Wirtz's team-mates taking their chances with what he is able to create for them.
'We all know what he is capable of and it is perfectly normal for a player of his age to go through a bit of a dip in form,' Nagelsmann continued.
'We cannot expect him to perform at the same level for three years straight.
'Instead, we all need to support him a little bit, so that he can clear his head here and then, maybe, Liverpool could also help him out by scoring some of the chances he creates.
'That would be one idea, because he does create a few chances. It is just that they somehow do not like to shoot the ball in, from those chances. That is part of the truth.'
One of the fiercest voices highlighting Wirtz's room for improvement has been Gary Neville, who discussed his 'really bad day' against Man City on his podcast on Monday.
Wirtz had an outing to forget against Manchester City last weekend as he continues to go without goals or assists
But Nagelsmann was keen to stress that focus should also be on Wirtz's team-mates and their own areas for improvement
'We've been tip-toeing around him haven't we, for a few months, around the fact that he's young, coming to a new country. But he's £120million, you're going to have to stand up soon.
'I mean he's obviously got something. He's a really good player and technically fantastic, but he's been mauled out there today by [Matheus] Nunes and by others. He's been chucked around the pitch and didn't deliver in the quality side of things either. His performance was a real worry.
'Wirtz is a problem, let's call it what it is. It's an issue. He's £120m and he looked like a little boy out there.
'It can't be the case. He's a German international of great standing and he looks well short of what you'd expect from a top physical match.
'They've got to get him up to speed and get that tenacity into him that means he can get into form. They've got to stick with him, and persist, but they've got to find a way to get the best out of him.'
Neville's criticism of Wirtz correlates with former Netherlands playmaker Wesley Sneijder - who has warned that he will be 'finished' at Liverpool if he doesn't adapt quicker to the English game.
But among those to side with Nagelsmann was Wirtz's father, who suggested that this challenging adjustment period was very much expected by his son.
'My thought from the very beginning was to wait and see how the first ten league games went,' he told Bild. 'We and Florian are perfectly happy with that.
'The incredible speed, the back and forth, that was very impressive for the first few games. The distances covered and the speed were significantly greater. The style of play is sometimes enormously different because it doesn't seem as organised, but rather more focused on pace.'
Wirtz will have a chance to rediscover his form for his country over the international break, before returning to club duties against PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League, and followed by a Premier League meeting with West Ham.
