Jamie Carragher doubled down on Florian Wirtz after Sunday's defeat to Manchester City, and the debate he sparked is worth taking seriously. Not because Carragher is necessarily right, but because the question underneath his criticism is one Liverpool actually need to answer.

Carragher, speaking on Sky Sports, was blunt: "What Florian Wirtz is doing for Liverpool is not enough right now. He's played 55, 60 games for Liverpool. There is no way Wirtz should be playing ahead of Gravenberch." He went further, pointing out that Lewis Koumas and Victor Munoz outperformed both Wirtz and Bradley Barcola against City. "That can't be right," he said. "It's not right." And there's an argument to be made that it isn't. Wirtz was hauled off by Andoni Iraola when Ryan Gravenberch was sent off, a decision that told its own story, and one that few inside the stadium appeared to argue with.

What the numbers and the injury list actually say

In an ideal world, the conversation would be simple: Wirtz isn't doing enough, so drop him, push Dominik Szoboszlai into the number 10 role, and rebuild the midfield around Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister, much as Arne Slot's side operated on their way to the Premier League title. Gravenberch, before his red card, was the brightest thing on the pitch. That much was impossible to miss.

But this is not an ideal world. Liverpool are currently without Alexander Isak, Cody Gakpo, Szoboszlai and long-term absentee Hugo Ekitike for the trip to LASK, with Federico Chiesa ineligible on top of that. Gravenberch then serves a suspension for the weekend fixture at Brentford. The attacking depth simply isn't there to take Wirtz out of the equation right now, even if Iraola wanted to. Trey Nyoni could slot into midfield, but if Szoboszlai remains unavailable, Liverpool's options in attack thin out very quickly. The squad reality is putting a ceiling on what the manager can actually do.

The deeper problem nobody is quite saying out loud

Carragher's exchange with Daniel Sturridge, which ran alongside the main Wirtz debate, was arguably more illuminating. The conversation circled around how Wirtz actually fits into Liverpool's current system, and that is the real nub of it. Wirtz, who turned 23 in May, has largely thrived in setups that were built around him, with his previous club giving him the freedom to roam and dictate. That is not what Iraola is asking him to do here. Iraola has a system, he has other significant investments to accommodate, and his job is to shape his squad around a structure rather than reverse-engineer one for a single player.

That means the burden falls partly on Wirtz to become a more complete, adaptable footballer who can function at a high level wherever he is deployed. That process takes time, and dropping him could slow it down further rather than accelerate anything. Last season, his predecessor in the squad was shifted to the left flank to try and find some rhythm, but with four wingers all preferring that side, that particular route is closed off.

What happens when the squad is fit again

The honest verdict for now is that Wirtz keeps his place by default as much as by merit, and he knows it. Gravenberch's suspension for Brentford buys him another week, but it is a stay of execution rather than an endorsement. The German needs to produce something meaningful, either against LASK in midweek or at Brentford, because once Isak, Gakpo, Szoboszlai and Gravenberch are all available again, Iraola will have real choices to make.

When that moment arrives, if Wirtz is still going missing in matches, the argument for Szoboszlai at number 10 with Gravenberch and Mac Allister behind him becomes very hard to dismiss. For now, though, Liverpool are navigating a congested fixture list with a threadbare squad, and the Wirtz question is being answered by circumstance as much as anything else. The reckoning is coming. It just hasn't arrived quite yet.