Liverpool's latest news round-up includes a verdict being made on Florian Wirtz's biggest struggle
Liverpool bounced back from their 3-0 defeat to Manchester City with an emphatic 6-3 victory over LASK. The Reds earned their second Champions League win of the season on Wednesday against the Austrian side.
It was an impressive performance from Andoni Iraola's side, albeit with some questionable defending late on that saw the European minnows score three past Alisson Becker in the last 30 minutes.
Bradley Barcola netted the first senior hat-trick of his career, while Lewis Koumas scored his first goal in the prestigious competition. Florian Wirtz registered an assist in the match, but his struggles have been discussed, while the Spanish boss opened up about the dilemma he faces within his squad.
Mirror Football delves into the latest stories coming out of Anfield...
Wirtz's biggest issue
Steven Gerrard claimed that Florian Wirtz's total lack of confidence is behind his inconsistency at Liverpool. The 23-year-old has failed to live up to expectations at Anfield since joining the club in a £116million deal last year.
Wirtz had his best performance of the season in midweek, assisting Bradley Barcola's second goal of the game, but he remains without one himself in the 2026/27 campaign.
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The former Reds captain opened up about Wirtz's situation on the Stick to Football podcast, but insisted the German star can still come good at Liverpool. "I am not denying that he is underperforming and that we should have seen a lot more given his price tag," Gerrard said.
"But I just think there is a chance, and it's happened previously, that players can turn it around. I think he's got the talent to turn it around, but his confidence is shot at the moment."
Iraola reveals dilemma
Liverpool's six-goal offering in Austria included four goal contributions from defenders Jeremie Frimpong and Ronald Araujo. The Dutchman notched two assists and a goal, while the summer signing netted his first goal for the club.
Five of Araujo's nine appearances have come at right-back due to Frimpong's weaknesses in defence and Conor Bradley being sidelined due to injury. However, they played alongside each other on Wednesday and Iraola admitted the stark contrast between their styles at right-back makes a marked difference in how the rest of the team performs.
He said after full-time: "It is clear the difference in the team when we play with Jeremie and Ronald. The demands we put on the players are completely different. Jeremie helps us more offensively as he can arrive in the final third positions, but that does leave more space behind because you can’t cover everything.
"Ronald is the opposite because he is more comfortable defending as a centre-back, but he doesn’t give us the runs in behind, overlaps, or the options that Jeremie does. It is about us seeing what we need from the game, but we need to keep them both in a good place so we have those options during games. Until we recover Conor, I am happy to have those options."