Better than Wirtz: Liverpool star had his best game all season vs Sunderland

Liverpool returned to winning ways in the Premier League after Virgil van Dijk popped up with a captain's contribution and netted from a corner to inflict a first home defeat of the season on Sunderland.

Arne Slot has been under intense pressure this season. Liverpool have not been good enough, and remain in a dogfight for Champions League football. However, this was a confident step in the right direction.

The visitors defended well and looked coherent as an attacking unit, standing firm and pressing with intensity during the final knockings.

Van Dijk was the match-winner, but Florian Wirtz continues to go from strength to strength after a tough start to his Liverpool career.

Wirtz's improvements for Liverpool

Wirtz, 22, joined Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen last summer in a £116m deal. This was a British record before FSG green-lit a move for Alexander Isak in August.

The playmaker faced plenty of criticism throughout his first several months on Merseyside, but now he is beginning to showcase his world-class quality, central to the victory at the Stadium of Light.

His technical quality has never been questioned, but the application of his talents have. Against the Black Cats, Wirtz shimmied and shifted past defenders, creating space, finding space, making things happen, but he also embraced Liverpool's gritty display, winning five duels and his one contested tackle, also recovering six loose balls.

The German playmaker still has many levels to scale in the Premier League, but he is beginning to shine as the centrepiece of Slot's creative system. More and more, his teammates are seeking him out and passing to him, ready for him to make things happen.

Since December, Wirtz has scored four goals and supplied three assists in the Premier League; across the first four months of the season, he failed to break his duck.

However, Wirtz isn't the only one who has improved since the festive period, with another actually outshining him in Sunderland.

Liverpool star produced his best display of the season

So much has gone wrong at Liverpool this season, and Ibrahima Konate has been tagged as one of the most disappointing players in Slot's squad.

However, he has come on leaps and bounds in recent weeks, and TNT Sports pundit Owen Hargreaves said that he was "flawless" in the win over Sunderland.

Konate was instrumental in keeping the clean sheet, outbattling his opponents with strong and confident lunges and clearances.

The 26-year-old is out of contract this summer, and many of a Liverpool persuasion consider his departure to be for the best, so poor have his performances been this season.

But he's been much-improved of late, reproducing the title-winning efforts of last year. On Wednesday, he put in his finest effort of the campaign, head and shoulders above his teammates in more than just height.

Van Dijk was as immense as ever, but the skipper only won one ground duel, not even making a single tackle. This is both a testament to his cool presence in the rearguard and evidence of teams targeting his partner, deemed weaker.

But Konate has reminded everyone of his elite ability here, with the Liverpool Echo even awarding him with an 8/10 match rating (Van Dijk got 7/10) after nullifying the powerful Brian Brobbey.

It was only in December, indeed, that Sky Sports' Jamie Carragher led the criticism against the France international. Such comments have not been unjust, with Konate seemingly at the centre of each of Liverpool's defensive disasters.

It is no stretch to say that Liverpool have reached a critical juncture in their season. The months ahead are so important.

Konate has shown that he could be a difference-maker, every bit as important as someone flashy like Wirtz. Perhaps the Frenchman will change a few minds regarding his soon-to-expire contract with more displays like this one.

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